Zack Werner has enjoyed a varied and extensive career in the music industry as an artist, producer, entertainment lawyer and manager.

Werner is President of Toronto-based Venus Management and Venus Records (distributed by EMI), and a new PR firm Smoke and Mirrors Promotions.

The company provides personal management for artists including esthero (Warners), Robin Black (Venus/EMI), Skye Sweetnam (Venus/Capitol), LEN (Venus/EMI), Ros Bell (Venus/EMI), Ali Milner (Venus/EMI) and James Robertson (EMI Music Publishing).

"Zack is intelligent and mercurial – just when you think he's going to zig, he zags," said Canadian Idol Executive Producer John Brunton. "He's our wild card. I love his passion - he's a natural-born killer."

With a B.A. from the University of Minnesota and a law degree from the University of British Columbia, Werner put the "law" on hold upon moving to Toronto and joined local rock band The Ringing. Managed by Gary Pring (Glass Tiger), the group worked in the studio with producer Garth Richardson (Rage Against The Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers) and secured a development deal with Capitol Records.

Werner formed the group Thick As Thieves and relocated to Los Angeles. The group opened for Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam and negotiated a distribution deal through BMG. When the band broke up Werner returned to Toronto and signed a development deal with MCA as a solo-artist and worked with producer John Punter (The Spoons, Japan). 

Putting his legal training to use, Werner practiced entertainment law with the firm of Sanderson, Taylor - the pre-eminent entertainment law firm in Canada, counting among their clients worldwide superstars such as Sum 41, Avril Lavigne and Nelly Furtado. He soon built a strong reputation for finding, showcasing and representing new talent across Canada. His clients included The Philosopher Kings, Chris Smith Management, Sky, One, Ron Sexsmith and Sass Jordan. In December 2003, Werner represented Canada in the World Idol competition in London, England.

Meanwhile, Venus Corporation has had a huge year. Highlights included: signing a management and recording deal with worldwide platinum recording artists LEN; gold recording artist esthero scoring the Number One spot on Billboard's Dance Chart with her most recent single as well as securing the opening theme to the forthcoming Sandra Bullock movie Miss Congeniality II; and Skye Sweetnam having her song "Tangled Up In Me" debut in the Top 30 in the U.S. and reach Number One in Korea, Japan and Malaysia. The song will be included in the upcoming NOW 18 compilation CD in the U.S. Skye's career continues to build worldwide with releases in 15 countries and counting.