Kathleen Marie "Kathy" Ireland (born March 20, 1963) is a former American model, actress, and entrepreneur. She is the CEO of her design and marketing eponymous brand product marketing company...

• Fashion model turned business mogul
• Founder of kathy ireland Worldwide, or kiWW

In 1963 Charles R. "Chuck" Schwab and two other partners launched Investment Indicator, an investment newsletter. At its height, the newsletter had 3,000 subscribers, each paying $84 a year to subscribe...

• Co-founder + chairman of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
• Appointed to the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy
• Started the Charles & Helen Schwab Foundation for children with learning disabilities + AD/HD

Raymond Albert "Ray" Kroc (October 5, 1902 – January 14, 1984) was an American businessman who joined McDonald’s in 1954 and built it into the most successful fast food operation in the world...

• Founded the McDonald’s Corporation in 1955
• Built a global restaurant system famous for uniform methods + high quality
• Recognized among the Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph...

• Lightbulb
• Phonograph
• Motion pictures
• Stock ticker

Samuel Moore "Sam" Walton (March 29, 1918 – April 5, 1992) was a businessman and entrepreneur born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma best known for founding the retailers Walmart and Sam’s Club...

• Founder of Walmart + Sam’s Club retailers
• Small-town store strategy
• Self-owned trucking + distribution

Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso, known as Pablo Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973), was a Spanish painter...

• Cubist movement in painting
• Constructed sculpture
• Plastic arts emergence

Arnold Daniel Palmer (born September 10, 1929) is an American professional golfer, who is generally regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men’s professional golf...

• Global popularity + commercialization of golf
• First PGA Tour competitor to earn $1 million
• First golf course in the People’s Republic of China
• Co-founder of The Golf Channel
• Golf-related businesses, including course design + facilities

Chris Whittle (born August 23, 1947) is an American media and education entrepreneur. He is the chief executive officer of Avenues: The World School, a planned international system of independent pre-K-12...

• Visionary CEO of Avenues: The World School
• Founder of Edison Schools
• Founder of Whittle Communications, one of America’s top 100 media companies in the '80s

David Sarnoff (February 27, 1891 – December 12, 1971) was an American businessman and pioneer of commercial radio and television. Throughout most of his career he led the Radio Corporation of America (RCA)...

• Revolutionized American commercial radio + television as president of RCA + NBC
• Credited with Sarnoff’s Law: the value of a broadcast network is proportional to the number of viewers
• Inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame (1975), National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame (1977) + Radio Hall of Fame (1989)

Michael Robert Milken (born July 4, 1946) is an American business magnate, financier, and philanthropist noted for his role in the development of the market for high-yield bonds (also called junk bonds)...

• Pioneer in the field of high yield bonds
• Founder of the Milken Family Foundation, a nonprofit that has worked with more than 1,000 organizations around the world
• Founder of the Prostate Cancer Foundation
• Founder of the Milken Institute, a nonpartisan group that strives to create a more-informed public + improved economic environment

John T. Chambers (born August 23, 1949) is Chairman of the Board and CEO of Cisco Systems, Inc. Chambers joined Cisco in 1991 as senior vice president, Worldwide Sales and Operations. Since January 1995...

• Chairman + CEO of Cisco Systems, Inc. since 1995
• Received awards for leadership including Time Magazine’s "100 Most Influential People"
• Vice Chairman of National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) under President George Bush

Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, that in 1973 became the first U.S. Triple Crown champion in 25 years, setting race records in all three events...

• 9th U.S. Triple Crown Champion (1973)
• Inducted into the U.S Racing Hall of Fame (1974)
• Memorialized on a U.S Postage Stamp (1999)

Michael William "Mike" Krzyzewski (nicknamed "Coach K"; born February 13, 1947) is an American basketball coach and former player. Since 1980, he has served as the head men's basketball coach at Duke...

• Amassed the most Division 1 NCAA men’s basketball wins in college history
• Led Duke to 13 ACC Championships, 11 Final Fours + 4 NCAA Tournament Championships (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010)
• Selected as head coach of the U.S. men’s basketball team at the 2008 Summer Olympics + winning the gold medal

Stephen Alan "Steve" Wynn (born January 27, 1942) is an American business magnate who played a pivotal role in the 1990s resurgence and expansion of the Las Vegas Strip. His companies refurbished or built...

• Founder + current CEO of Wynn Resorts, with hotels in both Las Vegas + Maccau
• 2012 Manfred Steinfeld Humanitarian Award winner
• Considered one of the greatest real estate developers in American history for his work in the hospitality sector

Masaru Ibuka (born April 11, 1908) was a Japanese electronics industrialist. In 1946 he and Akio Morita co-founded Sony Corporation, originally named Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation...

• Co-founder of Sony Corporation in 1946
• Decorated by the Emperor of Japan with the First Class Order of the Sacred Treasures (1978), the First Class Order of the Rising Sun with Grand Cordon (1986) + Order of Culture (1992)
• Received IEEE Founders Medal from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (1972)

Roger S. Penske (born February 20, 1937) is the owner of the automobile racing team Penske Racing, the Penske Corporation, and other automotive-related businesses. Penske was named 1961’s Sports Car Club...

• Owner + founder of Penske Racing + the Penske Corporation
• Corporate Director at General Electric
• Chairman of Super Bowl XL at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan (2006)

Lawrence Joseph "Larry" Ellison (born August 17, 1944 in The Bronx, New York City, New York) is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Oracle Corporation, one of the world’s leading...

• Co-founder + CEO of Oracle Corporation
• Sponsor of sailing team USA 17, which placed first in the 33rd America’s Cup
• Founder of the Ellison Medical Foundation

L. John Doerr (born June 29, 1951 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in Menlo Park, California, in Silicon Valley. In February 2009, Doerr was appointed...

• Helped lead Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers investments in Compaq, Netscape, Symantec, Sun Microsystems, Google + Amazon.com, effectively sparking the creation of Web 2.0
• Served on President Barack Obama’s Economic Recovery Board
• Inducted into the California Hall of Fame in 2010

Estée Lauder (July 1, 1906– April 24, 2004) was an American businesswoman. She was the co-founder, along with her husband, Joseph Lauder, of Estée Lauder Companies, her eponymous cosmetics company...

• Founder of Estée Lauder
• Received the French government’s Insignia of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1978
• Winner of the Gold Medal award by the city of Paris in 1979
• Recognized as one of the Ten Outstanding Women in Business (1970) + Outstanding Mother of the Year (1984)

Peter Lynch (born January 19, 1944) is a Wall Street stock investor. He is currently a research consultant at Fidelity Investments. Lynch graduated from Boston College in 1965 and earned a Master...

• Explosive growth of Fidelity’s Magellan Fund, from $18 million in assets under management in 1977 to over $14 billion when he retired in 1990
• Author of "One Up on Wall Street", "Beating the Street", and "Learn to Earn"
• Founder of the Lynch Foundation, a philanthropy-driven nonprofit organization

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British Conservative politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War...

• Two-time British Prime Minister
• Regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century
• Held a multitude of British political + cabinet positions over a 50-year career of service
• Nobel Prize for Literature (1953)

Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle (March 1, 1926 – December 6, 1996) was the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) from January 1960 to November 1989, when he retired from office...

• Commissioner of the NFL for 30 years, presiding over a period of significant growth
• Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985
• Honored as the namesake of the Super Bowl MVP trophy

Sergey Brin and Larry Page are computer scientists and internet entrepreneurs, best known as the co-founders of Google, one of the most profitable Internet companies. Page serves as CEO and Brin remains...

• Co-founders of Google Inc.
• Early investors in Tesla Motors
• Named the 5th most powerful people in the world by Forbes in 2009

Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was an Austrian-German automotive engineer and honorary Doctor of Engineering. He is best known for creating the first hybrid vehicle...

• Founder + former CEO of Porsche
• Developed the first hybrid vehicle in the 1920s
• Created the Volkswagen Beetle + Mercedes-Benz SS/SSK, as well as the first of many Porsche automobiles
• Inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1996

John Mackey (born August 15, 1953) is an American businessman. He is the former CEO of Whole Foods Market which he had co-founded in 1980. Named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2003...

• Co-founder & CEO of Whole Foods
• Active advocate of free market economics + the movement for organic food
• Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year (2003)

Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA)...

• the Career highlights include 3 NBA MVP Awards, 9 NBA Finals appearances + 12 All-Star games
• Played as a member of the "Dream Team" + won an Olympic gold medal in 1992 with the U.S. men’s basketball team
• Enshrined in Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002
• Honored as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996

Jeffrey Preston "Jeff" Bezos ( born January 12, 1964) is an American entrepreneur who played a key role in the growth of e-commerce as the founder and chief executive officer of Amazon.com, Inc...

• Founder + CEO of Amazon.com
• Time Magazine’s Person of the Year (1999)
• Recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of America's best leaders in 2008
• Recipient of The Economist Innovation Award for his work on the Amazon Kindle

Alice Louise Waters (born April 28, 1944) is a US chef, restaurateur, activist, and author. She is the owner of Chez Panisse, a Berkeley, California restaurant famous for its organic, locally grown ingredients...

• Owner of Chez Panisse, recognized as one of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants
• Author of Chez Panisse Cooking + The Art of Simple Food
• Founder of the Chez Panisse Foundation + Edible Schoolyard

John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball player and coach. Nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood", he won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period...

• Named basketball All-American three times + led his team to a national championship as a player at Purdue
• Inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player (1961) + coach (1973)
• College Basketball Player of the Year (1932)
• The Sporting News "Greatest Coach of All Time" (2009)

Philip Hampson "Phil" Knight (born February 24, 1938) is an American business magnate. A native of Oregon, he is the co-founder and chairman of Nike, Inc., and previously served as the chief executive officer of Nike...

• Co-founder + chairman of Nike
• Ran track for the University of Oregon and posted a personal best 4:10 mile
• Inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2000
• Inaugurated as a 2012 inductee to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

William Henry "Bill" Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate, computer programmer and philanthropist. Gates is the former chief executive and current chairman of Microsoft...

• Co-founder + chairman of Microsoft
• Established Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000 with a charitable endowment of $33.5 billion
• Ranked as the world’s wealthiest person overall from 1995 to 2009
• Author of The Road Ahead (1995) + Business @ the Speed of Thought (1999)

Wayne Douglas Gretzky (born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams...

• NHL’s all-time leader in goals, assists + points
• Four-time Stanley Cup Champion + five-time winner of the league’s Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship + performance
• Immediately inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame upon his retirement from the NHL in 1999
• Member of the Order of Canada

Billie Jean King (born November 22, 1943) is an American former professional tennis player. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles...

• First female commissioner in professional sports history (1984)
• Won "The Battle of the Sexes" tennis competition (1973)
• Named one of the "Ten Most Powerful Women in America" by Harper’s Bazaar (1997)
• Listed as one of the "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century" by Life Magazine (1990)

William (Bill) Redington Hewlett and Dave Packardare the founders of Hewlett-Packard. Founded in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, CA, the company specializes in developing and manufacturing computing, data storage...

• Co-founders of Hewlett-Packard
• Together, they were named the 1995 Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award Winners
• Packard served as deputy secretary of defense in President Nixon’s first administration

Marc Lowell Andreessen (born July 9, 1971) is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, software engineer, and multi-millionaire best known as co-author of Mosaic, the first widely-used web browser, and co-founder...

• One of only six inductees in the World Wide Web Hall of Fame
• Member of the board of directors of Facebook, eBay + HP
• Awarded the 1997 W. Wallace McDowell Award for his groundbreaking work surrounding Netscape

Gordon Earle Moore (born January 3, 1929) is the co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of Intel Corporation. He is the author of Moore’s Law, published in an article April 19, 1965 in Electronics Magazine...

• Author of "Moore's Law"
• Co-founded Intel Corporation with Bob Noyce in 1968
• Named member of Board of Directors for Gilead Sciences in 1996
• Received PhD in Chemistry and minor in Physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1954
• Donated $600 million to Caltech, the largest gift ever to an institution of higher education

Vinod Khosla (born January 28, 1955) is an Indian-born American venture capitalist and an influential personality in Silicon Valley. Khosla was one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems...

• Co-founder of Sun Microsystems
• Founder of Khosla Ventures, a leader in clean technology investing

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon...

• Mickey Mouse
• Disney brand + theme parks
• Multiplane camera (for animation)
• Full-length animated cartoon

Ralph Lauren (born Ralph Lifshitz, October 14, 1939) is an American fashion designer and business executive; best known for his Polo Ralph Lauren clothing brand...

• Polo brand of clothing, fragrances, housewares + other items
• Founder of Ralph Lauren Corporation

Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager (born February 13, 1923) is a retired major general in the United States Air Force and noted test pilot. He was the first pilot to travel faster than sound (1947)...

• Travel faster than the speed of sound

George Walton Lucas, Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American film producer, screenwriter, director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm...

• "Star Wars" + "Indiana Jones" saga/films
• Founder of Lucasfilm
• Founder of THX Ltd, Skywalker Sound, Industrial Light & Magic + LucasArts
• Founder of The George Lucas Educational Foundation

Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is a retired American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...

• Athlete turned business mogul
• Mega endorsements including Nike’s Air Jordan shoe brand
• "Fadeaway" jump shot
• Unparalleled NBA awards + records

The Wright brothers, Orville (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world’s first successful airplane...

• Human flight
• First practical fixed-wing aircraft
• Three-axis control technique for aircraft

Christopher Columbus (before October 13, 1451 – May 20, 1506) was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in what is today northwestern Italy...

• European discovery of American continents
• Multiple trans-Atlantic voyages
• Spanish colonization

• Starbucks’ European cafe-style setting, products + experience
• Investor in Jamba Juice

Starbucks’ European cafe-style setting, products + experience; Starbucks’ European cafe-style setting, products + experience; Investor in Jamba Juice; Investor in Jamba Juice

Andrew Carnegie (November 25, 1835 – August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...

• Founder of Carnegie Steel Company, which became U.S. Steel
• Creator of Carnegie Hall, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Institution of Washington + Carnegie Mellon University
• Founder of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, among other efforts in support of world peace

Oprah Winfrey (born Orpah Gail Winfrey January 29, 1954) is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show...

• Global influence of women + African Americans
• OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network
• Oprah's Angel Network + Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls

Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911–June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States, serving from 1981 to 1989. Prior to that, he was the 33rd Governor of California from 1967 to 1975 and a radio, film...

• Movie star turned U.S. president
• "Reaganomics"
• End of the Cold War

Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE, FRSL (born July 31,1965), better known as J. K. Rowling, is a British novelist, best known as the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series. The Potter books have gained worldwide attention...

• Creator of the Harry Potter characters + stories, the best-selling book series in history
• Rapid rise from humble means to substantial wealth, influence + charitable giving

Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879–April 18, 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics...

• Theory of Relativity
• ‘E = mc2’ (a.k.a., mass–energy equivalence)

Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs (February 24, 1955–October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, designer and inventor. He is best known as the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple...

• iPod (+ GUI)
• Mac interface/OS/mouse-control
• iTunes marketplace
• iPhone + iPad

The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960, and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...

• "British Invasion" + "Merseybeat" popularity
• Concept albums
• Orchestral + experimental accompaniments in rock/pop music

Louis Leo "Lou" Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is a retired American football coach, and active sportscaster, author, and motivational speaker. He served as the head football coach at The College of William & Mary...

• Leading multiple college football programs to bowl games
• Motivational speaking business

Herbert "Herb" Dwight Kelleher (born March 12, 1931) is the co-founder, Chairman Emeritus, and former CEO of Southwest Airlines (based in the United States)...

• Founder of Southwest Airlines
• Secondary market/airports strategy
• Customer-friendly policies + culture

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS, née Roberts (born October 13, 1925) is a British politician and the longest-serving (1979–1990) British prime minister of the 20th century...

• First + only woman to serve as Britain’s Prime Minister
• Deregulation + privatization policies

William "Bill" V. Campbell is the current Chairman of the Board and former CEO of Intuit Inc., and a board director at Apple, Inc. He formerly worked for Apple Inc. (as VP of Marketing), Claris (as CEO), and GO...

• Advancements in financial + tax prep software as former CEO + current Chariman of the Board of Intuit
• Known as the "Coach of Silicon Valley" for his role as advisor to superstars like Apple (Board Member), Google + Amazon
• Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Columbia University
• Tablet computer OS development

Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist...

• Electricity/lightning rod
• Public library
• Fire department
• Insurance company
• Bifocals

Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American baseball player who became the first black Major League Baseball (MLB) player of the modern era...

• African Americans in Major League Baseball
• Stealing home

Frank Lloyd Wright (born Frank Lincoln Wright, June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works...

• Organic architecture

Sir Ka-shing Li, GBM, KBE, JP (born June 13, 1928 in Chaozhou, China) is a Hong Kong based business magnate. He is the richest person of Asian descent in the world and the ninth richest person in the world...

• Commercial empire spanning manufacturing, retail, real estate, technology, banking, hospitality, shipping + other fields
• Li Ka-Shing Foundation
• Substantial donations to medical facility advancements + disaster relief efforts

Herbert Paul Brooks, Jr. (August 5, 1937–August 11, 2003) was an American ice hockey player and coach. He notably coached the United States’ men’s hockey team to a 4-3 upset of the heavily favored Soviet Union...

• "Miracle on Ice" upset by American amateurs over Soviet team + subsequent Olympic Gold Medal championship in 1980
• Hybrid North American + European style of hockey
• Strict player conditioning standards

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin Group of more than 400 companies. His first business venture was a magazine at the age of 16...

• Founder of Virgin Group Limited, a diverse venture capital organization consisting of more than 400 companies around the world, ranging from travel to entertainment to food/beverage to telecommunications and more
• Renewable energy technologies development ($3 billion investment pledge)

Paul David Hewson (born May 10, 1960), most commonly known by his stage name Bono, is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2...

• Rock bank U2
• Co-founder of DATA, EDUN, the ONE Campaign, Product Red
• Live 8 Concert
• Co-founder of Integral Capital (technology-centric VC firm)

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (July 18, 1918–December 5, 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999...

• Abolition of apartheid
• Leader of South African democracy + equality
• Co-founder of Umkhonto we Sizwe (part of the African National Congress)

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (April 15, 1452–May 2, 1519) was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist...

• Paintings Mona Lisa and The Last Supper
• Iconic drawing known as Vitruvian Man
• Early conceptualizing of a helicopter, tank, calculator + solar energy
• Groundbreaking discoveries in anatomy, optics + engineering

Henry Ford (July 30, 1863–April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production...

• Mass production/assembly line
• Ford Model T