1 )) Dieter Zetsche (born on May 5, 1953 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a German businessman

and the Chairman of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars since 2006 as well as
member of the company's Board of Management since 1998.

He was born while his father, Herbert Zetsche, a civil engineer, was temporarily in
Turkey for a dam construction project. The family returned to Germany in 1956. Dieter
Zetsche attended school in Oberursel (near Frankfurt am Main) and studied electrical
engineering from 1971 to 1976 at the University of Karlsruhe; he graduated as an
engineer.

He joined Daimler-Benz in 1976, working in the research department. In 1981, he

became Assistant Development Manager at the Vehicles business unit. He completed his
doctorate in engineering in 1982 at the University of Paderborn.

He became a member of the DaimlerChrysler's Board of Management in 1998 and served

the President/CEO of Chrysler Group from mid of 2000 to December 31, 2005, where he
was credited with a turnaround of DCX's American operations. Since January 1, 2006, he
succeeded Jürgen Schrempp as Chairman of DaimlerChrysler (now Daimler AG), being
succeeded in the position of Chrysler Group CEO by Thomas W. LaSorda..

Dieter Zetsche is credited with bringing significant core changes to the Mercedes-Benz
company in an effort to turn around a decade long downward spiral in product quality
and customer satisfaction. He was named in Time Magazine's 2006's list of 100 most
influential people.

2)) Stephen Elop (born 31 December, 1963, in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada)[1] is the
president and chief executive officer of Nokia Corporation. A Canadian citizen, Elop is
the first non-Finn to be named CEO of Nokia. He replaced Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo in these
positions on September 21, 2010.[2][3]

Career

Before starting at Nokia, Elop worked for Microsoft as the head of the Business Division,
responsible for the Microsoft Office line of products, and as a member of the company's
senior leadership team. Before this, he was the COO of Juniper Networks, the president
of worldwide field operations at Adobe Systems, and the CEO of Macromedia until
acquisition by Adobe.[4][5]

Education

From 1981, Elop studied computer engineering and management at McMaster

University, Hamilton, Ontario, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1986.
3)) Mihalis "Mike" Lazaridis, OC, O.Ont (born March 14, 1961) is the founder and co-
CEO of Research In Motion (RIM), which created and manufactures the BlackBerry
wireless handheld device. He is also a former chancellor of the University of Waterloo,
and an Officer of the Order of Canada.

On October 23, 2000, Lazaridis founded the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
with $100 million of personal funds, along with $10 million contributions from fellow
RIM executives Jim Balsillie and Douglas Fregin.

Awards and accolades

On October 21, 2000, Lazaridis received an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from
the University of Waterloo, and in June 2003, he became its eighth chancellor. He was
named Canada's Nation Builder of the Year for 2002 by readers of The Globe and Mail
newspaper. In 2006, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the
Order of Ontario [3].

4)) Steven Paul Jobs (born February 24, 1955) is an American business magnate and
inventor. He is well known for being the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple.
Jobs also previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a
member of the board of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of
Pixar by Disney.

In the late 1970s, Jobs, with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula,[11] and
others, designed, developed, and marketed one of the first commercially successful lines
of personal computers, the Apple II series. In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to
see the commercial potential of the mouse-driven graphical user interface which led to
the creation of the Macintosh.[12][13] After losing a power struggle with the board of
directors in 1985,[14][15] Jobs resigned from Apple and founded NeXT, a computer
platform development company specializing in the higher education and business
markets. Apple's subsequent 1996 buyout of NeXT brought Jobs back to the company he
co-founded, and he has served as its CEO since 1997.

In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd which was spun off
as Pixar Animation Studios.[16] He remained CEO and majority shareholder until its
acquisition by the Walt Disney company in 2006.[3] Jobs is currently a member of
Disney's Board of Directors.[17][18]

Jobs' history in business has contributed much to the symbolic image of the idiosyncratic,
individualistic Silicon Valley entrepreneur, emphasizing the importance of design and
understanding the crucial role aesthetics play in public appeal. His work driving forward
the development of products that are both functional and elegant has earned him a
devoted following.[19]
Jobs is listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor in over 230 awarded patents or
patent applications related to a range from actual computer and portable devices to user
interfaces (including touch-based), speakers, keyboards, power adapters, staircases,
clasps, sleeves, lanyards and packages.[20][21]

5)) Sir Howard Stringer (born February 19, 1942) is a Welsh-born American
businessman and the chairman, president and CEO of Sony Corporation.

Personal life

Stringer was born in Cardiff, Wales, the son of Marjorie Mary (née Pook), a Welsh
schoolteacher and coal trimmer, and Harry Stringer, an English sergeant in the Royal Air
Force.[2][3][4] He emigrated to the United States in 1965, and served in the United States
Army during the Vietnam War. Stringer became a naturalized citizen in 1985 and now
holds dual US-UK citizenship.[4] His younger brother, Rob Stringer, is chairman of Sony
Music Label Group. In 1978, Stringer married Jennifer A. Kinmond Patterson. They have
two children.

Stringer attended the Oundle School in Northamptonshire and received a Master of Arts
from the University of Oxford in Modern History.[5] He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth
II on December 31, 1999.

Career

Stringer had a 30-year career at CBS, where he was a journalist, producer and senior
executive. He served as president of CBS from 1988 to 1995, where he was responsible
for all the broadcast activities of its entertainment, news, sports, radio and television
stations.[5]

Highlights of his career at CBS

• Executive producer of "CBS Reports" (1976–1981)[6]

• Executive producer of "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather" (1981–1984)[6]
• President of CBS News (1986–1988)[6]
• President of CBS, Inc. (1988–1995)[6]

He won nine Emmys at CBS for the following programs: "The Rockefellers", "The
Palestinians", "A Tale Of Two Irelands", "The Defense Of The United States", "The Boat
People", "The Boston Goes To China", "The Fire Next Door", and "The CIA's Secret
Army".
6)) Santo Versace (born December 16, 1944 in Reggio Calabria) is the president and co-
chief executive officer of Gianni Versace SpA, based in Milan, Italy. Since 2008 he has
been elected as Member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Republic in the
constituency of Calabria. He is a member of The People of Freedom political movement.

Personal life

In 1998, Santo was appointed president of the Italian Fashion Chamber where he served
from 1998–1999. Santo is married to Cristiana. They live in Milan with their two
children, Francesca and Antonio. He is also the uncle of his sister Donatella's two
children, Allegra and Daniel.

Career & professional life

In 1968 Santo graduated from the University of Messina with a degree in economics. He
began working first as a banker in Reggio Calabria for Credito Italiano and later as a high
school teacher of economics and geography. In 1972, he completed his military service as
an officer in the “Genova cavallria.” Upon completion of his service, Santo opened his
own accounting office in both Reggio Calabria and Milan. In 1976, he joined his brother
Gianni Versace in Milan to support him in his rising career.

In 1977, Santo Versace, along with Gianni, founded the Gianni Versace trademark. Santo
played a leading role in the success of the Versace brand by focusing on communication,
organization, productivity, and quality. He oversaw all areas of the business--including
sales, distribution, production and finance--and quickly became one of the industry's
leading and most well-respected businesspeople.

With their sister, Donatella, the team built the Versace Empire into a worldwide luxury
company generating over $1 billion per year in retail sales. Today, together with
Donatella, Santo continues to lead the house of Versace.

7)) Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British industrialist,
best known for his Virgin Group of over 360 companies.

At age 16, Branson had his first successful business venture, publishing a magazine
called Student.[1] In 1970, he set up an audio record mail-order business. In 1972, he
opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records, later known as Virgin Megastores.
Branson's Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s—as he set up Virgin Atlantic
Airways and expanded the Virgin Records music label.

Richard Branson is the 212th richest person in the world according to Forbes' 2009
(Updated 03.10.10) list of billionaires, with an estimated net worth of approximately
£2.97 billion (US$4.0billion).[2]
Branson was educated at Scaitcliffe School (now Bishopsgate School)[5] until the age of
thirteen. He then attended Stowe School until the age of sixteen. Branson has dyslexia
and had poor academic performance as a student, but later discovered his ability to
connect with others.

8)) Bernard Arnault (born 5 March 1949) is a French businessman. He is the founder,
chairman, and CEO of LVMH, a large luxury goods conglomerate consisting of over fifty
luxury brands, including Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Fendi.[2][3][4] According to Forbes
Magazine, Arnault is the world's 7th richest person, with a 2010 net worth of $US27.5
billion.[5]

Education and business career

Arnault was born in Roubaix. After graduating from the Maxence Van Der Meersch High
School, Arnault was admitted to the École Polytechnique (X1969) from which he
graduated with an engineering degree in 1971. After graduation, Arnault joined his
father's company. In 1976, he convinced his father to liquidate the construction division
of the company for 40 million francs, and to change the focus of company to real estate.
Using the name Férinel, the new company develops a specialty holiday accommodation.
In 1979, he succeeded his father as president of the company.

When François Mitterrand was elected President of France in 1981, Arnault emigrated to
the United States and created Ferinel Inc. Through this vehicle, Arnault undertook
construction activity in the United States, developing an apartment complex in limited
partnership form in West Palm Beach, Florida, which defaulted on its mortgage shortly
after its completion. The equity investors lost their entire investment and bondholders
who had financed the project lost most of their money as well. He was not particularly
successful in the United States. Three years later, when the French Socialists switched to
a more conservative economic course, Arnault returned to France and became the CEO of
Financière Agache, a luxury goods company. With the help of Antoine Bernheim,
managing partner of the Banque Lazard investment firm, and government subsidies
conferred in exchange for a promise not to downsize, Arnault acquired Boussac, a textile
company in turmoil. The Arnault family put up just $15 million of their own money, with
Lazard supplying the rest of the reported $80 million purchase price. [6] Arnault sold
nearly all the company's assets, keeping only the prestigious Christian Dior brand, and Le
Bon Marché department store[7].

In 1987, shortly after the creation of LVMH, Mr Arnault exploited a growing conflict
between Alain Chevalier, Moët Hennessy's CEO, and Henry Recamier, president of
Louis Vuitton. The new group held property rights to Dior perfumes, which Arnault
craved to incorporate into Dior Couture. He created a holding company of which he
owned 60% and Guinness, who had a distribution agreement with Moët-Hennessy,
owned 40%. Following the October 1987 stock market crash, he capitalized on the lower
quoted price and soon owned 43% of LVMH. He then consolidated his position by
purging executives from both companies including appointing his father Jean Leon
Arnault Chairman of the Supervisory board before officially taking over as Chairman &
CEO in 1989.

In 2007 he acquired 10.69% of France's Largest Supermarket Retailer and the World's
Second largest Food Distributor Carrefour through his Blue Capital which is jointly
owned by California Property Firm Colony Capital.

He has since then led the company through an ambitious development plan, turning it
into one of the largest luxury groups in the world, alongside Swiss luxury giant
Richemont and French based PPR Group.

Among other companies, Arnault also owned the art auction house, Phillips de Pury &
Company from 1999 to 2003.[8]

9)) William Henry "Bill" Gates III (born October 28, 1955)[2] is an American business
magnate, philanthropist, author and chairman[3] of Microsoft, the software company he
founded with Paul Allen. He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people[4]
and was the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2009, excluding 2008, when he was ranked
third.[5] During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief
software architect, and remains the largest individual shareholder with more than 8
percent of the common stock.[6] He has also authored or co-authored several books.

Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution.

Although he is admired by many, a number of industry insiders criticize his business
tactics, which they consider anti-competitive, an opinion which has in some cases been
upheld by the courts (see Criticism of Microsoft).[7][8] In the later stages of his career,
Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors, donating large amounts of
money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000.

Bill Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in January 2000. He
remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect. In June 2006,
Gates announced that he would be transitioning from full-time work at Microsoft to part-
time work and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He gradually
transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie, chief software architect and Craig Mundie, chief
research and strategy officer. Gates' last full-time day at Microsoft was June 27, 2008. He
remains at Microsoft as non-executive chairman.

At 13 he enrolled in the Lakeside School, an exclusive preparatory school.[13] When he

was in the eighth grade, the Mothers Club at the school used proceeds from Lakeside
School's rummage sale to buy an ASR-33 teletype terminal and a block of computer time
on a General Electric (GE) computer for the school's students.[14] Gates took an interest in
programming the GE system in BASIC and was excused from math classes to pursue his
interest. He wrote his first computer program on this machine: an implementation of tic-
tac-toe that allowed users to play games against the computer. Gates graduated from
Lakeside School in 1973. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on the SAT[19] and enrolled at
Harvard College in the autumn of 1973.[20]
10))
Mark Parker is Nike, Inc.'s third CEO, after William Perez resigned in January 2006
citing differences with his predecessor as CEO, Phil Knight.

Parker was born in Poughkeepsie, New York and earned his bachelor's degree in political
science at Penn State University in 1977. He ran on the Penn State track team.[1] He
joined Nike in 1979 as a footwear designer based in its R&D facility in Exeter, New
Hampshire.

Parker has held a variety of positions during his tenure at Nike. He became Division Vice
President in charge of development in 1987, Corporate Vice President in 1989, General
Manager in 1993, and Vice President of Global Footwear in 1998.[2] Prior to becoming
CEO, he served as co-president (with Charlie Denson) of the Nike brand beginning
March 2001. Parker's salary for 2008 was $7.6 million. He still participates in shoe
design.[1]

Parker has committed to ensuring that Nike remain environmentally conscious. After 10
years of work, Parker and his team launched the first "Green Shoe" that adheres to the
principles of sustainability. [3]

[edit] Compensation

While CEO of Nike in 2008, Mark G. Parker earned a total compensation of $7,620,744,
which included a base salary of $1,376,923, a cash bonus of $2,682,684, stocks granted
of $1,500,000, and options granted of $1,872,450.