John Morgridge
Category: Billionaires
Company: Cisco Systems
Industry: Technology
What Makes Him Haute: John Morgridge joined Cisco Systems, Inc. in 1988 as president and CEO (today he is chairman emeritus) and grew the company from $5 million in sales to more than $1 billion, and from 34 employees to more than 2,250. During his tenure, Cisco became the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, with more than $25 billion in revenues and some 47,000 employees in 77 countries.
Craig Newmark
Category: Entrepreneurs
Company: Craigslist.org
Industry: Technology
What Makes Him Haute: He’s the founder of the free Internet bulletin board site that played a big part in making newspaper classifieds a thing of the past. Last year, a report from a consulting firm that counted paid ads on Newmark’s network of sites estimated that the company could generate some $100 million in 2009 alone.
Jennifer Siebel & Mayor Gavin Newsom
Category: Power Couples
Company: City of San Francisco
Industry: Politics
What Makes Them Haute: When Newsom was elected to his current position as Mayor of San Francisco in 2003 at the age of 36, he was the youngest man to take on that role in more than 100 years, and he quickly made national headlines when he granted marriage licenses to same-sex couples after only 36 days in the office. He and his beautiful wife Jennifer, a former actress, welcomed their first child, a baby girl, in September of 2009. The First Lady of San Francisco supports a number of local philanthropies and institutions, and the couple can often be found attending the city’s highest profile events.
Beth Nickel
Category: Entrepreneurs
Company: Nickel & Nickel
Industry: Wine
What Makes Her Haute: Nickel is the woman behind four of Napa’s most celebrated wineries: Nickel & Nickel, Far Niente, Dolce, and En Route. She and her late husband Gil moved to Napa Valley in 1976 and began searching for the perfect properties to make world-class wines when they discovered a crumbling old stone building in Oakville, which they lovingly transformed into the current home of Far Niente, the most revered of the portfolio.
Larry Page
Category: Billionaires
Company: Google
Industry: Technology
What Makes Him Haute: Page has racked up a multibillion-dollar net worth since launching Google with Sergey Brin in 1998. He grew the company to about 200 employees before moving himself to the president of products in 2001. While the recent economic slip has reduced his overall worth by a couple of billion, Google is still the undisputed dominating force in the tech world.
Ken Paige
Category: Creators
Company: Paige Glass Company
Industry: Design
What Makes Him Haute: On a list dominated by tech titans and venture capitalists, Paige can read like a breath of fresh air. His eye for beauty translates into various categories, including art, design, and fashion. He is a well-known philanthropist, art collector, and CEO of Paige Glass Co., which has been in his family for three generations. In November 2009, Paige and his wife organized Millennium Towers’ “Icons Of Design,” the showcase of the four condos that make up the 10,000-square-foot 52nd floor of the skyscraper, in an effort to promote the building, San Francisco’s interior designers, and five Bay Area charities.
Paul & Nancy Pelosi
Category: Power Couples
Company: The United States of America
Industry: Politics
What Makes Them Haute: The Pelosis were on the San Francisco scene long before the 21st century when Nancy Pelosi was catapulted to a national stage, as she became the first female elected speaker of the House of Representatives in 2007. But she is only one-half of the haute equation here, as Paul Pelosi has made his own mark on the world, albeit in a different arena. In addition to family money, his career in the Bay Area as a financier and businessman brought more fortune to the Pelosi name. At the time of her historic appointment, the couple claimed a net worth that made her the ninth-wealthiest member out of 435 House representatives.
Tom Perkins
Category: Entrepreneurs
Company: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Industry: Venture Capitalism
What Makes Him Haute: One of Silicon Valley’s pioneers, Perkins’ venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, was an early backer of Genentech, Netscape, and Google. He is now, or has been, a director of the following firms: Acuson, Applied Materials, Compaq, CorningWorks, Genentech, Hewlett Packard, Hybritech, LSI Logic, News Corporation, Philips Electronics NV, Spectra-Physics, Symantec, and Tandem Computers. Not one to slow down, when he turned 70 several years ago, he decided to build the biggest, fastest, most technologically advanced, single-hulled sailing megayacht in the world, the 289-foot Maltese Falcon, which he sold in 2009 for around $90 million.
John Pritzker
Category: Billionaires
Company: Hyatt Hotels
Industry: Hospitality
What Makes Him Haute: This heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune was a founding board member of Ticketmaster and Chemdex/Ventro Corporation. He also is a founding partner and director of Geolo Capital, a private equity investment firm with a focus on hospitality (Hyatt, Carmel Valley Ranch), entertainment (Local TV llc, Ticketmaster), health and wellness (Western Athletic Clubs, ClubCorp), and consumer products (Aidells).
Jerry Rice
Category: Athletes
Company: 127 Foundation
Industry: Football
What Makes Him Haute: Rice is the No. 1 wide receiver in NFL history. During his career, he won three Super Bowls, was elected to the Pro Bowl 13 times, and will soon be inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He’s got some moves off the field too, which he proved during his stint on ABC’s hit show, Dancing with the Stars. He recently put his family home in Atherton on the market (a different article in this edition profiles the property). His 127 Foundation, designed to support various children’s programs in the Bay Area, was re-launched in 2009.
