Fred Segal
Category: Entrepreneurs
Industry: Fashion
Company: Fred Segal
What Makes Him Haute: He founded the trendy Fred Segal boutique in 1960 when he opened the world’s first jeans-only boutique. The concept that garnered him success soon expanded into full-fledged fashion haven Fred Segal Santa Monica. The beach location is so massive that they expanded to two buildings across the street from one another, both jam-packed with the latest trends while waiting on celebrity clientele.
Henry Segerstrom
Category: Originators
Industry: Real Estate
Company: C.J. Segerstrom & Sons
What Makes Him Haute: A managing partner of South Coast Plaza, and owner of C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, one of the largest real estate empires in California, Henry was integral to the expansion of the Orange County Performing Arts Center (which included the $200 million Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall) and the surrounding “arts park” complex.
John Simonian
Category: Entrepreneurs
Industry: Watches
Company: Westime
What Makes Him Haute: He is owner and CEO of the highly successful luxury watch boutique Westime, which currently has two locations in West L.A. and on Rodeo Drive, and is opening a second store on Sunset Boulevard. Simonian’s signature boutique is a watch collector’s dream, featuring brands like Dior, Audemars Piguet, Richard Mille, and the recently added Tiffany & Co. Watch Collection.
Will Smith & Jada Pinkett Smith
Category: Power Couples
Industry: Film/Television
What Makes Them Haute: The “Fresh Prince” is scheduled to start filming Men in Black III within the next few weeks, while Mrs. Smith continues to star in the TV series, Hawthorne, for which she won the 2010 NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series.” Together, the husband-and-wife team has founded the Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation, a charity dedicated to inner-city children and their families.
Stacey Snider
Category: Thinkers
Industry: Film
Company: DreamWorks SKG
What Makes Her Haute: Ranked as one of the 50 most important women in business, Snider went from running Universal Studios to becoming co-chairman of DreamWorks with Steven Spielberg. The company ended its two-year partnership with Paramount in 2008 and signed a $1.2 billion deal to produce films with India’s Reliance.
Steven Soderbergh
Category: Originator
Industry: Film
What Makes Him Haute: This producer, cinematographer, and Academy Award-winning director is best known for the thought-provoking Traffic, Erin Brockovich, The Informant!, Che, and the Ocean’s 11 franchise.
Steven Spielberg
Category: Billionaires
Industry: Film
Company: DreamWorks
What Makes Him Haute: Arguably the world’s most famous filmmaker, Spielberg currently has more than 30 projects underway, including Indiana Jones 5, War Horse, and an untitled Martin Luther King Jr. project.
Sylvester Stallone & Jennifer Flavin-Stallone
Category: Power Couples
Industry: Film/Cosmetics
Company: Seriesse International
What Makes Them Haute: He is forever Rocky and Rambo, but his recent film The Expendables, which Stallone wrote, directed, and starred in, was the biggest opening weekend of his career. Mrs. Stallone is the co-owner of $1 billion skincare and wellness company, Seriesse International.
Frank Symons
Category: Entrepreneurs
Industry: Real Estate
Company: Sotheby’s International Realty
What Makes Him Haute: He currently serves as executive vice president and COO of Sotheby’s International Realty western region and has helped established more than 25 offices throughout California, including greater Los Angeles area, Santa Barbara, Carmel/Monterey, Ventura, and San Francisco.
Quentin Tarantino
Category: Originators
Industry: Film
What Makes Him Haute: The unconventional director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, and actor, known for his over-the-top, outlandish usage of violence, is often declared one of Hollywood’s best and most creative minds. The originator of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and the Kill Bill series received multiple Academy Award nominations for Inglorious Bastards, his highest-grossing movie to date.
Arn and Nancy Tellem
Category: Power Couples
Industry: Television
Company: SFX Sports Group/CBS
What Makes Them Haute: He’s a legendary sports agent; she’s the former president/now senior advisor of the CBS Paramount Television Network Entertainment Group and ranked one of the 50 most influential women in business. She was responsible for spearheading the company’s efforts to expand its content into new media and across all emerging platforms, including the development and production of original content for CBS.com, the CBS Audience Network, and wireless.
Steve Tisch
Category: Thinkers
Industry: Film
Company: Escape Artists
What Makes Him Haute: The award-winning film and television producer (Forrest Gump, American History X, The Pursuit of Happyness, and Snatch) is also chairman of the New York Giants. In March, he was elected to the board of trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
John Tu
Category: Billionaires
Industry: Technology
Company: Kingston Technology
What Makes Him Haute: This self-made billionaire co-founded Kingston with David Sun, which is currently the largest computer memory firm. When they sold an 80 percent stake in Kingston Technology in 1996 for $1.5 billion, they spent $100 million of it on lavish bonuses for their employees, with the average bonus exceeding $100,000.
Thomas Tull
Category: Entrepreneurs
Industry: Film
Company: Legendary Pictures
What Makes Him Haute: He founded Legendary Pictures, the strategic production company that unites private equity investors with film producers. It was this genius that led to a seven-year, 40-picture contract with Warner Bros. in 2005. As president and CEO, Tull has overseen dozens of successful projects, including recent blockbusters The Hangover, Where the Wild Things Are, and Inception.
Ronald Tutor
Category: Thinkers
Industry: Real Estate
Company: Tutor Perini Corporation
What Makes Him Haute: He is a construction magnate and CEO of the Tutor Perini Corporation. In July, Walt Disney Co. sold Miramax Films to Tutor’s Filmyard Holding investor group for $660 Million.
Katsuya Uechi
Category: Entrepreneurs
Industry: Hospitality
Company: Katsuya
What Makes Him Haute: He’s only one of four Master Sushi Chefs in all of Los Angeles and has helped with the success of several establishments, including four Katsuya by Starck and four Katsu-Ya Sushi restaurants.
Antonio Villaraigosa
Category: Thinkers
Industry: Politics
Company: The City of Los Angeles
What Makes Him Haute: The first Hispanic mayor in LA’s 133-year history has revitalized the city with infrastructure projects, the wooing of tech companies, actively supporting small business, ensuring growth of the area’s unique creative capital, and an emphasis on education. His latest venture is a gang-reduction program for the city.
Mark Wahlberg
Category: Entertainers
Industry: Film/Television
What Makes Him Haute: Long gone are the days of Marky Mark. Today, he is co-executive producer for the HBO television series Entourage, which is in its seventh season, and the buzzed about Boardwalk Empire, a TV series set in Atlantic City during Prohibition. The Other Guys, which launched in early August, is Walhberg’s first comedy, not counting his stint with Andy Sandberg on Saturday Night Live this past season.
