Sheryl Sandberg
CATEGORY: Entrepreneurs
COMPANY: Facebook
INDUSTRY: Technology
WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE:
Sandberg is COO of Facebook, growing its user base to 800 million and counting – she also helped monetize the social networking site. Sandberg’s responsibilities at the mogul social networking site include sales, marketing, business development, human resources, public policy and communications. Before her time at Facebook, she was Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google
In addition to her haute list status, she was also named one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business by Fortune.
Jerry Sanders III
CATEGORY: Entrepreneurs
COMPANY: Advances Micro Devices
INDUSTRY: Technology
WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE?
A champion of competition, Sanders, as co-founder and CEO of semiconductor manufacturer AMD, competitor to Intel. Before he stepped aside in 2002, AMD thrived while thousands of firms ended up in the tech graveyard. What is truly remarkable about Sanders is his love for the people in his company. His motto is “people first, products and profit will follow!”
Eric Schmidt
CATEGORY: Billionaires
COMPANY: Google
INDUSTRY: Technology
WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE?
Schmidt was brought on board at Google in 2001 and took the company public in 2004. He served as chief executive for Google from 2001-2011 and when Schmidt parted ways with Google in 2011, they gifted him with $100 million dollars. He serves on the board of trustees for Carnegie Mellon University and Princeton University, is a member of President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology PCAST and is chairman of the board of directors for the New America Foundation.
Charles Schwab
CATEGORY: Billionaires
COMPANY: Charles Schwab
INDUSTRY: Finance
WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE?
The man who famously brought Wall Street back to Main Street by undercutting the big brokerage houses in the late 1970s was also one of the first to bring investing online. Today, Charles Schwab & Co. holds close to $1.65 trillion of client assets and a $25 billion bank. Schwab himself boasts a net worth of $3.5 billion and ranked No. 91 on the Forbes 400 and No. 223 on the Forbes Billionaires List, both in 2011.
Naveen Selvadurai
CATEGORY: Entrepreneur
COMPANY: Foursquare
INDUSTRY: Technology
WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE: This entrepreneur co-founded the technological venture Foursquare—a location-based social networking site for mobile devices. The joint venture is now valued at $600 million and Selvadurai has been named one to watch by AOL and Fox Business Network.
Gary Shansby
CATEGORY: Entrepreneurs
COMPANY: Partida Tequila
INDUSTRY: Venture Capitalist
WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE?
He’s a private-equity-firm investor turned tequila entrepreneur who happens to have the priciest home on the market in Sonoma—a 362-acre spread that features a stunning 11,600-square-foot, Tuscan-style villa on a hilltop. He bought the completely undeveloped property in 1990 for a little more than $3 million, and transformed it into a lavish estate that boasts a pool, spa, a 10-acre vineyard with Syrah grapes, a two-bedroom guesthouse, and horse stables. The $35 million property has since sold to a renowned wealthy financier. Shansby also renovated a townhouse in the Nob Hill neighborhood where he lives with his wife, OJ.
Kavitark Ram Shriram
CATEGORY: Billionaires
COMPANY: Sherpalo Ventures
INDUSTRY: Venture Capitalism
WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE?
He’s called the Sherpa of Google not just because he wrote a six-figure check for its growth, but also because he was involved in the formation of the DNA of the company (he still sits on the board). The self-made billionaire started at Netscape, launched shopping site Junglee (sold to Amazon in 98), and then founded Sherpalo in 2000.
Today, he runs his investment firm Sherpalo Ventures and is a backer of StumbleUpon and Inkling. Besides Google, he’s gone on to back Yodlee, Zazzle.com, and currently backs Indian and American outfits like Inkling and 24/7 Customer. He is worth an estimated $1.6 billion.
Thomas Siebel
CATEGORY: Billionaires
COMPANY: Siebel Systems
INDUSTRY: Technology
WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE:
The self-made tech billionaire got his start in the industry as a salesman for Larry Ellison’s Oracle. But when Ellison opted against Siebel’s sales-tracking software, Siebel launched his own company. Siebel Systems went public in 1996 and eventually was sold to Oracle in 2005 for the astounding price of $5.9 billion, securing Siebel a personal $500 million. Today, Siebel is chairman of holding company First Virtual Group and is the founder of the Siebel Foundation.
John A. Sobrato
CATEGORY: Billionaires
COMPANY: The Sobrato Organization
INDUSTRY: Real Estate
WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE?
Sobrato’s Cupertino-based development firm specializes in residential and commercial real estate. His company’s holdings include 7.6 million square feet of commercial office space, 7,500 apartments and 250 vacant acres in Silicon Valley. He is a philanthropist in the Bay area, and, together with his family, he created the Sobrato Family Foundation.
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November 22, 2011Joyce Rey's Blog: My Chat With Wolfgang Puck
