HAUTE 100: Isha and Asim Abdullah, John Arrillaga, Katherine August-deWilde and more

Dr. Elisa Stephens

CATEGORY: Thinkers

COMPANY: Academy of Art University

INDUSTRY: Education

WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE?

Stephens’ grandfather started the Academy of Art University in 1929. Today, Dr. Stephens is the university’s president. She has dedicated her career to expanding the school’s curriculum and making it more visible in San Francisco.

Thomas Steyer

CATEGORY: Entrepreneurs

COMPANY: Farallon Capital Management

INDUSTRY: Finance

WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE:

Steyer is co-managing partner of Farallon Capital Management, LLC, which manages the wealth of a number of other high-profile and high-net-worth individuals on our list. It’s a position he has held since founding the company in 1986. He got his start in the Risk Arbitrage Department of Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Norah and Norman Stone

CATEGORY: Power Couples

COMPANY: Stonescape Wine

INDUSTRY: Philanthropy and Art

WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE?

Collecters Norman and Norah are art collectors, boasting a collection including works by Koons, Warhol, and Prince adorning their Beaux-Art-style mansion in San Francisco and their white farm house tucked at the base of Diamond Mountain in the Napa Valley, where they operate Stonescape Wine. The Stones have a 5,750 square-foot art cave on their Napa Valley property and transformed it into one of the most impressive private art museums in the world, where they celebrated the opening of their third exhibition, “Politics is Personal” in July.

Adrianna Pope Sullivan

CATEGORY: Philanthropists

COMPANY: El Peco Ranch

INDUSTRY: Philanthropist

WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE?

In addition to her role as co-chair of Opera Ball 2009, Sullivan is an associate director of the Opera Guild. She brings excellent experience to the role; professionally, she is involved in her family’s farming business in San Joaquin Valley, as well as with the Carlisle Collection, a women’s fashion company based in New York. In addition to co-producing “Classical Action,” which raised more than $1 million for local AIDS charities, she is a vice president of Madera County for the Society of Pioneers.

Peter Thiel

CATEGORY: Billionaires

COMPANY: Clarium Capital

INDUSTRY: Technology

WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE?

Thiel is currently president and the chairman of Clarium Capital’s investment committee, which oversees the firm’s research, investment, and trading strategies. He’s also the founder and a managing partner at The Founders Fund. Before starting and Clarium, Thiel was chairman and CEO of PayPal, which he co-founded in December of 1998; four years later, it was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion. He also co-founded Palantir Technologies and is an outside investor in Facebook.

Michael Tilson Thomas

CATEGORY: Thinkers

COMPANY: San Francisco Symphony

INDUSTRY: Music

WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE?

As the Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, Founder and Artistic Director of the New World Symphony and Principle Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, Tilson Thomas is one of San Francisco’s most celebrated cultural icons.

Maxx and Trevor Traina

CATEGORY: Entrepreneurs

COMPANY: DriverSide, Verdiem, MyEtone and SchemaLogic.

INDUSTRY: Technology

WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE?

His official bio on HuffingtonPost.com, where he contributes as a guest columnist, credits Trevor Traina as a San Francisco-based technology entrepreneur, but he also sits on the boards of

DriverSide, Verdiem, MyEtone and SchemaLogic.

And then there’s his half-brother Maxx Traina, the son of Danielle Steel and vintner John Traina, another respected member of San Francisco’s elite.

Meg Whitman

CATEGORY:  Entrepreneurs

COMPANY: Hewlett Packard

INDUSTRY: Technology

WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE: As President and CEO of Hewlett-Packard, this Princeton and Harvard graduate, previously served as an executive in the Walt Disney Company, DreamWorks, Procter & Gamble, and Hasbro.  Immediately before going to HP, she was President and CEO of eBay. Whitman was the Republican candidate in California’s most recent gubernatorial race.  Though she did not win, she made history by spending more of her own money than any other political candidate spent on a single election in American history.

Dede Wilsey

CATEGORY: Philanthropists

COMPANY: Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco

INDUSTRY: Art & Culture

WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE?

Her great grandfather, Herbert Henry Dow, was the founder of Dow Chemical. Her father was U.S. ambassador to Luxemburg and Austria, as well as White House Chief of Protocol under Dwight Eisenhower. Today, she is a prominent figure in the art and culture worlds in San Francisco, leading the rebuilding of the Golden Gate Park’s De Young Museum and sitting on the boards of the San Francisco Ballet and the San Francisco Opera. Wilsey is president of the board of trustees of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Brian Wilson

CATEGORY: Athlete

COMPANY: San Francisco Giants

INDUSTRY: Baseball

WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE:

San Francisco Giants relief pitcher and MLB All-Star, Brian Wilson, is widely accepted as one of baseball’s best closers.  He is just as well loved for his funny character as he is for his consistently strong performance on the diamond.  He is a late night talk regular and the hilarious star of commercials and viral Internet videos.

Jessa Wu

CATEGORY: Philanthropists

COMPANY: San Francisco Symphony

INDUSTRY: Philanthropy

WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE?

This haute lister has been the chair of the San Francisco Symphony’s most important night of the season – the Opening Night Gala. The Hong Kong native has called the City by the Bay home for almost 20 years and cut her teeth in the gala-planning process when she first became involved as an honorary chairperson of the Chinese New Year Celebration Concert in 2004.

Jed York

CATEGORY: Entrepreneurs

COMPANY: San Francisco 49ers

INDUSTRY: Football

WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE?

Jed York is the President and CEO of one of the most storied and celebrated football franchises in all of the NFL—the San Francisco 49ers. He also holds the title of Haute Living’s own youngest cover subject. The 49ers first entered the family by way of Jed’s grandfather Edward J. DeBartolo Sr., who purchased the franchise in 1977. Under the eldest DeBartolo’s watch, the team flourished into an NFL dynasty, and his son Eddie continued the trend during his tenure as president and owner. The 49ers team in the ‘80s and ‘90s had a bit of a dynasty. York’s goal is to restore them to that same glory.

CATEGORY: Thinkers

COMPANY: Facebook

INDUSTRY: Technology

WHAT MAKES THEM HAUTE: As founder and CEO of the most popular social networking site in the world, Zuckerberg still guides the overall direction and product strategy for Facebook, leads the design, and even the development of its core technology and infrastructure, according to Facebook’s website. Zuckerberg attended Harvard University, the site of Facebook’s inception. The company is now located in Palo Alto, California.