From Cornelius Vanderbilt to Henry Ford to Steve Jobs to Mark Zuckerberg, get to know key innovators, founders, and leaders in American Business from the early part of the country until to today.
Featured Business Founders and Leaders
- P. T. Barnum – Showman, Businessman and Politician (1810 – 1891)
- Jeff Bezos – Founder of Amazon (1964)
- Truett Cathy – Founder of Chick-Fil-A (1921-2014)
- Yvon Chouinard – Founder of Patagonia (1938-)
- Joe Coulombe – Founder of Trader Joe’s (1930-2020)
- John Deere – Inventor and Businessman (1804-1886)
- Walt Disney – Founder of The Walt Disney Company and Disneyland (1901-1966)
- Marshall Field – Found of Marshall Field’s (1834-1906)
- Henry Ford – American Auto Industrialist and Businessman (1863-1947)
- Bill Gates – Co-Founder of Microsoft (1955-)
- Lee Iacocca – Automobile Executive (1924-2019)
- Bob Iger – Media Executive (1951-)
- Steve Jobs – Co-Founder of Apple (1955-2011)
- Phil Knight – Founder of Nike (1938-)
- Elon Musk – Innovator and Founder of Tesla, SpaceX, etc. (1971-)
- Ted Turner – Entrepreneur and Founder of CNN (1938-)
- Paul Van Doren – Co-Founder of Vans (1930-2021)
- Madam C. J. Walker – Early Cosmetics Industry Entrepreneur (1867-1919)
- Sam Waltman – Founder of Walmart (1918-1992)
- Jack Welch – CEO of General Electric (1935-2020)
- Oprah Winfrey – Media Personality and Businesswoman (1954-)
- Mark Zuckerberg – Founder of Facebook / Meta (1984-)
Industrialists of the Gilded Age
- Andrew Carnegie – Steel Industrialist and Philanthropist (1835-1919)
- James Fisk – Financier and Stock Market Speculator (1835-1872)
- Jay Gould – Railroad Magnate and Financial Speculator (1836-1892)
- E.H. Harriman – Financier and Railroad Executive (1848-1909)
- J. P. (John Pierpont) Morgan – Financier and Investment Banker (1837-1913)
- John D. Rockefeller – Founder Standard Oil Company, Magnate and Philanthropist (1839-1937)
- Charles M. Schwab – American Steel Magnate (1862-1939)
- Cornelius Vanderbilt – Railroad and Shipping Business Magnate (1794-1877)
Money Experts
- Warren Buffett – Investor and Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (1930-)
- Raymond Dalio – Billionaire Investor and Hedge Fund Manager (1949-)
- Milton Friedman – Economist and Statistician (1912-2006)
- Benjamin Graham -Investor, Professor, and “Father of Value Investing” (1894-1976)
- Hetty Green – Businesswoman and Queen of Wall Street during Gilded Age (1834-1916)
- Alan Greenspan – Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve (1926-)
- Carl Icahn – Investor, and Philanthropist (1936-)
- Jacob Little – 19th-century Wall Street investor and “Great Bear of Wall Street” (1794-1865)
- Charlie Munger – Investor and Warren Buffet Business Partner (1924-2023)
- George Soros – Billionaire Investor and Philanthropist (1930-)
- John Templeton – Investor and Fund Manager (1912-2008)
- Adam Smith – Father of Modern Economics (writings influenced U.S. founding fathers: 1723–1790)
Inventors & Business
- Alexander Graham Bell – Inventor and Businessman (1847-1922)
- Thomas Edison – Inventor and Businessman (1847-1931)
- Benjamin Franklin – Publisher, Patriot, Scientist and Entrepreneur (1706-1790)
- Orville Wright & Wilbur Wright – Aviation Pioneers and Businessmen (OW 1871–1948 / WW 1867–1912)
Strategy, Academics & Influencers
- Igor Ansoff – Professor Strategic Management, the “Ansoff Matrix” (1918-2002)
- Bill Bain – Founder Bain & Company, Management Consultant (1937-2018)
- Joe Bain – Economist, Professor, Expert Industrial Organization (1912-1991)
- (Jim) James C. Collins – Author, Researcher, and Business Consultant (1958-)
- Clayton Christensen – Academic, Consultant, Theory of “Disruptive Innovation” (1952-2020)
- W. Edwards Deming – Father of TQM, Industrial Engineer, Management Consultant (1900-1993)
- Peter F. Drucker – Management Consultant, Educator (1909-2005)
- Fred Gluck – Consultant, Devleoped “Centers of Competence” (1935-)
- Gary Hamel – Professor, Author, Management Consultant (1954-)
- Bruce Henderson – Founder Boston Consulting Group (1915-1992)
- Frederick Herzberg – Academic, Field of Industrial / Organizational Psychology (1923-2000)
- Albert S. Humphrey – Popularized SWOT analysis (1926-2005)
- Robert Kaplan & David Norton – Business Theorists, Created Balanced Scorecard (1940/41-)
- Philip Kotler – Academic, Author, “Marketing Mix” (1931-)
- Abraham Maslow – Psychologist, Developed “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs” (1908-1970)
- James O. McKinsey – Professor, Founder of McKinsey & Company
- Michael Porter – Academic, Theories on Economics & Strategy, Author (1947-)
More Business Leaders, Entrepreneurs, Etc.
- Andy Grove
- Alfred Sloan
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