Richard Uihlein, founder and CEO of Uline, built one of America’s largest privately held business suppliers by turning packaging and shipping materials into a high-volume, service-driven empire. Starting the company in 1980 with his wife Elizabeth, Uihlein scaled Uline through catalog and e-commerce distribution, relentless logistics efficiency, and a reputation for fast delivery across the United States. Known for conservative management, strict operational discipline, and privately owned growth, he has expanded Uline into a dominant force in B2B supply chains while maintaining a low public profile outside business and philanthropy.

Richard Kayne, cofounder and CEO of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, built one of the leading U.S. alternative investment firms focused on real assets, with deep expertise in energy infrastructure, real estate, and credit. Since founding Kayne Anderson in 1984, Kayne has guided the firm through multiple market cycles by emphasizing asset-backed investing, disciplined underwriting, and long-term partnerships with operators. Under his leadership, the platform expanded across private equity, direct lending, and public market strategies tied to essential infrastructure. Kayne’s career reflects a long-horizon approach to capital deployment in sectors where durability and cash flow matter most.

Richard Fairbank, founder and CEO of Capital One, reshaped consumer finance by applying data science and direct marketing to credit, turning a niche issuer into one of America’s largest banks. After early roles in consulting and banking, Fairbank launched Capital One in the 1990s with a belief that analytics could price risk more precisely and expand access to credit. Under his leadership, the company grew into a diversified financial institution spanning credit cards, auto lending, and consumer banking, while investing heavily in technology and digital-first operations. Known for long-term execution and analytical rigor, Fairbank remains a defining architect of modern fintech-driven banking.

Richard Barton, serial entrepreneur and cofounder of Zillow and Expedia, has repeatedly built category-defining consumer internet companies by applying transparency, data, and user-first design to opaque markets. After helping launch Expedia inside Microsoft, Barton went on to cofound Zillow, reshaping real estate search through pricing data and digital discovery tools, and later founded Glassdoor to bring similar transparency to the labor market. Known for a consistent “power to the people” philosophy, Barton has influenced how millions make decisions about homes, jobs, and travel.

Reid Hoffman, cofounder of LinkedIn, is one of Silicon Valley’s most influential entrepreneurs and investors, known for shaping professional networking at global scale. After early roles at PayPal and Socialnet, Hoffman launched LinkedIn in 2002, turning it into the world’s dominant platform for career identity, recruiting, and business relationships before its landmark acquisition by Microsoft. As a partner at Greylock, he backed major companies including Airbnb and Facebook, while also becoming a prominent public intellectual through books, podcasts, and AI advocacy. Hoffman’s work blends network economics, venture investing, and strategic thinking about the future of technology.

Reed Hastings, cofounder and former CEO of Netflix, reshaped global entertainment by transforming a DVD-by-mail startup into the world’s dominant streaming platform. Under his leadership, Netflix pioneered subscription streaming, disrupted traditional media distribution, and later reinvented television again by investing heavily in original programming and global content production. Known for his bold strategic pivots, data-driven culture, and the influential “Netflix culture deck,” Hastings helped build one of the most impactful consumer technology companies of the modern era. Beyond business, he is a major philanthropist focused on education reform and civic initiatives.

Peter Thiel, cofounder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies, is one of Silicon Valley’s most influential and contrarian thinkers, known for backing companies that challenge consensus and reshape entire industries. As an early investor in Facebook and the first outside investor in several category-defining startups, Thiel helped popularize a philosophy centered on building monopolies through deep technology rather than incremental competition. Through Founders Fund, he has backed transformative ventures across software, defense, biotech, and space. Thiel’s impact extends beyond investing into ideas, shaping debates around technology, globalization, and the future of innovation.

Patrick Hanrahan is a pioneering computer graphics researcher and Stanford professor whose work helped define modern real-time rendering and GPU-driven visual computing. Best known as a co-creator of Pixar’s RenderMan rendering system, he laid the technical foundations for photorealistic computer animation used across film and media for decades. In academia and industry, Hanrahan’s research bridged graphics hardware and software, influencing the evolution of programmable GPUs and real-time graphics pipelines. Widely respected for translating deep theory into practical systems, he remains one of the most influential figures in computer graphics and visual computing.

Matei Zaharia, cofounder and CTO of Databricks, is one of the most influential computer scientists behind modern big-data and AI infrastructure. While a PhD student at UC Berkeley, he created Apache Spark, the open-source data-processing engine that revolutionized large-scale analytics and became foundational to enterprise data platforms worldwide. Zaharia went on to help build Databricks into a multibillion-dollar company, translating academic research into commercial cloud-native tools used by thousands of organizations. Known for bridging deep research with practical engineering, he remains a defining architect of the data and AI stack powering today’s digital economy.

Lloyd Frink, cofounder and vice chairman of Zillow, helped reshape the U.S. real estate market by bringing transparency, data, and digital tools to homebuyers and sellers. A former Microsoft executive and longtime collaborator of Rich Barton, Frink helped build Zillow into a leading online real estate marketplace, known for its Zestimate algorithm, vast housing database, and consumer-first product strategy. His work has been central to the digital transformation of residential real estate, influencing how millions search for and evaluate homes. Frink remains a guiding force at Zillow while also investing in technology and entrepreneurial ventures.

Kevin Systrom, cofounder of Instagram, helped build one of the most influential social platforms of the modern era by combining minimalist design, mobile photography, and frictionless sharing. After early career stints at Google and Nextstop, he launched Instagram with Mike Krieger in 2010, growing it to millions of users in months and selling the company to Facebook for $1 billion in 2012 while continuing to expand it into a global cultural phenomenon. Known for his product craftsmanship and creator-focused approach, Systrom has since turned his attention to algorithmic news and discovery through his startup Artifact, while remaining a major voice in technology and entrepreneurship.

Kelcy Warren, cofounder and executive chairman of Energy Transfer, built one of North America’s largest pipeline and midstream energy networks through aggressive dealmaking, operational scale, and a deep understanding of U.S. oil and gas logistics. Since launching Energy Transfer in 1996, he has overseen a sweeping expansion across natural gas, crude, and NGL infrastructure, including the development of high-profile projects such as the Dakota Access Pipeline. A self-made billionaire from modest Texas roots, Warren combines engineering discipline with bold acquisitive strategy, while remaining an active philanthropist in education, parks, and music—most notably founding the Texas music venue and nonprofit, Klyde Warren Park in Dallas.

Joseph Liemandt, founder of Trilogy and ESW Capital, is one of the most discreet yet influential figures in enterprise software, building a vast portfolio of companies by acquiring and optimizing underperforming software assets. After becoming a young tech millionaire with Trilogy in the 1990s, he shifted to a buy-and-build strategy through ESW Capital, assembling hundreds of enterprise software businesses and implementing data-driven, remote-first operational models long before they became mainstream. Known for his anonymity, contrarian discipline, and rigorous process engineering, Liemandt has quietly shaped the economics of enterprise software while amassing one of the sector’s most substantial private fortunes.

Joe Lau, cofounder and CTO of Alchemy, is one of the central technical architects behind the Web3 infrastructure powering thousands of blockchain applications. After graduating from Stanford, Lau teamed up with Nikil Viswanathan to launch Alchemy in 2017, building the backend platform that supports developers across Ethereum, Polygon, and other leading chains. Under his engineering leadership, Alchemy has become the “AWS of blockchain,” enabling billions of monthly transactions for companies ranging from DeFi protocols to NFT marketplaces and gaming studios. Known for his deep technical rigor, product discipline, and ability to translate complex infrastructure into accessible tools, Lau is a defining force in the maturation of Web3.

José E. Feliciano, cofounder and managing partner of Clearlake Capital, is one of the most influential private equity investors of his generation, helping build Clearlake into a top-tier global firm focused on technology, industrials, and consumer businesses. Since launching the firm in 2006 with Behdad Eghbali, Feliciano has overseen a disciplined strategy combining operational transformation with data-driven value creation, driving assets under management to well over $70 billion. A leader in expanding Latino representation in finance, he is also a major philanthropist through the SUPERB and Somos foundations, supporting education, entrepreneurship, and social mobility. Feliciano’s blend of investment rigor, cultural leadership, and long-horizon thinking has made him a defining force in modern private equity.

John Overdeck, cofounder and co-chairman of Two Sigma, is one of the key architects of quantitative hedge fund investing, bringing machine learning, distributed computing, and massive data science into the heart of portfolio management. After an award-winning math background and early leadership roles at D.E. Shaw and Amazon, he partnered with David Siegel in 2001 to build Two Sigma into a global multi-strategy platform managing tens of billions across equities, private investments, insurance tech, venture capital, and market-making. A champion of mathematics and education, Overdeck is also a leading philanthropist through the Overdeck Family Foundation, advancing STEM learning and research at scale.

Jerry Yang, cofounder of Yahoo!, is one of the earliest architects of the modern internet, helping transform a Stanford hobby project into one of the first global web portals and a defining tech company of the 1990s. After stepping down from Yahoo!, Yang went on to establish AME Cloud Ventures, becoming a major early-stage investor in data-driven startups and emerging technologies. Known for his long-term vision, deep technical roots, and influential role in bridging Silicon Valley with Asian markets, Yang remains a respected entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist shaping the next generation of innovation.

James Monsees, cofounder of Juul Labs, helped transform the nicotine industry by developing one of the most disruptive consumer products of the decade. Alongside Adam Bowen, he created the vapor technology that became JUUL while both were graduate students at Stanford, ultimately scaling the company into a multibillion-dollar business that reshaped global tobacco markets. Monsees’ work—focused on design, user experience, and harm-reduction alternatives—made him a central figure in one of the most controversial and fast-growing consumer product stories of the 21st century.

James Breyer, founder and CEO of Breyer Capital, is one of the most successful venture capitalists of his generation, known for early investments in transformative technology companies. As a former partner at Accel Partners, he led the firm’s landmark investment in Facebook, which became one of the most profitable bets in venture history. Through Breyer Capital, he continues to back leading innovators in artificial intelligence, media, and healthcare. With deep ties to both Silicon Valley and China, Breyer has built a global reputation as a visionary investor bridging technology, policy, and capital.

Pedro Franceschi, Brazilian-born entrepreneur and technologist, is the cofounder and co-CEO of Brex, a fintech company transforming how startups and enterprises manage credit and financial services. A coding prodigy from a young age, he gained early recognition for developing tools to bring Siri to non-Apple devices before joining forces with Henrique Dubugras to launch Brex in Silicon Valley. Together, they scaled the company into a multibillion-dollar fintech platform, making Franceschi one of the youngest self-made billionaires and a leading voice in the future of global finance and technology.