Gary Chouest, president and CEO of Edison Chouest Offshore, leads one of the most important privately held maritime service empires in the United States, built from the Louisiana vessel business founded by his father in 1960. Under his leadership, the company has expanded into a vast offshore fleet serving oil, gas, offshore wind, shipbuilding, and national-security markets, helping make Edison Chouest a cornerstone of U.S. marine logistics and deepwater operations. Known for a low public profile and long-term industrial vision, Chouest has become one of the defining figures in American offshore shipping.

Todd Graves, cofounder and CEO of Raising Cane’s, turned a single Baton Rouge chicken-finger shop into one of America’s fastest-growing restaurant brands by doing one thing exceptionally well. Since opening the first location in 1996, Graves has built Raising Cane’s into a national powerhouse with a tightly focused menu, founder-led culture, and a marketing strategy that blends celebrity partnerships with cult-like customer loyalty. Known for relentless operational simplicity and brand discipline, he has become one of the most successful entrepreneurs in modern quick-service dining.

Peter Cancro, founder and chairman of Jersey Mike’s, built one of America’s fastest-growing restaurant chains by turning a single New Jersey sandwich shop he bought at 17 into a national franchising powerhouse. Over five decades, he expanded the brand through a simple model centered on fresh-sliced subs, operator loyalty, and strong local-store economics, helping Jersey Mike’s surpass 3,000 locations. After Blackstone’s 2024 acquisition of the company at an $8 billion valuation, Cancro stepped down as CEO in 2025 but remained chairman and a significant shareholder, continuing to shape the brand’s long-term growth.

Mitchell Morgan, founder and chairman of Morgan Properties, built one of the largest private apartment empires in the United States by focusing on older multifamily assets in secondary markets and scaling them through disciplined acquisitions and renovation. Since founding the company in 1985, he has grown Morgan Properties into a portfolio of more than 350 communities and roughly 100,000 units, making it one of the country’s biggest multifamily owners. In 2026, Morgan stepped down as CEO and passed day-to-day leadership to his sons, while remaining chairman of the business he built.

Steve Lavin, chairman and chief executive of OSI Group, leads one of the world’s largest privately held food processors, a company deeply embedded in the global supply chains of brands such as McDonald’s, Chipotle, and Kraft Heinz. A lawyer by training and the son of longtime OSI leader Sheldon Lavin, he took over the business after his father’s death in 2023 and now oversees a multinational protein and prepared-foods enterprise with operations across dozens of facilities worldwide. Known for a low public profile and long-term family stewardship, Lavin represents the next generation of leadership at one of America’s most important private food manufacturers.

Neal Aronson, founder and managing partner of Roark Capital, built one of the most influential private equity firms in franchising, restaurants, and multi-location consumer businesses. Since founding Roark in 2001, he has developed a reputation for patient capital, operational focus, and deep expertise in brand-driven businesses, helping assemble a portfolio that has included major names such as Subway, Dunkin’, Arby’s, and Buffalo Wild Wings. Before Roark, Aronson cofounded U.S. Franchise Systems, giving him an early grounding in the economics of scalable branded businesses.

Walter Wang, chairman and CEO of JM Eagle, built one of the world’s largest plastic pipe manufacturers by combining industrial scale, disciplined expansion, and a long-term infrastructure vision. After acquiring J-M Manufacturing in 2005 and later merging it with PW Eagle, Wang transformed the business into a dominant supplier of plastic pipe used in water, sewer, gas, and utility systems across North America. Known for a low-profile but ambitious leadership style, he has paired industrial growth with major philanthropic work in education, healthcare, and civic causes, making him one of the most prominent figures in modern infrastructure manufacturing.

Donald R. Levin, founder of D.R.L. Enterprises, built a global rolling-paper empire by controlling nearly every layer of the supply chain—from paper mills and manufacturing to distribution and iconic consumer brands. Through D.R.L.’s Republic Brands unit, Levin amassed labels such as Zig-Zag, E-Z Wider, OCB, and JOB, turning a niche tobacco-adjacent business into a multibillion-dollar private enterprise. Known as the “king of rolling papers,” he paired low-profile operating discipline with vertical integration, extending his holdings into leasing, film production, and sports ownership, including the Chicago Wolves.

Ben Navarro, founder and CEO of Sherman Financial Group and cofounder of Beemok Capital, built a multibillion-dollar fortune in consumer finance before expanding into hospitality, sports, and civic investment. Best known for building Sherman into a major force behind Credit One Bank, Navarro has also used Beemok to back luxury hospitality assets and professional tennis properties, including the Charleston Open and Cincinnati Open. Known for a low public profile and long-term approach, he has paired business success with major philanthropy in education and community development, especially through Meeting Street Schools.

Brett Adcock, founder and CEO of Figure AI, has become one of the most closely watched entrepreneurs in robotics by building a humanoid AI company aimed at bringing general-purpose robots into factories, warehouses, retail, and eventually the home. Before Figure AI, he cofounded Archer Aviation and earlier built Vettery, giving him a rare track record across recruiting software, electric aviation, and embodied AI. With Figure attracting top robotics talent and major strategic backing, Adcock has positioned himself at the center of the race to turn humanoid robots from science fiction into real-world infrastructure.

Christian Chabot, cofounder of Tableau, helped build one of the most important data visualization companies of the modern software era by turning complex analytics into an intuitive, visual experience for business users. A Stanford-trained entrepreneur, he guided Tableau from its academic roots into a publicly traded software leader that reshaped self-service analytics before its multibillion-dollar sale to Salesforce. Though he stepped out of operational leadership years ago, Chabot remains closely associated with Tableau’s founding vision and its role in democratizing data across enterprises worldwide.

Herald Y. Chen, former president and CFO of AppLovin and now a director of the company, helped shape one of the most successful mobile software stories of the AI era. A longtime private equity executive before joining AppLovin, Chen played a central role in the company’s public-market ascent, helping steer its financial strategy, acquisitions, and operating discipline as it evolved into a major force in app monetization, advertising, and mobile gaming. Known for pairing Wall Street rigor with technology execution, Chen remains closely tied to AppLovin’s rise as one of the standout software winners of recent years.

Ankur Jain, founder and CEO of Bilt, has built one of the most ambitious consumer fintech and housing platforms by turning rent and housing payments into a rewards ecosystem tied to travel, dining, fitness, and neighborhood spending. Through Bilt, Jain helped create a new category at the intersection of housing, loyalty, and payments, expanding beyond rent into a broader membership model connected to how people live. He is also the founder of Kairos, but Bilt is the defining company in his current profile and the business that has made him one of the most closely watched young entrepreneurs in fintech and consumer infrastructure.

Dharmesh Shah, cofounder and CTO of HubSpot, helped build one of the most influential software platforms in modern business by turning inbound marketing into a global category and expanding HubSpot into a broad CRM, sales, and customer experience ecosystem. A serial entrepreneur and engineer, Shah co-founded HubSpot in 2006 after selling his earlier company, Pyramid Digital Solutions, and became one of the central technical and cultural architects behind its rise. Known for product vision, startup thought leadership, and a strong public voice on AI and company-building, he remains a defining figure in SaaS.

Ryan Israel, chief investment officer and managing director at Pershing Square Capital Management, is one of the most important behind-the-scenes investors in activist hedge funds, helping shape the concentrated, high-conviction portfolio that defines Bill Ackman’s firm. Since joining Pershing Square in 2009, Israel has played a central role in research, underwriting, and portfolio construction across the firm’s major public equity positions, earning a reputation for deep fundamental analysis and disciplined long-term thinking. He represents the analytical core of one of Wall Street’s most closely watched investment platforms.

W. Nicholas Howley, cofounder and chairman of TransDigm, built one of the most successful aerospace-components companies of the modern era by focusing on highly engineered, proprietary aircraft parts with strong aftermarket economics. Since cofounding the company in 1993, Howley has helped guide TransDigm through decades of aggressive acquisition-led growth, turning a leveraged buyout of four underperforming units into a global aerospace supplier with a vast portfolio of mission-critical components. Known for disciplined capital allocation and a relentless focus on niche pricing power, he has become one of the most influential figures in aerospace manufacturing.

Luis von Ahn, cofounder and CEO of Duolingo, is a pioneering computer scientist who turned language learning into one of the world’s most successful education apps while helping define the economics of crowdsourced internet infrastructure. Before Duolingo, he created reCAPTCHA, later acquired by Google, and built a reputation for converting human attention into scalable digital systems. At Duolingo, he helped grow the company from a mission-driven startup into a publicly traded global platform spanning language, math, and music education, with AI increasingly central to its product strategy.

Steve Koltes, cofounder and honorary co-chair of CVC, helped build one of the world’s most influential private markets firms from its Citicorp roots into a global powerhouse spanning private equity, credit, secondaries, and infrastructure. After joining the business in the late 1980s, Koltes became one of the key architects of CVC’s international expansion and long-term institutional franchise, helping scale the firm across Europe, Asia, and the U.S. He stepped back from an active role in 2022 and now serves in a non-executive capacity, but remains closely associated with CVC’s rise into the top tier of global buyout firms.

Terry Taylor, founder and president of Automotive Management Services, built one of the largest privately held auto retail empires in the United States by quietly assembling more than 120 dealerships across the country. Starting with a single new-car dealership in Daytona Beach in 1982, Taylor expanded through disciplined acquisitions, local operating autonomy, and an unusually low-profile style that made him one of the least visible major figures in U.S. automotive retail. His majority stake in Automotive Management Services turned him into a billionaire while preserving the company’s reputation for scale without spectacle.

Kevin Glazer, founder, CEO, and owner of Glazer Properties, has been a prominent figure in commercial real estate for more than three decades, building a portfolio shaped by long-term ownership and disciplined investment. Beyond property, he is also a co-owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a principal investor in Manchester United Football Club, placing him at the intersection of real estate and global sports ownership. Known as a philanthropist as well as a businessman, Glazer’s profile reflects a blend of private enterprise, franchise ownership, and civic engagement.