Introduction

Business Leader Profiles for Students (BLS) provides readers with a comprehensive resource of business biographies that focus on the world's leading corporate founders, officers, directors, and innovators. As part of Gale's successful line of business products for students, BLS profiles prominent individuals who have made significant contributions to business and industry. Focusing on present, as well as past, leaders, BLS is specifically designed to meet the curricular needs of high school and undergraduate college students and their teachers, as well as the interests of general readers and researchers studying business.

With this second volume of Business Leader Profiles for Students, 100 new biographies were developed, and the scope for inclusion was expanded to give greater attention to women and minority business leaders, as well as to individuals associated with organizations/institutions that greatly impact business. Some of the individuals profiled include:

• • Hector Barreto, Jr., Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration—one of the most influential leaders in business, he is the first Hispanic to ever hold this position.
• • Linda Chavez-Thompson, Executive Vice President, AFL-CIO—highest rank ever held by a woman in the history of the organization.
• • Carly Fiorina, President & CEO, Hewlett-Packard—the highest-ranking female executive in the United States.
• • Alan Greenspan, Chairman, Federal Reserve Board—by controlling interest rates and monitoring the growth of the U.S. economy, the Chair position wields crucial influence over business and industry.
• • Robert L. Johnson, Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Black Entertainment Television—established the first and only cable network with programming designed by and developed for African-Americans.
• • Richard Rivera, President, Red Lobster—one of the highest-ranking minorities in the restaurant industry.
• • Muriel Siebert, Founder & President, Muriel Siebert & Company—the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.
• • Pamela Thomas-Graham, President & CEO, CNBC, and Executive Vice President, NBC—the highest-ranking woman executive to ever head a division at NBC.

In addition, 25 biographies from BLS, Volume 1 were updated in order to provide more current information for business leaders who had experienced a significant and/or interesting change in either their professional and/or personal lives since the first volume was published. Updated profiles are included for the following individuals:

• • Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com
• • Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway
• • Steve Case, AOL Time Warner
• • Jim Clark, myCFO, Inc.
• • Bennett R. Cohen, Ben & Jerry's Homemade
• • Scott Cook, Intuit
• • Jenny Craig, Jenny Craig, Inc.
• • Michael Eisner, Walt Disney Co.
• • Roger Enrico, PepsiCo
• • Bill Gates, Microsoft
• • Ellen Gordon, Tootsie Roll Industries
• • Berry Gordy, Jr., Motown Records
• • Katharine Graham, Washington Post
• • Tommy Hilfiger, Tommy Hilfiger Corp.
• • Steve Jobs, Apple Computer
• • Michael Jordan
• • Calvin Klein, Calvin Klein, Inc.
• • Scott McNealy, Sun Microsystems
• • Rupert Murdoch, The News Corp.
• • Howard Schulz, Starbucks
• • Steven Spielberg, Amblin Entertainment/Dream Works
• • Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart Living
• • Ted Turner, Turner Broadcasting
• • Jack Welch, General Electric
• • Oprah Winfrey, Harpo Inc.

Each entry in Business Leader Profiles for Students includes an overview of the person's greatest accomplishments, information on his/her personal life, career details, and a section on how the person influenced society and the economy. The reader will also learn about the person's education, management style, and business philosophy. To aid the reader, a chronology is provided in each entry, detailing key dates in the person's life, and interesting and important facts about the leader's life and career.

The topic list of both historical and contemporary business leaders for this volume was selected by surveying many sources on business, economics, and history and also by analyzing course curricula for various school districts.

While BLS focuses on individuals—their lives, careers, and impact—Gale's Company Profiles for Students (CPS) offers a comprehensive collection of essays on the world's top corporations, many of which are discussed within the BLS biographies. A collection that includes both BLS and CPS is sure to offer students and other patrons a comprehensive resource for vital information about the world's top individuals, corporations, and institutions in business and industry.

How Each Entry Is Organized

The chapters in BLS are organized alphabetically by last name. Each profile focuses on one business leader and begins with the person's name, date of birth, and the person's company/organization affiliation or occupation. The following elements are contained in each entry.

• • Overview: this section provides a summary of the person's most important contributions to business, industry, and society. This paragraph will give interesting information on the person's greatest achievements.
• • Personal Life: this section includes a detailed description of the person's life, circumstances of birth and childhood, family life, influential friends or relatives, experiences that may have affected the person later in life, marriage, religion, and circumstances around his/her death (if applicable). This section also includes information on the person's education, business or personal memberships, affiliations, or awards the person has won.
• • Career Details: discusses significant factors about the career of the individual, especially when the greatest successes were achieved. It focuses on highlights of the person's career including details about what the person may have invented or innovations and new practices that have impacted business and industry. This section may also include information on how the individual tailored the product or service to compete successfully in the marketplace. It may detail the past and current strategies of the person's professional career or management style.
• • Social and Economic Impact: this section discusses what effect the individual or the product or service has had on industry or on society in general.
• • Chronology: the element featured in an easy-to-read box lists dates of major events or achievements highlighting the individual's personal and professional life.
• • Sources of Information: lists contact information, including address, phone, and/or web site when available to help the reader with further research.
• • Bibliography: provides user with suggested further reading on the business leader. These sources, also used to compile the essays, are publicly accessible materials such as magazines, general and academic periodicals, books, and online databases.

Comments and Suggestions

Gale welcomes your comments and ideas pertaining to Business Leader Profiles for Students. Readers who wish to suggest business leader names for inclusion in future volumes, who have other suggestions, and/or who are interested in further information on any of Gale's business products "for students", are encouraged to contact the Managing Editor:

Telephone: (248)677-4253
Toll-Free (800)347-GALE
E-mail: BusinessProducts@gale.com