People » CEO Files

Discovery Channel Founder John Hendricks
February 1, 2012
Discovery Channel Founder John Hendricks
To appreciate what John Hendricks has created, just spend some time watching his Discovery Channel. Consider, for example, the moment on the Curiosity show when Dr. Dunn rips a piece of tape off host Mike Rowe's eyebrow and finds what he is seeking: eyebrow mites.
Jared Isaacman
December 1, 2011
Jared Isaacman
When NBC's Today Show profiled Jared Isaacman in 2006, a reporter asked his father to name the biggest obstacle his son had faced in building his nationwide credit-card processing firm. The answer: "His inability to drive."
David Neeleman
April 1, 2011
“The CEO and President [at JetBlue]...should have known better. it’s ironic t
Like Richard Branson, who arrived late and left early when I interviewed him three years ago, JetBlue founder David Neeleman seems to be a man in a hurry. He showed up 20 minutes after the appointed time for our talk, exchanged brief hellos and ducked into his office to check e-mail.
Hotel Industry Pioneer Jack DeBoer
April 1, 2010
“He called and said, ‘If you don’t pay me by Friday, I’ll kill you.’ I had 8,
A sign in Jack DeBoer's office reads, "Success is seldom permanent. Neither is failure." DeBoer has seen plenty of both in his long career but his spectacular wins have been sufficient to eclipse his losses. Business-minded since childhood, he began selling real estate while still in high school in Kalamazoo, Mich., and has been an entrepreneur ever since.
Z-line Design's Jim Sexton
October 1, 2009
“After crossing the bridge from Hong Kong, I called my wife and said, ‘Honey,
Jim Sexton quit college after about a week because he wanted to create his own entrepreneurial future. "I have a knack for designing and picking things that people will buy," he said.
Richard Thompson
February 1, 2009
Richard Thompson is an enthusiastic self-proclaimed entrepreneur. "I've never had a job my whole life that I didn't create," he told me as we talked in his finely refurbished Hawker 700A on the Jet Aviation ramp at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport.
Carpenter & Co.'s Richard Friedman
December 1, 2008
“The Liberty Hotel is about transformation, and how to make a jail into a joy
Real estate developer Richard Friedman has been winning plaudits for his unusual latest project: the transformation of the historic Charles Street Jail in Boston's Beacon Hill district into the luxurious, award-winning Liberty Hotel.
Benefitfocus' Shawn Jenkins
August 1, 2008
“If you get one airplane and you get other people using it to defray the cost
The NASDAQ crashed in March 2000, Shawn Jenkins recalled. "That June, my partner Mason Holland and I started Benefitfocus. It was an awkward time to start a software company," he said, with just a touch of irony.
Hubbard Broadcasting's Stanley S. Hubbard
June 1, 2008
Some people have aviation in their DNA. Stanley Stub Hubbard got it from his father, Stanley Eugene Hubbard, who took up flying in 1916, started a few marginally successful airlines, opened an airport in Louisville, Ky., and helped organize the Metropolitan Airport Commission in 1943. By then he had already established himself in radio-and had passed on the flying bug to his son.
Voyager Group's Jim Dolan
April 1, 2008
“My philosophy is don’t let your losses impact your long-range direction an
James Dolan made news in the Pittsburgh business press in 1996 when he left a successful position as president and CEO of Federated Services Co., a subsidiary of Federated Investors, after 20 years with the well-established investment manager. To outsiders, it appeared to be a dream job.

Pages