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Richard Santulli
Founder and CEO of Net Jets Inc.
January 6th
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Richard Santulli is the founder and CEO of Net Jets Inc., managing a fleet of over 600 private jets for clients such as Barbara Streisand, Tiger Woods and Warren Buffet. The former math professor left Brooklyn Polytech in the 1970's and took Wall Street by storm before creating the groundbreaking concept of fractional jet ownership.
A Brooklyn native, Santulli did not venture out of the Tri-State area until he was 21. Earning BS and MS degrees in Mathematics, he started at Shell Oil and would have continued on if the company headquarters had not moved to Houston. Instead, he joined Goldman Sachs and pioneered helicopter-leasing arrangements, the success of which propelled him to leave the firm and acquire Petroleum Helicopters and Hover Aircraft. The deals were too small for Goldman, but as it turned out, invaluable investments for Santulli. He quickly became the largest helicopter lessor in the world, but frequently found himself traveling to out of the way locales near the Gulf of Mexico – and so the concept of fractional jet ownership was born. In 1984, he purchased a small airline leasing company called Executive Jet and set his plan in motion. The new company was an immediate success, and after securing an A-List client roster, he decided to launch a new marketing campaign in 1998. Santulli approached long time customer Warren Buffet who answered him with a proposal to acquire the company. Today, Net Jets flies to over 140 countries and, as Santulli can attest, even the sky is no limit to success.
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Clive Davis
Chairman and CEO of the RCA Music Group
Chairman and CEO of J Records
Chairman and CEO of BMG North America
January 13th
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Throughout his career, Clive Davis has not only shaped the music industry but also effectively launched and managed the careers of the greatest musicians of the last four decades – bringing us luminaries like Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Santana, Aretha Franklin, P Diddy, Aerosmith and Alicia Keys. The iconic producer has won multiple Grammy's, earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame.
Davis grew up in Brooklyn and later graduated from NYU, earning a scholarship to Harvard Law School in 1953. With a law degree in hand he returned to New York and began his career at a small law firm that represented CBS Records. He may not have set his sights on the music industry, but when he ended up in the legal department of CBS, Goddard Lieberson, then President of CBS Records, took him under his wing. In 1967, he was named President of CBS subsidiary Columbia Records. Within his first year as President, he introduced Columbia Records to rock n' roll at the Monterey Pop Festival when he signed Janis Joplin; other superstars like Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Chicago and Pink Floyd were not far behind.
During tumultuous times in the early 70's, Davis was fired from CBS/Columbia Records but quickly bounced back as a consultant for record and music operations at Columbia Pictures. In 1974, he was again named President, merging the company's various labels under one name, Arista Records. It was the most diverse line-up in history with artists such as Whitney Houston, Barry Manilow, Dionne Warwick, Lou Reed, Notorious B.I.G, Sarah McLachlan, Aretha Franklin and P Diddy. In 2000, he was forced into retirement over disagreements with Arista-owner BMG, who quickly reversed its position and invested $150 M in his new label J Records. In 2003, after Davis made the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, BMG came back and named him Chairman and CEO.
Today he manages J Records, Arista, RCA, and JIVE records where he oversees the careers of contemporary stars like Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys and every new sensation churned out by American Idol.
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Mort Zuckerman
Chairman of Boston Properties, Inc.
Editor-in-Chief of US News & World Report
January 20th
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Mort Zuckerman boasts impressive academic credentials, a sterling record of financial success, and a sphere of journalistic influence that affords him the opportunity to help shape public discourse on a daily basis. Zuckerman continues to be an intellectual force and as Chairman of Boston Properties, Inc. and Editor-in-Chief of US News & World Report (while also serving in a myriad of other prominent positions) he is uniquely qualified to provide insight into the intersection of contemporary politics, business, and media.
After graduating from McGill University in Montreal with both undergraduate and law degrees in 1961, Zuckerman received an MBA from Wharton and yet another law degree from Harvard. He went on to teach at the Harvard Business School and Yale University as an associate professor, but then made a bold decision to leave academic life and forgo a law career in order to found Boston Properties, a real estate development company, in 1970. Although the company's success was instrumental in Zuckerman's accumulation of an estimated $2.4 billion fortune, the hands on management of his news assets now seems to provide Zuckerman with his greatest satisfaction. A self-proclaimed "news junkie" from the age of 13, he continues to leave an indelible mark on the worlds of business, philanthropy and international relations. All of these accomplishments have not changed Zuckerman and he remains true to the principles and philosophies that have guided him all his life.
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Ken Chenault
CEO and Chairman of American Express
January 27th
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As a young man, Ken Chenault had little idea that he would eventually become one of the most powerful men on Wall Street. The Chairman and CEO of American Express attended Bowdoin College in the 70's and was very a part of the social activism on campus at the time. Unlike many of his fellow student activists, Chenault believed in working with, rather than against the establishment-in this case the Bowdoin College administration-in order to bring about change. This pragmatism brought Chenault great success as a student leader, and has continued to serve well him into the present.
Chenault went on to attend Harvard Law School, getting a job at the law firm Rogers & Wells upon graduation in 1977. He stayed at the firm for only two years, switching from law to business after a friend convinced him that he was better suited for the latter. Chenault worked as a management consultant at Bain & Co. for another two years before he met Lou Gerstner, who quickly recruited Chenault to American Express in 1981.
Having found his niche in business, Chenault quickly climbed the ranks at American Express, significantly restructuring the ailing company along the way. Just months after Chenault was named Chairman of the company, the September 11th terrorist attacks took the lives of several American Express employees and destroyed the company's headquarters. In the trying time following the disaster, Chenault proved his extraordinary talent to lead and motivate others, as well as his ability to adapt quickly and successfully to the challenges of today's world.
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Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough:
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes