Title: Co-founder and CEO, Palantir Technologies
Born: October 2, 1967, Philadelphia
Education: Stanford University Law School; Ph.D. in philosophy, University of Frankfurt
Early Marker: Founded London-based asset-management company, Caedmon Group
Big Idea: Applying its big-data intelligence analytics software to social-purpose missions beyond those of its government intelligence and defense agencies and financial-firm clients to fulfill a company mission of "making the world a better place"; answering civil liberties groups' question on whether Palantir is Big Brother in the watching-your-back or in the Orwellian sense.
Wave of the Future: Cybersecurity, big data