Founders, CEOs, and entrepreneurs.
Bobby Kotick led Activision and Activision Blizzard as CEO from 1991 to 2023, the longest-serving head of any publicly traded tech company by 2017, until Microsoft acquired the company.
Marissa Mayer was Google's employee No. 20 and its first woman engineer, ran Yahoo! from 2012 to 2017 until its sale to Verizon, and founded the AI company Dazzle AI.
Meg Whitman led eBay and Hewlett-Packard as CEO, ran for California governor in 2010 spending $144 million of her own money, and served as US ambassador to Kenya from 2022 to 2024.
Cyrus McCormick built a company around the mechanical reaper, with manufacturing, marketing and a sales force; it became part of International Harvester in 1902.
Herbert H. Dow, a Case School graduate who researched Ohio and Michigan brines, invented bromine extraction methods and founded Dow Chemical.
Michael Eisner ran Disney from 1984 to 2005, presiding over the Disney Renaissance and acquisitions including ABC and a majority of ESPN.
Marcus Goldman, a Bavarian schoolteacher who emigrated in 1848, founded what became Goldman Sachs, one of the world's largest investment banks.
John Jacob Astor built an American fur trade monopoly, exported opium to China and invested in New York real estate, becoming the first multi-millionaire in the United States.
Andrew Mellon built Mellon National Bank and Union Trust into Pittsburgh's leading financial institutions before serving as US Treasury Secretary from 1921 to 1932.
Buck Duke licensed the first automated cigarette machine in 1885 and by 1890 consolidated his rivals into the American Tobacco Company, which controlled over 90 percent of the US cigarette market.
David Packard co-founded Hewlett-Packard with Bill Hewlett in 1939, led it as president, CEO and chairman, and served as US Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1969 to 1971.
Tom Siebel worked at Oracle, founded Siebel Systems, sold it to Oracle in 2006 and now leads the AI software company C3.ai.
