Discover the inspiring stories of successful entrepreneurs and executives in our collection of captivating business biographies.
Karl Rapp moved from engineering into aircraft-engine entrepreneurship and founded Rapp Motorenwerke. In 1917, he left as the company reorganized and took the Bayerische Motoren Werke name.
Joseph “Joe” Dain Sr. developed hay-handling machinery, built Dain Manufacturing, and later became a Deere executive involved in the company’s early tractor-development work.
Hal Lawton moved from engineering and strategy consulting into senior roles at Home Depot, eBay, and Macy’s before becoming Tractor Supply’s CEO in 2020. His tenure has combined expansion, strategic change, public controversy, and new operating pressure.
Alice Sheets Marriott was a co-founder and active business partner in the enterprise that became Marriott Corporation. Her story spans early restaurant operations, hotel expansion, board service, civic work, and philanthropy.
Sam Altman’s career moved from Loopt to Y Combinator and then OpenAI. This biography follows the major turning points, the 2023 leadership crisis, and his continuing role in the AI organization.
Gustav Otto was an early German pilot, flight instructor, and aircraft manufacturer whose company became Bayerische Flugzeug-Werke, later one of the corporate roots of BMW.
Rich Barton moved from Microsoft product work to founding Expedia inside the company and later co-founding Zillow. His career includes public-company leadership, Glassdoor, and a second period as Zillow CEO.
Walter Chrysler rose from railroad machine shops to Buick leadership, difficult corporate turnarounds, and the founding of Chrysler Corporation. His career grew from hands-on mechanical work into the management of increasingly large industrial operations.
Roy Speer moved from law and real estate into television retail, becoming majority owner, CEO, and chairman of the national Home Shopping Network company alongside co-founder Lowell “Bud” Paxson.
Dean Kamen became widely known for the Segway, but his career began with wearable drug-delivery technology. This biography follows the iBOT, Segway, DEKA’s medical-device work, and the gap that sometimes emerged between technical achievement and market adoption.