John H. Johnson
Founder of the Johnson Publishing Company
John Johnson founded the Johnson Publishing Company in 1942, an international media and cosmetics empire that includes Ebony and Jet magazines, Fashion Fair Cosmetics and EBONY Fashion Fair. Johnson was the first black person to appear on the Forbes 400 Rich List, and had a fortune estimated at close to $600 million. Johnson served on the Board of Directors of Dillard’s Inc., and he has served on the boards of First Commercial Bank, Little Rock; Dial Corporation; Zenith Radio Corporation; and Chrysler Corporation.

Ron Sarabi
Hawaiian Gardens Casino General Manager
As the General Manager of Hawaiian Gardens Casino, Ron Sarabi studied business and engineering in Oklahoma during the late ‘60s. Ron Sarabi went back for his MBA with the University of Nevada, but was lured away by lucrative business ventures.

Bruce Berkowitz
Portfolio Manager of Fairholme Capital Management
What the financial crisis continuing to rock the global market, most investment funds have taken a turn for the worse. There is one fund manager, however, who is still excited at the potential for making a lot of money. And this is not just naïve optimism talking, but seasoned and calculated confidence in his expertise. Meet Bruce Berkowitz.

Stephen Schwarzman
Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of the The Blackstone Group
Stephen Schwarzman is the Chairman, CEO, and Co-founder of The Blackstone Group. Stephen Schwarzman Co-founded the Blackstone Group in 1985 with Peter Peterson and a shared balance on $400,000. In 2007, the Blackstone Group took its private equity business public in one of the largest IPOs in history. As part of the IPO, the Blackstone Group opened its private performance record to the public. As of December 2007, Stephen Schwarzman company’s total assets were worth $102.4 billion.

Sam Walton
Founder of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Sam Walton was born on March 29, 1918. Walton was born to Thomas Gibson and Nancy Lee Walton near Kingfisher, Oklahoma. There, he lived with his parents on their farm until 1923. Sam’s father, Thomas Gibson, decided farming did not generate enough income on which to raise a family, so he decided to return to his former profession, farm loan appraisal. So he and his family which now included Sam’s younger brother, James, moved from Oklahoma to Missouri. There, the family moved from one small town to another for several years. While attending 8th grade in Shelbina, Sam Walton became the youngest Eagle Scout in the state’s history.

Carlos Abadi

Abadi & Co.
Carlos Abadi has 20 years of expertise building financial solutions and providing expert advice to emerging markets, governments, banks and private sector companies managing in volatile, and sometimes chaotic, financial environments. Due to Mr. Abadi’s extensive mathematical training, his approach is always based on a solid analytical debt valuation methodology and risk/reward evaluations.

Marsha Firestone
Founder and president of the Women Presidents’ Organization
For her expertise and experience in helping women entrepreneurs become more successful and fulfilled, Marsha Firestone was appointed to the National Women’s Business Council in 2003. (This body serves as a representative for women at the helm of their own companies. Its main task is to report to the President and Congress on matters of significance for women entrepreneurs in the country.)

Warren Buffet
CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
The world’s #1 billionaire, Warren Edward Buffett, or the “Oracle of Omaha,”continues to head Berkshire Hathaway, America’s 2nd most admired company (Fortune). Currently, he has a net worth of $62 billion. The world renowned stock market investor has expanded the company to jewelry (Borsheim’s), utilities (MidAmerican Energy), insurance (Geico, General Re), and food (Dairy Queen, See’s Candies), as well as Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Gillette and Wells Fargo.