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People

138 people, A to Z.

A

  • AbrahamPatriarch revered in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
  • Adam D'AngeloAmerican entrepreneur, CEO of Quora; an OpenAI board member since at least 2019.
  • Alan AttalAppointed to GameStop's board in January 2021, with Ryan Cohen, under an agreement with RC Ventures.
  • Alexander Kerensky 4 May 1881 – 11 Jun 1970Russian politician; head of the Provisional Government from July 1917 until its overthrow in November 1917.
  • Alexander Parvus 27 Aug 1867 – 12 Dec 1924Russian-born German socialist and businessman who urged the German government to finance revolution in Russia.
  • Alexander Ulyanov 1866 – 20 May 1887Vladimir Lenin's elder brother; a St Petersburg University student hanged in 1887 for taking part in an attempt on the life of Emperor Alexander III.
  • Alexandr Wang Jan 1997 –Co-founder of Scale AI and its CEO until June 2025; Chief AI Officer at Meta since June 2025.
  • Aliya Nazarbayeva 1980 –Businesswoman; head of a construction company.
  • Andy BechtolsheimCo-founder of Sun Microsystems; invested in Google in 1998.
  • Anne WojcickiCo-founder of the genetics company 23andMe and its CEO from 2010 to 2025; younger sister of Susan Wojcicki and former wife of Sergey Brin.
  • Antony C. Sutton 14 Feb 1925 – 17 Jun 2002British-born American economist and author of books on Western financing of the Soviet Union.
  • Arthur LevinsonBiochemist and Genentech chief executive; Google director from 2004.

B

  • Baiju BhattCo-founder of Robinhood Markets; its co-CEO from 2013 to 2020.
  • Bill Gates 28 Oct 1955 –Co-founder of Microsoft; co-founder of the Giving Pledge.
  • Boris Yeltsin 1 Feb 1931 – 23 Apr 2007First President of Russia (1991–1999).
  • Bret TaylorAmerican technology executive; chair of OpenAI's board since November 2023.

C

  • Carola SchenoneCo-author of a 2022 study of common ownership and airline ticket prices in The Journal of Finance.

D

  • Dan DeMatteoAmerican retail executive; GameStop's executive chairman in 2019.
  • Dariga Nazarbayeva 1963 –Politician; chair of the Senate of Kazakhstan from 2019 to 2020, and earlier a deputy speaker of the Mazhilis.
  • David R. OlsonUniversity Professor Emeritus at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto; author of The World on Paper and of Britannica's article on writing.
  • Dewey M. BeegleEmeritus professor of Old Testament at Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C.; author of Encyclopaedia Britannica's article on Moses.
  • Dinara Kulibayeva 1967 –Businesswoman; chair of the board of directors of the Kazakh-British Technical University from 2004.
  • Donald Douglas 1892–1981American aircraft designer who founded the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1921.
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower 14 Oct 1890 – 28 Mar 196934th President of the United States (1953–1961).

E

  • Einer ElhaugeLegal scholar; Carroll and Milton Petrie Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
  • Elon Musk 28 Jun 1971 –Entrepreneur; founder and CEO of SpaceX, CEO of Tesla.
  • Eric SchmidtGoogle CEO 2001–2011 and executive chairman of Google and then Alphabet, 2011–2018.
  • Erich Ludendorff 9 Apr 1865 – 20 Dec 1937German general; First Quartermaster General of the German army (1916–1918).
  • Errol MuskSouth African engineer; father of Elon and Kimbal Musk.
  • Esther WojcickiEducator who founded the Media Arts Program at Palo Alto High School; author of How to Raise Successful People; mother of Susan and Anne Wojcicki.

F

  • Fidel Castro 13 Aug 1926 – 25 Nov 2016Cuban revolutionary leader; Prime Minister of Cuba (1959–1976).
  • Fidji SimoExecutive, CEO and chair of Instacart when elected to OpenAI's board in March 2024.
  • Francis deSouzaTechnology executive; named CEO of Scale AI effective August 10, 2026. Previously Chief Operating Officer of Google Cloud and CEO of Illumina.
  • Frank CollbohmAmerican engineer at Douglas Aircraft who became the RAND Corporation's first president, serving from 1948 to 1967.

G

  • Gabe PlotkinAmerican investor; founder and chief investment officer of Melvin Capital.
  • George ShermanAmerican retail executive, named GameStop's chief executive in March 2019 after leading Victra.
  • Greg BrockmanAmerican software engineer; OpenAI's CTO at its 2015 launch, later its chairman and president.
  • Grigori Sokolnikov 1888–1939Bolshevik; signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk for Soviet Russia in March 1918; later People's Commissar of Finance.

I

  • Ilya SutskeverMachine-learning researcher; OpenAI's research director at its 2015 launch and later its chief scientist.
  • Isabel TecuEconomist and principal at Charles River Associates; co-author of a 2018 study of common ownership of US airlines.

J

  • Jack AltmanEntrepreneur and investor; co-founded the HR software company Lattice in 2015 and was its CEO until January 2024; brother of Sam Altman.
  • Jackie Bezos 1946 – 14 Aug 2025Mother of Jeff Bezos; early Amazon investor; co-founder of the Bezos Family Foundation.
  • Jason DroegeTechnology executive; joined Scale AI in September 2024 and, as its chief strategy officer, was named interim CEO in June 2025.
  • Jeff Bezos 12 Jan 1964 –Founder and executive chair of Amazon; founder of Blue Origin.
  • Jennifer SchulpDirector of Financial Regulation Studies at the Cato Institute (2021).
  • Jessica LivingstonAmerican investor, a co-founder of Y Combinator; one of OpenAI's launch donors.
  • Jesus c. 4 BCE – c. 30Jewish preacher from Galilee; the central figure of Christianity and a prophet in Islam.
  • Jim Breyer 1961 –Venture capitalist; Accel partner who led its 2005 investment in Facebook.
  • Jim GrubeAppointed to GameStop's board in January 2021, with Ryan Cohen, under an agreement with RC Ventures.
  • Johannes Gutenberg c. 1400 – 3 Feb 1468?German printer credited with introducing movable metal type to Europe.
  • John C. Bogle 8 May 1929 – 16 Jan 2019Founder of the Vanguard Group and pioneer of index mutual funds.
  • John Doerr 1951 –Venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins; early board member of Amazon and Google.
  • John F. Kennedy 29 May 1917 – 22 Nov 196335th President of the United States (1961–1963).
  • John HennessyComputer scientist; president of Stanford University from 2000; Google director from 2004.
  • John Opel 1925 – 3 Nov 2011IBM president (1974–1983) and chief executive (1981–1985).
  • John TernusApple's CEO since 1 September 2026, previously its senior vice president of hardware engineering.
  • Joseph Stalin 18 Dec 1878 – 5 Mar 1953Soviet leader; General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1922 until his death in 1953.
  • José AzarEconomist at the University of Navarra and IESE Business School; co-author of a 2018 study of common ownership of US airlines.

K

  • Keith GillAmerican individual investor who posted analysis of GameStop stock on social media.
  • Ken GriffinAmerican investor; founder and CEO of Citadel and co-founder of Citadel Securities.
  • Kimbal MuskEntrepreneur and restaurateur; co-founder of Zip2 with his brother Elon Musk; Tesla director since 2004.
  • Kristopher GerardiCo-author of a 2022 study of common ownership and airline ticket prices in The Journal of Finance.

L

  • Larry Fink 2 Nov 1952 –Co-founder, chairman and CEO of BlackRock.
  • Larry PageCo-founder of Google; its CEO 1998–2001 and 2011–2015, then CEO of Alphabet until 2019.
  • Larry SummersAmerican economist; named to OpenAI's board in November 2023.
  • Lawrence Preston GiseUS government official who headed Atomic Energy Commission operations in Albuquerque; maternal grandfather of Jeff Bezos.
  • Leon Trotsky 7 Nov 1879 – 21 Aug 1940Bolshevik leader; chairman of the Petrograd Soviet in 1917 and first Soviet foreign commissar.
  • Leonid Brezhnev 19 Dec 1906 – 10 Nov 1982Soviet leader: head of the Communist Party from October 1964 until his death in 1982, and head of state from 1977.
  • Leonid Kravchuk 10 Jan 1934 – 10 May 2022First President of independent Ukraine (1991–1994).
  • Lori FinkCo-donor, with Larry Fink, of the 2008 gift that endowed UCLA Anderson's Fink Center for Finance; wife of Larry Fink.
  • Lucy GuoCo-founder of Scale AI, which she left in 2018.

M

  • Mark Zuckerberg 14 May 1984 –Founder, chair and chief executive of Meta Platforms (Facebook).
  • Martin C. SchmalzFinance economist at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School; co-author of a 2018 study of common ownership of US airlines.
  • Mary Maxwell Gates 1929 – 10 Jun 1994Seattle civic leader, University of Washington regent and United Way board member; mother of Bill Gates.
  • Matt FurlongAmerican e-commerce executive who led Amazon's Australian business, then was GameStop's chief executive from June 2021 to June 2023.
  • Max AltmanVenture investor; a co-founder of Saga Ventures; brother of Sam Altman.
  • Maye MuskModel and nutritionist; mother of Elon and Kimbal Musk.
  • Michael MoritzVenture capitalist at Sequoia Capital; Google director from 1999.
  • Mike BezosEngineer; father of Jeff Bezos, who took his name; early Amazon investor; co-founder of the Bezos Family Foundation.
  • Mike Markkula 1942 –Early Apple investor and director from 1977. He was chairman from 1977 to 1981 and again from 1993 to 1996, and president and CEO from 1981 to 1983.
  • Mikhail Gorbachev 2 Mar 1931 – 30 Aug 2022Last leader of the Soviet Union: Communist Party General Secretary from 1985, President of the USSR 1990–1991.
  • Mira MuratiEngineer; named OpenAI's interim CEO on 17 November 2023.
  • MosesProphet and lawgiver in Judaism, Christianity and Islam; in the Hebrew Bible, leader of the Exodus.
  • Muhammad c. 570 – 8 Jun 632Arab religious leader regarded in Islam as the final prophet.

N

  • Nadezhda Krupskaya 26 Feb 1869 – 27 Feb 1939Bolshevik organiser and Soviet education official; Vladimir Lenin's wife from 1898 until his death in 1924.
  • Nicholas II 18 May 1868 – 17 Jul 1918Last emperor of Russia (1894–1917).
  • Nicole SeligmanAmerican lawyer, former general counsel of Sony; elected to OpenAI's board in March 2024.
  • Nikita Khrushchev 15 Apr 1894 – 11 Sep 1971Soviet leader; Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (1958–1964).
  • Nurali Aliyev 1985 –Businessman and banker; deputy mayor of Astana from 2014 to 2016.
  • Nursultan Nazarbayev 6 Jul 1940 –President of Kazakhstan until March 2019, when he stepped down in an address to the nation.

P

  • Patrick DennisCo-author of a 2022 study of common ownership and airline ticket prices in The Journal of Finance.
  • Paul Allen 21 Jan 1953 – 15 Oct 2018Co-founder of Microsoft; investor and philanthropist.
  • Paul Baran 29 Apr 1926 – 26 Mar 2011American engineer who worked at the RAND Corporation from 1959 to 1968 and developed an early form of packet switching.
  • Paul GrahamProgrammer, essayist and investor; co-founder of Viaweb (1995) and Y Combinator (2005), which he ran until 2014.
  • Paul OtelliniIntel executive; Google director from 2004.
  • Paul von Hindenburg 2 Oct 1847 – 2 Aug 1934German field marshal; Chief of the General Staff of the German army (1916–1919) and President of Germany (1925–1934).
  • Peter G. Peterson 5 Jun 1926 – 20 Mar 2018Co-founder of Blackstone; US Secretary of Commerce in 1972–73.
  • Peter Thiel 11 Oct 1967 –Investor; co-founder of PayPal and Palantir; Facebook's first outside investor.
  • Pope John XXIII 25 Nov 1881 – 3 Jun 1963Pope of the Catholic Church from 1958 to 1963.
  • Priscilla ChanPediatrician; co-founder of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; wife of Mark Zuckerberg.

R

  • Rakhat Aliyev 1962 – 24 Feb 2015Kazakh official and diplomat; first deputy foreign minister (2005–2007) and ambassador to Austria.
  • Ram ShriramInvestor and former Amazon executive; Google director from 1998.
  • Ramesses IIThird king of ancient Egypt's 19th dynasty, who reigned from 1279 to 1213 BCE.
  • Randi ZuckerbergFacebook's director of marketing from 2005 to 2011, then founder of her own media firm; sister of Mark Zuckerberg.
  • Reid HoffmanAmerican entrepreneur and investor; one of OpenAI's launch donors and a board member in 2019.
  • Rob KapitoCo-founder of BlackRock and its president since 2007.
  • Robert LechêneJournalist and popular-science writer; author of L'Imprimerie, de Gutenberg à l'électron and of Britannica's article on printing.
  • Robert Tappan MorrisComputer scientist and MIT professor; co-founder of Viaweb (1995) and Y Combinator (2005).
  • Ronald HendelScholar of the Hebrew Bible at the University of California, Berkeley.
  • Ronald Reagan 6 Feb 1911 – 5 Jun 200440th President of the United States (1981–1989).
  • Ronald Wayne 1934 –Third partner in the April 1976 Apple Computer Company partnership, holding 10%; he withdrew eleven days later.
  • Ryan CohenInvestor and co-founder of Chewy; GameStop director from January 2021, chairman from June 2021 and CEO from September 2023.

S

  • Sam Altman 22 Apr 1985 –American entrepreneur; co-chair of OpenAI at its December 2015 launch and its CEO since 2019, apart from November 17-29, 2023.
  • Sara Nazarbayeva 1941 –Founder and president of the Bobek children's charity fund from 1992; wife of Nursultan Nazarbayev.
  • Sergey BrinCo-founder of Google; its president from 1998, and president of Alphabet 2015–2019.
  • Serhii Plokhy 1957 –Ukrainian-American historian; professor of Ukrainian history at Harvard University.
  • Stanislav Shushkevich 15 Dec 1934 – May 2022First head of state of independent Belarus (1991–1994).
  • Stanley Wojcicki 1937 – 31 May 2023Particle physicist; Stanford physics professor from 1966 and twice chair of its physics department; father of Susan and Anne Wojcicki.
  • Stephen A. Schwarzman 14 Feb 1947 –Co-founder of Blackstone and its long-time chief executive.
  • Steve HuffmanCo-founder and chief executive of Reddit.
  • Steve Jobs 1955–2011Co-founder of Apple. He was its CEO from 1997 to 2011 and its chairman from August 2011 until his death in October 2011.
  • Steve Wozniak 1950 –Co-founder of Apple and designer of its first computers; an Apple director from 1977 to 1978.
  • Steven A. CohenAmerican investor; founder and CEO of Point72.
  • Sue Desmond-HellmannAmerican physician and executive, former CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; elected to OpenAI's board in March 2024.
  • Sundar PichaiCEO of Google since October 2015 and of Alphabet since December 2019.
  • Susan WagnerCo-founder and former vice chairman of BlackRock; Apple director since 2014.
  • Susan Wojcicki 1968 – 9 Aug 2024Google's 16th employee, whose Menlo Park garage was Google's first office; CEO of YouTube from 2014 to 2023.

T

  • Tim Cook 1960 –Apple's CEO from August 2011 to September 2026 and its executive chair since then.
  • Timur Kulibayev 1966 –Businessman; chaired the KAZENERGY association (2005–2023) and the Atameken business chamber (2013–2022).
  • Trevor BlackwellRoboticist and computer scientist; one of the four founders of Y Combinator in 2005.

V

  • Vlad TenevCo-founder and chief executive of Robinhood Markets.
  • Vladimir Lenin 22 Apr 1870 – 21 Jan 1924Leader of the Bolsheviks; head of the Soviet government from November 1917 until his death in 1924.
  • Vladimir Putin 7 Oct 1952 –President of Russia (1999–2008 and since 2012).

W

  • Warren Buffett 30 Aug 1930 –American investor; co-founder of the Giving Pledge.
  • Wernher von Braun 23 Mar 1912 – 16 Jun 1977German-born rocket engineer; led US Army missile development and directed NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.
  • William Boyce Thompson 13 May 1869 – 27 Jun 1930American mining financier; head of the American Red Cross mission to Russia in 1917.
  • William H. Gates Sr. 30 Nov 1925 – 14 Sep 2020Seattle lawyer and civic leader; father of Bill Gates.

Y

  • Yegor Gaidar 19 Mar 1956 – 16 Dec 2009Russian economist; acting prime minister of Russia in 1992.