the 50 wealthiest · pdf filethe national herald, march 17, 2012 50 wealthiest greeks in...

The price of commodities and stocks may go up and down,real estate holdings may fluctuate in value, today’s hot newwebsite may become obsolete in months, and the globaleconomy may throw in its own challenges, but the spirit ofinnovation and entrepreneurialism always endures.

This special issue offers a look at the people fromour community who have found opportunity whereothers found obstacles, who have seen solutionswhere others only spotted questions.

Whether in the fields of technology or investments, in therealm of oil sales or industrial production, we bring to youhere 50 inspiring portraits of Hellenes with vision and lead-ership.

The 2012 list has undergone some big upheavals, as wehave factored in - when including people in the list - not justthe bottom line, but also the extent of Greek community involvement as a part of wealth. This means there are manyfamiliar faces, but a whopping one fifth of people on thelist of our popular issue are new.

The

50 WealthiestGreeks in America

The National Heralda b

MARCH 17, 2012www.thenationalherald.com

50 WEALTHIEST GREEKS IN AMERICA2 THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 17, 2012

The National HeraldA weekly publication of the NATIONAL HERALD, INC.

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ing the issues of paramountinterest to the Greek American

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By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer

At 83, John Pappajohn is abundle of energy and insight,making more money than heever did. But with his wife Mary,he is also giving away more ofit than ever. They have givenaway $100 million over the pastten years.

Acumen and integrity. That’sthe formula that has workedand he will not tamper with suc-cess. “They wouldn’t comeback,” if that weren’t the case,he said of the people the famedventure capitalist with whomhas made deals. “They all makemoney. They are all rich.”

Generosity is also an impor-tant element in his personal andprofessional life. “We are veryfair, we share. Our employeesmake money, our secretariestoo. That’s the name of thegame. We share.”

Pappajohn has put togethermore than 50 major public busi-ness deals. “Probably the mostin the country,” said the manwho never interviewed for a job.“I have always been an entre-preneur,” he said, but he is farfrom being done.

Still in venture capital, hesaid: “I’m doing the best dealsever and I have the best portfo-lio I ever had.” Along with suc-cess, he also cultivates his roots,being active in numerous com-munity endeavors.

Pappajohn was born on theisland of Evia. His grandfatherwas a priest and virtually every-one in his mother and fathers’families immigrated to MasonCity, IA. As a major railroadjunction with two cement plantsand other industries, opportu-nities were abound.

His father came over in steer-age at the turn of the last cen-tury at a time when there werealready 4,000 Greeks in MasonCity and opened a grocery store.He went back to Greece to fightthe Turks – “he was a palikari-a brave fellow” Pappajohn said– but after the Asia Minor Dis-aster, he returned to Mason City.

In between he needed to finda wife, so, like many successfulGreek-Americans, he went backin triumph and they brought outthe eligible young women of the

village of Aghios Lukas, like theydid for the Byzantine emperors,and he picked his bride Mariaout of the lineup.

“Thirty days after that theywere married and thirty days af-ter that my mom is pregnantwith me.” She quickly distin-guished herself as the bestGreek cook in Mason City. “Shemade everything and they gaveaway food to everybody. My dadwould typically bring needypeople home for lunch.”

CHARITY IS LEARNED HOME

His father made a lot ofmoney, but like many Greekmen he was a chain smoker andat age 54, he had a fatal heartattack. Pappajohn’s mother hadto learn English, but they keptthe store and he and his broth-

ers took turns going to college.It took him six years, takingsome years off, but he had hisdegree and $2000 in the bankand no debt.

They would be proud thattheir son is a Greek-Americandream overachiever. He has fourhonorary degrees – maybe themost of any Greek-Americanother than Peter G. Peterson.

Like many successful Greek-Americans, Pappajohn will tellyou that his education includedhis time working in his father’sstore. “I was a meat cutter. Myyounger brothers and I did morethan 50,000 chickens by hand.We chased the chickens on thefarm, put them in the coup andtook them back to the grocerystore to be butchered.”

Hellenism is in their genes,in their names and in their suc-

cess stories. Aristotle is in theinsurance business and Socratesis a practicing attorney.

After being graduated fromthe University of Iowa with abusiness degree, his first busi-ness project was to start an in-surance company, but his entre-preneurial experience beganmuch earlier.

“As a kid I was a junker. Iwould leave home with twogunny sacks and I would dorags, copper, lead, brass, andsell it at the junkyard. Theowner said I was his best cus-tomer. I did everything.”

He obviously had an eye foropportunity and value, but hesaid his father taught him thevital lesson of frugality. “We alllearned to save money. That’show we survived and kept thegrocery store until we went to

college and then sold the store.”For that element of entrepre-

neurship that is not inherited,Pappajohn has organized and fi-nanced the John Pappajohn En-trepreneurial Centers at five dif-ferent universities and collegesin the state of Iowa for morethan $10 million, and he justundertook a commitment to do-nate $10 million more. Theyhave started over 2000 busi-nesses in the state of Iowa andgiven away $3.5 million inscholarships.

Always brimming with ideasand ready to seize opportuni-ties, he also learned to pay at-tention to other geniuses. “Iwent into venture capital in1969.” He told TNH he knew asubstantial merchant in DesMoines, IA, whom he ap-proached about the investmentfund he was establishing. Themerchant told him, “I have afriend in Omaha, his name isWarren Buffett. I’ve got a littlemoney with him. If he says it’sokay, I’ll give you a little money,but he thinks we are going intoa depression.”

He called up and excitedlypitched Buffett himself, whosaid, “son you’re making a bigmistake. I have liquidated all myventure funds.” He said Buffettwas right on, and he shifted tomergers and acquisitions untilthe market opened up againlater in the 70s.

When Pappajohn dove intoventure capital, it was a brandnew industry – he said at thetime he was one of only 30 or40 venture capitalists in Amer-ica – and he said that he gotvery lucky early.

Pappajohn did a deal for acompany in San Diego, helpingthem raise money. He ended upstarting seven companies there,taking six of them public –whilehe still lived in Des Moines.

He said he relies on his in-stincts, but acknowledged theydo a lot of research. Pappajohnalso has two brilliant young as-sociates and agrees 100 percentwith the philosophy, expressedby others in this issue like JohnCatsimatidis, that a key to suc-cess is hiring people who aresmarter than you.

John and Mary Pappajohn:Entrepreneurs and Philanthropists in the Heartland

John and Mary Pappajohn share a passion for contemporary art. They also love to donatepieces for everyone else to enjoy too.

Continued on page 14

50 WEALTHIEST GREEKS IN AMERICATHE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 17, 2012 3

�As each has received a gift,

employ it in serving one another,

as good managers of the grace of God

in its various forms.�

1 Peter 4:10

Congratulations

to the men and women in this speCial issue for

Cultivating their talents to the benefit of our

Community, the Country and the whole

world. i wish them and future generations

of helleniC leaders suCCess in their endeavors.

emmanuel a. Kampouris


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By Angelike ContisTNH Staff Writer

Short-seller James Chanos’Greek roots are in Delphi, thehome of the ancient oracle. Thatis very fitting, as he often ap-pears, in the financial media,dropping hints of what is tocome, including naming compa-nies and countries that aredoomed to failure. If the founderand head of Kynikos Associatesinvesting business is best knownfor predicting Enron’s collapse,the world is waiting to see if hisChina’s bubble will burst, too.

But while the world of short-selling may appear to be aboutmiraculously seeing into the fu-ture, Chanos’ fortune is built ongood old fashioned research andnumber-crunching. The last fewyears he has also tried to shapethe regulatory environment andmedia landscape in the UnitedStates and abroad to his advan-tage.

That the stakes are high isclear. Though different numberscirculate, Chanos puts the num-ber of funds under managementby his company at “about $6 bil-lion.”

Kynikos Associates, which helaunched in 1985 with a partnerwith $16 million, has come along way.

He told TNH about the ori-gins not only of his company, butalso of his controversial profes-sion as a whole.

TRIAL AND ERRORChanos was born in Milwau-

kee, WI to Greek father Steve(Efstathios) and Irish motherMary, who converted, he pointsout “like a good Greek wife toGreek Orthodoxy.” The familywas in the dry-cleaning business.Chanos went East to study po-litical science and economics atYale (1980).

Of the career that followed,he says, “I stumbled into what Ido for a living now by accident.”What he does now, short-selling,involves borrowing shares athigh prices, selling those, thenreturning the shares after theirvalue has dropped and pocket-ing the difference.

Looking back, the hedge fundguru notes that with no formaltraining available on the art ofshort-selling itself, he edged inthat direction after working infinance. First stop was Chicago,

at Gilford Securities. After thathe worked for several firms onWall Street, including DeutscheBank. “I realized that I didn’t en-joy investment banking, but I en-joyed research more.”

The clincher for him was, in1982 at Gilford Securities, un-covering that something was notquite right with the numbers ofpiano maker Baldwin-United,which went bankrupt in 1983.“I sort of stumbled onto theshort side when one of the veryfirst companies I looked atturned out to be an enormousfinancial fraud, Baldwin-United.I think that’s what set me off. Itwas really almost by accident.”

He attributes his progressmore to “a lot of trial and errorand learning the hard way” thanto any mentor. “Most short sell-ers are sort of lone wolves bydesign,” he adds.

Later, he would sell short onother financial disasters includ-ing Commodore International,Coleco, Integrated Resources,Boston Chicken, Sunbeam, Con-seco, and Tyco International, En-ron in 2000/2001 – and recently,Sotheby’s.

Looking back, Chanos notesthat Kynikos Associates, one ofthe oldest in the hedge fundworld, is “sort of ancient by anystandards,” having been estab-lished over 25 years ago. Whileit may no longer be, as it was in1990, among the ten largesthedge funds in the world, he isproud of the company’s achieve-ments.

LASTING BUSINESSChanos remarks, “I’m proud-

est of the fact that we built alasting business.” He points tothe company’s two offices (inNew York and London), its 30-plus employees and six partners.He adds: “I’ve worked on someof the big spectacular frauds ofthe last 25 years, the Enrons ofthe world, [it's] something thatwe all feel good about.”

He explains that Kynikos As-sociates consists of three poolsof assets, including a U.S. fund,the Ursus fund and KynikosGlobal. The company also has atraditional long/short hedgefund called Kynikos OpportunityFund. All of the funds are runout of New York, with a researchoffice in London.

It’s unfortunate, in his opin-ion, that young people starting

out today don’t have the sameability to enter the risky businessof short-selling. When he and histhen-partner Jim Levitas startedout, they only had $1 million oftheir own – and $15 millionfrom a single client. “It just isnot possible today, both due toadditional regulation and theneeds of institutional investorsto put a shingle out like youcould back then and start with asmall track record.” He explains,“nowadays in order to hire thecompliance people and the riskpeople and everything thatmeaningful investors, whetherits institutional or individual,need to see, you’re talking aboutnecessary assets of $100-$200million at least. Otherwise youare just not going to haveenough to make it work.”

Chanos regrets: “The hurdlehas completely been raised. Andsometimes I think that that’s un-fortunate because it keeps a lotof people who otherwise mighthave been talented from goingout on their own.” He adds thateven in 1990, “we were onlyrunning $600 million, whichwas not a lot of money by to-day’s standards.”

The hedge fund business ex-ploded, Chanos notes, in thepast 10-15 years, changing froma mom and pop financial busi-ness into a global business.

Chanos counts himself luckythat his first client at Kynikos As-sociates was not only patient,but often an educator of sorts,“pointing things out to us, andnot vice versa.”

The business has a high at-trition rate, Kynikos’ founder ex-plains, due to the “nature of thefee structure.” He explains: “Youearn a performance fee only onprofits and if you lose money,you have to earn money back,before you begin earning perfor-mance fees again. One or twobad years can derail a manage-ment company and key peoplewill leave because they feel theywon’t get bonuses.” Chanosnotes that the industry has al-ways been marked by a high fail-ure rate, which may currentlybe as high as five or ten percenta year.

Kynikos may be the world’stop short-selling hedge fund.Chanos estimates that his com-pany is probably one of the top50 hedge funds in the world

overall today. Chanos, who launched and

chairs the Coalition of PrivateInvestment Companies, which isan advocate of his industrymade up of high-powered mem-bers, has lobbied in the U.S. Thecoalition’s attention is shifting toEurope says Chanos, who hastestified for the group in frontof Congress and commented onregulations proposed by the U.S.Securities and Exchange Com-mission and the Financial Ser-vices Authority in the UnitedKingdom. He explains that in theU.S. the regulatory frameworkfor hedge funds has becomeclearer with the Dodd-Frank fi-nancial regulation act. WithinEurope, however, where thereare greater restrictions againstshort-selling, he notes, “it’s a lit-tle bit more uncertain” andpoints to the coalition’s websitefor additional info: www.finan-cialdetectives.org.

THE SOCIAL VALUE OF SHORT SELLERS

Short-sellers get their shareof slack. They are often accusedof heartlessly bringing downcompanies for profit.

Chanos doesn’t see thingsthat way. The hedge fund man-ager, who enjoys teaching a classin the history of financial fraudat the Business School of hisalma mater Yale each spring,gives a little historical perspec-tive. “People have not liked shortsellers since the financial mar-kets that started in the 17th Cen-tury. Short sellers have alwaysbeen reviled because of profitingoff the misery of others neverseems to settle well with peo-ple.”

He points out, however,“There hasn’t been one major fi-nancial fraud in the last 25 yearsI’ve been doing business thatwasn’t uncovered either by aninternal whistleblower, a jour-nalist and/or a shortseller.” Hecalls short sellers “the real timefinancial detectives in the finan-cial marketplace,” whose role of-ten is unappreciated. He notes,“internal auditors, external au-ditors, internal attorneys, exter-nal attorneys never find thesethings.” He agrees with Ameri-can financier Bernard Baruch’s(1870–1965) opinion that amarket without bears (short-sell-ers) is like a government withouta free press.

At the end of the day, Chanosbelieves, “You need a naturalcheck on irrational exuberance,and quite frankly on the abilityof companies to play games withtheir numbers and defraud theirinvestors. ”

GLOBAL SCOPEKynikos scrutinizes closely a

couple of hundred companies,notes Chanos, who says that thecompany’s global portfolio atany time includes “about 100positions.” Chanos often ap-pears on business news pro-grams, sharing his opinions onbad investments. He stressesthat Kynikos’ opinions on com-panies are based on publically-available information, but addsthat it’s part of the biz to knowwhen to speak and when to shutup. “Short-sellers are protectedby the Constitution of theUnited States too, but the ques-tion is: is it in our clients’ inter-ests to talk about our positions?And sometimes it is and some-times it isn’t.” He points to En-ron and China’s property mar-kets, where “we’ll tell anybodywho will listen” about the prob-lems. He also notes: “But on asmaller situation where wedon’t want a lot of company, alot of shortsellers, we might notever talk about it.”

With regards to China, he re-mains steadfast. “We believethat the Chinese banking systemis really problematic due to badloans that not only are going tobuild up due to this cycle, butthat were swept under the rugfrom previous cycles.” He hasoften observed, in recentmonths, that China’s problemswere ignored thanks to the Eu-ropean sovereign situation in2011.

With regards to the situationin Greece, and the E.U. moregenerally, he points to “a verybad political dynamic,” whereboth the taxpayers in the so-called donor countries like Ger-many and the recipient coun-tries like Greece are all upset.His take on what we’ve seenplay out recently are efforts byauthorities to prevent a bankingsystem problem. He points to apublic “tug-of-war between themarket and the EU.” The EU, henotes keeps suggesting “all sortof accounting games,” and “the

James Chanos, In Short-Selling for the Long Run

James Chanos, founder and head of Kynikos Associates, pointsto the fraud-fighting aspect of short selling. He's been a leaderin the profession since 1985.



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1.HASEOTESFAMILY$3.3 BILLION DAIRY,CONVENIENCE STORES,PETROLEUM PRODUCTS

Vasilios and AphroditeHaseotes emigrated fromGreece’s Macedonia and Epirusregions to the US, buying a one-cow dairy farm in Cumberland,RI for $84 in 1938. CumberlandFarms (incorporated in 1957)eventually grew to become thelargest dairy farm operation inMassachusetts. In 1956, thecompany opened a jug-milkstore in Bellingham, MA. Fewconvenience food stores offeringdawn-to- midnight service everyday of the week existed in theNorth in the 1950’s.

But by 1967, there weresome 8,000. With some 400stores, Cumberland Farms wasamong the industry leaders. Bythe early 1990’s, CumberlandFarms ranked third among thecountry’s convenience storechains, and was also a leader inboth the retail and wholesaledistribution of petroleum prod-ucts.

A closely held family-ownedcompany since its inception,Cumberland Farms has sincegrown to become a multi-bil-lion-dollar corporation. Lily

(Haseotes) Bentas, daughter ofVasilios and AphroditeHaseotes, is chairman of theboard of directors. Her nephew,Ari Haseotes, is the president.

Company headquarters arein Framingham, MA. Cumber-land Farms owns and operatesconvenience stores and gas sta-tions throughout New England,New York, the Mid-AtlanticStates and Florida under theCumberland Farms, Exxon, andGulf names. Its Gulf Oil armsells gasoline to franchised ser-vice stations. The company firstadded a gas station to one of itsstores in 1971 and expandedgreatly in the wake of the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo. By 1975Cumberland Farms opened its1000th store. The followingyear, it opened a 560,000-square-foot bakery and ware-house in Westborough, MA, andpurchased more than 500 Gulfand Chevron service stationsand related assets in 11 North-eastern states. The transactionincluded contracts to supplygasoline to about 1,700 Gulfdealers and 2,000 stations, mak-ing Cumberland Farms thelargest independent seller ofgasoline in America. In 2010,Gulf Oil L.P., a subsidiary ofCumberland Farms, announcedit had acquired all rights, titleand interest to the “Gulf” brandin the U.S. In 2012, CumberlandGulf Group announced that it isentering the electricity businessin Connecticut.

At one point CumberlandFarms had 1,200 stores, abouthalf of which were selling gas.Now a company of over 1,000retail stores and stations, with$8.02 billion in revenues (a 22percent increase over the previ-ous year) and 6,500 employees,Forbes ranked CumberlandFarms the 37th largest privatelyheld company in the U.S. in2011 (up from 44th the previ-ous year).

Bentas told TNH that thecompany continues to grow andimprove. “The company is con-tinuing to upgrade its locationsand offer more prepared foods.We are constantly updating oursites.”

Cumberland Farms has givenmillions in cash and products tobenefit young people, from itsBelieve and Achieve Scholarshipprogram to hunger relief efforts.Ari Haseotes and his wife Ashleyalso founded the One Mission

(www.onemission.org) child-hood cancer foundation.

www.cumberlandfarms.com

2.JOHN A.CATSIMATIDIS$2.2 BILLION OIL, REALESTATE, SUPERMARKETS

Ranked 212th among theForbes 400, John Catsimatidis,63, is chairman & CEO of theRed Apple Group. Ranked 98thamong the country’s largest pri-vately held companies byForbes, with 7,600 employeesand estimated annual revenuesof $3.80 billion, Red Apple hasholdings in oil refining, retailpetroleum products, conve-nience stores, supermarkets andreal estate. With a major focuson energy, Catsimatidis’ fortuneaccelerated with rising oilprices.

His parents came to Americawith him from the island ofNisyros while he was a child. Hegrew up in New York City onManhattan’s west side. He at-tended New York University, butdropped out before completinghis degree requirements becauseof business demands. Heopened his first grocery store in1969, and owned ten stores bythe age of 24, making $25 mil-lion a year in revenue. Heplowed $5 million into Manhat-tan real estate in 1977; thatproperty was worth $100 mil-lion just five years later.

Today, Red Apple reportedlyowns $500 million worth ofproperty and the Gristedes su-permarket chain. He stumbledupon the Chapter 11 proceed-ings of United Refining in War-ren, PA and purchased the oilrefiner’s stock for $7.5 million.Today, the firm owns 375 gasoutlets and convenience stores,primarily in western Pennsylva-nia and Western New York. Hismost recent projects include sev-eral residential developmentprojects in Brooklyn, and invest-ing in health-related companies.

Catsimatidis is a licensed pi-lot, though eye surgery hasgrounded him over the past fewyears. He has helped raise mil-lions for Alzheimer’s, Parkin-son’s, and Juvenile Diabetes re-search. He served asco-chairman and founder of theBrooklyn Tech EndowmentFoundation. The $10 millionfund is the largest gift to a sec-ondary school in the United

States. Since 1988 he hasfunded scholarships at the NYUSchool of Business. He is alsothe publisher of the HellenicTimes. He is married and the fa-ther of two children. His wifeMargo runs his company’s in-house advertising agency. TheirHellenic Times ScholarshipFund, which has awarded hun-dreds of thousands in scholar-ships to Greek American stu-dents, celebrated its 20thAnniversary last May. Catsima-tidis, who in 2009 publicallyconsidered running for mayorof New York, is among the lead-ing Greek-Americans actively in-volved in Republican fundrais-ing for the 2012 presidentialrace. He told Crain’s New Yorkin November 2011: “I don't nec-essarily want to be mayor…ButI love New York City and I don'twant it to go downhill. If wecan't get someone who is reallyqualified to do a good job forour city, then I may do some-thing about it.”

www.urc.com

2.GEORGE P.MITCHELL$2.2 BILLION ENERGY, REALESTATE

Ranked 188th among Forbes’“400 Richest Americans” and420th among Forbes’ “World'sBillionaires”, with an estimatednet worth of $2.2 billion, Mr.Mitchell is chairman of GPMInc., and is now 92 years of age.

The son of a Greek immi-grant goatherd, he grew up inGalveston, Texas – in the samebuilding where his father’s drycleaning shop was located. A

1940 graduate of Texas A&MUniversity with a degree in pe-troleum engineering, he servedin the U.S. Army Corps of Engi-neers during World War II be-fore founding Roxoil Drilling,which eventually becameMitchell Energy & DevelopmentCorp, with his brother Johnnyin 1946.

He made his fortune by wild-catting (i.e., searching for, andfinding, reserves) in North Texasand Southern Louisiana oil andgas fields, and then selling mostof his company’s interests to De-von Energy for $3.5 billion in2001. He invested the proceedsof the sale in real estate: e.g.,Bald Head Island, North Car-olina. He also owns more than20 hotels and private buildings.His son, Todd is a major share-holder in Alta Resources, a com-pany developing shale assets.

Mitchell resides in TheWoodlands, an environmentallyfriendly region he founded in1974. His wife, Cynthia, passedaway in 2009. They have tenchildren and 28 grandchildren.

The Mitchells have been oneof A&M’s largest private bene-factors. Their gifts in support of

the University’s Physics depart-ment include $35 million fortwo new facilities, whichopened in 2009. Mitchell hadreportedly contributed $159 toeducational institutions by2011. Major interests have in-cluded historic preservation, in-cluding helping to rejuvenateGalveston’s historic Strand Dis-trict and helped revitalize thecity’s mid-winter Mardi Gras cel-

ebration.Mitchell still goes to his office

almost every day, and still trav-els regularly for business pur-poses. He is a major benefactorof the Houston-Galveston area’shospitals. He is also a nature en-thusiast, and a believer in envi-ronmental and energy conser-vation. He is opposed to oildrilling in the Alaska wildliferefuge, and has funded a $10million National Academiesstudy on sustainable develop-ment and population growth.

In November 2011, he was –along with Terry Englender andGary Lash, named one of For-eign Policy magazine’s Top 100Global Thinkers “For upendingthe politics of energy” with hisinvestment, three decades ear-lier, in tapping undergroundnatural gas reserves.

4.MICHAELJAHARIS$1.9 BILLIONPHARMACEUTICALS

Ranked 227th among theForbes Richest 400 Americans,with an estimated net worth of$1.9 billion Michael Jaharis, 83,founded Kos Pharmaceuticals.

Jaharis, the son of Greek im-migrants, is a native of Chicago;he earned his bachelor’s degreefrom Carroll University in Wis-consin. He served in the U.S.Army Medical Corps during theKorean War and later attendednight school at DePaul Univer-sity to earn his law degree whileworking as a sales representa-tive for Miles Laboratories. In1972, Jaharis and partnerPhillip Frost acquired Key Phar-maceuticals and transformedthe tiny producer of cough andcold remedies into a power-house company with newly de-veloped top-selling asthma andcardio- vascular drugs. Underhis leadership, Key’s sales in-creased 100- fold before thecompany’s $836 million mergerwith Schering- Plough in 1986.Two years later, Jaharislaunched Kos Pharmaceuticals,which pioneered the HDL cho-lesterol market with its goodcholesterol-raising drug Nias-pan, before being sold to AbbottLaboratories in 2006 for $4.2billion. Today, Jaharis is founderand director of Arisaph Pharma-ceuticals Inc., a privately helddrug discovery and bio-techcompany, and a founder of Vat-era Healthcare Partners LLC, a

The 50 Wealthiest Greeks in America List

Note: All names markedwith an asterisk (*) indicatenewcomers to the TNH 50Wealthiest list.

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He is married to Mary Ja-haris who attended Northwest-ern University and graduatedfrom the Art Institute ofChicago. Proud supporters ofHellenism, he and his wife aremajor benefactors of the NewYork Metropolitan Museum ofArt, Art Institute of Chicago andalso support many cultural, re-ligious, higher education, andhealthcare institutions thoughthe Jaharis Family Foundation,Inc. In October 2010, the MaryJaharis Center for Byzantine Artand Culture was inaugurated atHellenic College – Holy CrossGreek Orthodox TheologicalSeminary which will serve as apremier international researchcenter.

Jaharis also serves as TrusteeEmeritus of Tufts University inBoston, MA, Chairman of theBoard of Overseers for theSchool of Medicine, Tufts Uni-versity, Member of the ColumbiaUniversity Medical Center Boardof Visitors, and Member of theBoard of Overseers of the WeillCornell Medical College andGraduate School of Medical Sci-ences.

He is the Vice Chairman ofthe Greek Orthodox Archdioceseof America and is one of theOriginal Founders of Leadership100 and FAITH: An Endowmentfor Hellenism and Orthodoxy.

He states, “It is particularlyimportant to Mary and me togive back to institutions whichhave truly inspired us and mayhelp open doors for young peo-ple and the community. We be-lieve that our Hellenic cultureand Orthodox faith provided thefoundation for our values andidentity.”

The Jaharises reside in New

York. They have two childrenand five grandchildren.

5.GEORGE L.ARGYROS$1.8 BILLION REAL ESTATE

Ranked 719th amongstForbes’ world billionaires, withan estimated net worth of $1.8billion earlier this month,George Argyros, 74, made hisfortune in grocery stores andthen real estate.

He earned his bachelor’s de-gree at Chapman University. Asecond-generation American ofGreek descent, he was born inDetroit, MI and raised inPasadena, CA. He went into realestate in 1962, selling land atbusy intersections to oil compa-nies to set up gas stations. To-day, his privately held Arnel &Affiliates owns and manages5,500 apartments and 2 millionsquare feet of commercial space.Argyros founded the private eq-uity firm Westar Capital in

1987. He is a board memberand the leading investor, with areported 20%, in software de-velopment firm DST Systems(NYSE:DST) whose market cap-italization is about $2.15 billion.

Former President George W.Bush appointed him U.S. am-bassador to Spain in 2001, afterleading GOP fundraising effortsin California in 2000. He hosteda $25,000-per-couple dinner forU.S. Senator and then-presiden-tial hopeful John McCain (R-Ari-zona) at his home in 2008. Ar-gyros also served on the FederalHome Loan Mortgage Corpora-tion under President GeorgeH.W. Bush.

Argyros resides in a mansion(reportedly recently expanded)on Harbor Island in NewportBay, CA. He is a recognized busi-

ness leader and philanthropist.He was the 1993 recipient ofthe Horatio Alger Award of Dis-tinguished Americans, and a2001 recipient of the Ellis IslandMedal of Honor. Chapman’sSchool of Business and Econom-ics was renamed in his honor in1999. He has served on theboard of trustees for severalcommunity organizations, in-cluding the California Instituteof Technology; the BeckmanFoundation; the Horatio AlgerAssociation; and Chapman Uni-versity. He owned baseball’sSeattle Mariners between 1980and 1989. In January, he be-came a member of the Board ofRegents of the Orange CountyCouncil Boy Scouts of America.In April 2011, he and his wifemade a $5 million gift to an am-bulatory surgery center at theUniversity of California. He isan Archon of the Patriarchate’sOrder of St. Andrew the Apostle.Argyros is married with threechildren, and enjoys sailing, ski-ing and hunting.

www.arnel.com

6.C. DEANMETROPOULOS$1.2 BILLIONMANAGEMENT,ACQUISITIONS

Dean Metropoulos, 65, isvery well known in the privateequity, investment banking andfinancial community, havingspent the past two decades ac-quiring, restructuring and grow-ing numerous businesses in theU.S., Mexico and Europe. Manyof these were subsequentlytaken public or sold to strategiccorporations. He was chairman& CEO of Pinnacle Foods, theparent company of iconicbrands such as Duncan Hines,Vlasic and Mrs. Paul’s. Pinnaclewas purchased by the Black-stone Group for more than$2.26 billion in 2007. He is#359 on Forbes’ 400 RichestAmericans list.

Metropoulos is Chairman &CEO of C. Dean Metropoulos &Co., a boutique buyout andmanagement firm. The firm fo-cuses on the acquisition and op-eration of companies with con-sumer brand products, and hasbeen involved in more than 70acquisitions involving over $12billion in invested capital since1993. He says: “I love findingopportunities, negotiating thedeals, and repositioning thecompanies into vibrant, growingbusinesses.... If we’re proud ofanything, it’s that we have neverlost money with any of our ac-quisitions in which we have av-

eraged 44% returns over atwenty year period.” In early2000, Metropoulos acquired In-ternational Home Foods, a sub-sidiary of Wyeth, which in-cluded Chef Boyardee, PAMcooking spray, Bumble Bee tuna,Jiffy Pop popcorn and Gulden’smustard. Forty percent of thebusiness first went public, andsubsequently 100% was sold toConAgra in 2000 for $2.9 bil-lion.

Born in Greece, his familymoved to America when he wasnine years of age. In Watertown,MA, his father Jimmy worked atthe Star Market and later owneda restaurant in Newton calledCabot.

Metropoulos went to collegeon a scholarship, and after grad-uate school at Babson Collegeand a year and a half towardshis doctorate at Columbia, hewent to work for the GTE Cor-poration, which is now Verizon.After graduate schoolMetropoulos joined GTE Inter-national and became itsyoungest senior vice presidentresponsible for their interna-tional business in 62 countries.

Other well known businessesin which C. Dean Metropoulos& Company were investors andoperators included Mumm andPerrier Jouet Champagnes ofFrance, Stella Foods, the Morn-ingstar Group, GhirardelliChocolate Company, Del MonteMexico and National Water-works. He owns Castle on theHudson boutique hotel.

In 2010, he made waves withthe purchase of Pabst BrewingCo. for $250 million. Metropou-los attributes some of the mostsuccessful ideas of turningaround and reinventing themany well-known brands to theout-of-the- box thinking and ex-

ecution of his two sons, Evanand Daren. Metropoulos and hiswife Marianne live in Green-wich, CT. Among his honors in2011 were the Association forCorporate Growth Chicago’sDealMaker and Hellenic Ameri-can Bankers Association Execu-tive of the Year awards.

www.pabstblueribbon.com

7.ALEX G. SPANOS& FAMILY$1.1 BILLION REAL ESTATE,PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL

Alex G. Spanos, 88, owns theNational Football League’s SanDiego Chargers. His family isranked 1075th among theworld’s billionaires by Forbes.His fortune increased since2004, and then dropped somewith the recent plunge in thereal estate market. The risingvalue of the Chargers – nowworth $920 million (purchasedfor $70 million in 1984) - hasoffset the real estate losses. In2008, Forbes listed A.G. SpanosCompanies as the 403rd largestprivately held firm in the coun-try, with estimated revenues of$1.13 billion.

The son of Greek immi-grants, Spanos received hisbachelor’s degree at PacificLutheran University. He beganhis career as a baker, but whenhis business nearly went bank-rupt, he opted for a change indirection. In 1951 he used an$800 loan to purchase a smalltrucking company, which heturned into a successful enter-prise. He then used his profitsto invest in real estate, and by1960, he had an incorporatedbusiness. Today, his firm is oneof America’s largest housing de-velopers, and is the largest fam-ily-owned construction andproperty management companyin the United States. It has builtmore than 100,000 units in 19states.

Spanos was inducted into theCalifornia Building Industry Hallof Fame in 2005. He bought 60percent of the Chargers fromthen-majority owner EugeneKlein in 1984. Over the next tenyears, he bought out the sharesof several small co-owners,bringing his control of the teamto 97 percent. His son Dean nowmanages the team. Spanos, oneof the largest single private con-tributors to the Republican Na-tional Party during Presidentialelection years, helped to raiseover $2 million for Senator JohnMcCain’s 2008 Presidential bid.President Bush appointedSpanos to the Kennedy Centerboard in 2004. Spanos has alsocontributed millions to schools,hospitals and charity. He re-ceived the Medal of the Com-mander of the Order of Honorfrom Greek President KarolosPapoulias in 2008.

Spanos now lets his kids runthe business these days, andsaid he likes to play cards withhis friends. “What the heck. I’m85 years old, and my kids aredoing a good job. It’s their turnnow,” he told TNH in 2009. In2002, Spanos published his au-tobiography entitled Sharing theWealth: My Story. He and hiswife Faye (who celebrated 63years of marriage in 2011) havefour children, 15 grandchildrenand three great grandsons.

http://agspanos.com

8.THE CALAMOSFAMILY$1 BILLION MUTUAL FUNDS

John P. Calamos, Sr., 70,earned both his bachelor’s de-gree in economics and his MBAfrom the Illinois Institute ofTechnology. A son of Greek im-migrants, he is a product ofChicago public schools, andgrew up above his family’s gro-cery store on Chicago’s westside. He developed his passionfor the stock market as ateenager after investing his par-ents’ $5,000 nest egg.

After earning his MBA, he be-came an early authority on con-vertible securities, and launchedan investment outfit that even-tually became Calamos AssetManagement in 1977. Hismoney management firm servesinstitutional clients and man-ages mutual funds. The com-pany provides money manage-ment services to majorcorporations, institutions, pen-sion funds, insurance companiesand individuals. The companywent public in 2004.

Continued from page 6


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Calamos is chairman, CEOand Co-CIO of Calamos Invest-ments, which he runs along withhis nephew Nick and his sonJohn. A much-lauded money-man over the last few years,Calamos was worth $2.7 billionfive years ago, according toForbes. Though the 2008 finan-cial crisis struck his industry ablow, he is recovering nicelywith $33.7 billion under man-agement at the end of 2011.Calamos also has a private realestate arm, Calamos Real EstateLLC, which includes HotelArista, CityGate Centre and

other entities that surround theinvestment company’s head-quarters in Naperville, IL. Hehas written two books, writesfor investment industry publica-tions and is interviewed regu-larly by CNBC and BloombergTV.

Calamos was the first mem-ber in his family to graduatefrom college. He served in theU.S. Air Force, flying the B-52Bomber, as a combat pilot inVietnam and as a Forward AirController. He later spent tenyears in the USAF Reserves fly-ing the A-37 jet fighter andearning the rank of Major. Hekeeps his aviation skills honedby flying his Marchetti SF260Warbird. He credits his Air Forcetime for sharpening his risk as-sessment skills.

He is a member of the Invest-ment Analysts Society ofChicago and is on the board ofdirectors of Chicago’s new Na-

tional Hellenic Museum, ofwhich he is a major benefactor.He says of the museum: “Wehave built a national institutionto honor our parents and grand-parents, to honor our rich Hel-lenic history.”

www.calamos.com

8.KOSTA & TOMKARTSOTIS$1 BILLION WATCHESLEATHER ACCESSORIES

Kosta Kartsotis, 59, is CEO &Chairman of Fossil Inc., andTom Kartsotis, 52, former chair-man and CEO of the company.Fossil is based in Richardson,Texas. It sells products in 120countries around the world. In2010 stock prices more thandoubled for the company, witha 40% increase in global sales.Kosta Kartsotis holds a 9.4 %share in the company. Forbestallied his earnings at $21 mil-lion in just a week last year, not-ing that he held some $655 mil-lion of the stock – and hisbrother, “a mere $389 millionworth of Fossil stock.”

Founded by Tom Kartsotis in1984, Fossil is a designer andmanufacturer of clothing andaccessories, primarily watchesand jewelry, but also sunglassesand wallets. Its brands includeFossil, Relic, Abacus, MicheleWatch and Zodiac. Fossilwatches are common in middle-income retail stores, as well asat most department stores. Fos-sil also branched into the saleof leather goods and other ac-cessories in the 1990’s. Fossilalso designs, manufactures anddistributes with Burberry, DKNY,Emporio Armani, ColumbiaSportswear, Diesel, MichaelKors, Marc Jacobs and Adidas.Fossil also produces collectibles,some of which are based onpopular films or pop culturecharacters. It made news in2011 by acquiring competitorSkagen Designs.

The company now offerssmart watches that would linkto phones via Bluetooth.

Tom Kartsotis also owns theTexas company Bedrock Brands.

www.fossil.com

8.PETER G.PETERSON$1 BILLION ALTERNATIVEINVESTMENTS

In 2010 he was ranked182nd among the Forbes 400and 488th at the World's Billion-

aires. Peter G. Peterson, 85, hasmoved down in this list as hisdonations have gone up. He’slisted in Forbes earlier thismonth as 1,153rd of the world’sbillionaires. He made his for-tune as the co-founder and for-mer chairman of the BlackstoneGroup, one of the world’s largestprivate investment firms with19 offices around the world.

Peterson co-founded Black-stone with Stephen Schwarz-man in 1985 with $400,000; thefirm’s private equity funds ownor have interests in 54 compa-nies. The company went publicin June 2007 at $31 a share. Af-ter a drop in share values witha crisis in the private equity in-dustry, they have stabilized atabout $15 as we went to press.Peterson retired from the com-pany in late 2008, receiving$1.85 billion in cash upon exit-ing, before taxes and meetingseveral trust and charitableobligations. At year’s end, Black-stone was managing $166 bil-lion in total assets. The com-pany’s recent acquisitionsinclude the Anheuser-Busch In-Bev’s U.S. theme parks ($2.7 bil-lion in 2009) and Hilton Hotels($26 billion in 2007).

The son of Greek immi-grants, Mr. Peterson grew up inNebraska. He studied at North-western University, where hegraduated summa cum laude,and earned his MBA from theUniversity of Chicago. He wasCEO of Bell and Howell from1963 to 1971. He served as Sec-retary of Commerce under Pres-ident Nixon, and became chair-man of Lehman Brothers in

1973. He also chaired the Fed-eral Reserve Bank of New Yorkfrom 2000 to 2004. He is theauthor of several books (includ-ing 2010 memoir The Educationof an American Dreamer), andspeaks frequently about issuesof fiscal responsibility. Petersonnow dedicates his time to hisfoundation and other charitableactivities. Established in 2008,the Peter G. Peterson Founda-tion is a nonpartisan organiza-tion dedicated to increasingpublic awareness of the natureand urgency of key fiscal chal-lenges threatening America’s fu-ture, and to accelerating actionon them.

He’s among the U.S. billion-aires who decided to take theGiving Pledge in 2010 to givemuch of their wealth to charity.The Giving Pledge was initiatedby Warren Buffett and Bill GatesJr.

Peterson now resides in NewYork. He is married to JoanGanz Cooney, founder and for-mer chairman of Children’s Tele-vision Workshop (“SesameStreet”), and is the father offive.

www.pgpf.org

11.GEORGEANDREAS$975 MILLION ART, REALESTATE, INVESTMENTS

A painter and investor in realestate among other businesses,George Andreas (Andreopoulos)was born in Athens in 1938. Be-fore studying at the Greek Mili-tary Academy, he was an ap-prentice to Greek portrait andlandscape artist Constantine

Artemis. His four-year appren-ticeship began in 1952, at age14, grinding pigments and mix-ing paints, learning about tech-nique and studying composi-tion. While studying withArtemis, Andreas also discov-ered and was inspired by thepaintings of ConstantineParthenes, a progressive artistwho spurned tradition. In 1967,a tyrannical regime led by Col.George Papadopoulos seizedpower in Greece, and Andreas,by now a distinguished militaryofficer, moved to New York.

Since then, he has dividedhis time between his studios inVirginia, Florida, and New YorkCity. Over 40 years, he has madeover 140 oil works and 1,000works on paper, yet Andreas hasestablished several policies forhimself regarding his art and hisdealings with the art world: Hehas intentionally not sold anoriginal piece since 1993. HisMonographia, a collection of 18lithographs, is available for pur-chase. Andreas is working onseveral significant new projects,to include one called Smash theSystem, consisting of at leasttwelve paintings and video. Thisbody of work will be a reflectionof a social criticism of the Anar-chist movement over time.

Art is not the only compo-nent of his fortune. Among sev-eral other business ventures, hehas substantial real estate as-sets. He has also owned and op-erated many successful car deal-erships, employing hundreds,one of which was ranked thesecond most profitable dealer-ship in the country. Andreas’wife Ursula assists him in all ofhis endeavors. He has one son,Christopher, a daughter-in-law,Andrita, and two grandchildren.

www.andreasstudio.com

12.GEORGE D.BEHRAKIS$930 MILLIONPHARMACEUTICALS

George D. Behrakis, 77, isfounder and chairman ofMythos, LLC, a private invest-ment company based in Lexing-ton, MA. He is also chairman ofGainesborough Investments,launched in 1998. A 1957 grad-uate of Northeastern University,Behrakis also studied at BostonUniversity, and is a recognizedleader in the pharmaceutical in-dustry. He became best known,perhaps, for his talent in solubi-

lizing previously insolublechemicals and making them sta-ble for medical use.

After completing his militaryservice, Behrakis began his ca-reer at McNeil Laboratories (adivision of Johnson & Johnson).In 1968, he founded DoonerLaboratories which developedand manufactured a leadingasthma medication, Slophyllinand Slobid. He sold the com-pany to Rhone-Poulenc Rorer(now Aventis) and purchasedophthalmic firm Muro Pharma-ceuticals in 1978. Behrakis soldhis eye care products to Bauschand Lomb and searched for newproducts, including pharmaceu-ticals for asthma and allergies.

Behrakis sold the firm to Asta-Medica AG, a division of Ger-man conglomerate Degussa, re-tiring as president & CEO in1998.

Behrakis is the son of Greekimmigrants. He and his wifeMargo have established chairsand scholarships at various uni-versities and medical centers. In2003 Northeastern Universityand Medical Center opened theBehrakis Health Science Build-ing and also created the Centerfor Drug Discovery.

A recipient of many awardsfor his contributions to business,science, the arts and the GreekOrthodox Church, he sits on theboard of The Boston SymphonyOrchestra and is emeritus chair-man of Northeastern University.He has served on many boardsof both public and private com-panies. He is on the advisoryboard of the Harvard School of

The 50 Wealthiest Greeks in America ListContinued from page 7

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Public Health.Perhaps no institution has re-

ceived as much from Behrakisas the Boston Museum of FineArts. His relationship with themuseum dates back to his highschool days, when his uncle,John Zaroulis, took him to seethe galleries. Later, Behrakiswould host parties at the Mu-seum. He became a member in1989, a patron in 1996, and anoverseer in 1998. Then, one dayin 2001, Behrakis showed up forlunch with MFA Director Mal-colm Rogers and handed him asealed envelope. Inside was acheck for $2 million to endowChristine Kondoleon’s positionas curator of Greek & RomanArt. He has given $25 million tothe museum since 2006 and themuseum now has the newGeorge D. and Margo BehrakisWing, which houses Greek, Ro-man and Egyptian Galleries.

In 2010, Mr. Behrakis gave a$1.8 million grant to a HarvardUniversity School of PublicHealth study on smoking inGreece. In 2011, the 50-year-member of AHEPA was honoredwith the organization’s Arch-bishop Iakovos HumanitarianAward in Orange, CT.

Behrakis, a former presidentof the Holy Trinity Greek Ortho-dox Church in Lowell, M.A., isa member of the ArchdiocesanCouncil’s Executive Committee,and an Archon of the Ecumeni-cal Patriarchate. He is ChairmanEmeritus of Leadership 100.Behrakis also publishes the Hel-lenic Voice. He and his wifeMargo have been married for 50years and have four childrenand nine grandchildren.

www.thehellenicvoice.com

13.GEORGESAKELLARIS$800 MILLION ENERGY,ENVIRONMENT

Born in Vassara in Laconia,Greece, George Sakellaris, 65,heads one of the largest energysolutions companies in NorthAmerica. His companyAmeresco, Inc. (NYSE: AMRC),which is based in Framingham,MA, specializes in providing en-ergy efficiency, infrastructureupgrades, and renewable en-ergy solutions. George Sakel-laris, President and CEO as wellas Chairman of the Board of Di-rectors of Ameresco, foundedthe company in 2000. Today ithas 62 offices in 34 states andfive Canadian provinces andemploys more than 900 profes-sionals. “Green. Clean. Sustain-able” is the motto of the com-pany that increases energy

efficiency for federal, state andlocal governments, healthcareand educational institutions,housing authorities, and com-mercial and industrial cus-tomers.

One of its notable projects in-clude the recently completedDepartment of Energy SavannahRiver Site Biomass CogenerationProject in Aiken, SC, which at$795 million is the largest re-newable energy savings perfor-mance contract in the UnitedStates. Ameresco also recentlyannounced an agreement withthe Philadelphia Water Depart-ment to design, build and main-tain an innovative wastewaterbiogas-to-energy facility.

Ameresco prides itself in go-ing beyond just conservation toaddress its customers’ entire en-ergy system, including supplyand demand, energy efficiencyand renewable energy.

Sakellaris has this to sayabout his sustainability busi-ness: “We have a sharp focus onour customers’ needs for com-prehensive energy efficiency ser-vices and budget-neutral solu-tions, particularly in today’senvironment of aging infrastruc-ture and budgetary constraints.As an entrepreneurial, technol-ogy-agnostic company,Ameresco is in the best positionto offer our customers the opti-mum solutions to suit their re-quirements.” He continues, “Be-ing in the service business 'youare as good as your people.' Wealways strive to hire and retainthe best in our field.”

The company’s revenues con-tinued to climb in 2011. In No-vember, they announced thattheir total revenues for 2011,$728.2 million, were up 17.8%over the previous year’s, with anet income improvement of

21% year-over-year. After graduating from high

school in Greece, Sakellaris ar-rived in Bangor, ME, as a collegeexchange student in 1965 to goto college. He spoke little Eng-lish when he first enrolled at theUniversity of Maine-Orono, butworked his way through collegeand earned a B.S.E.E. degree,driven by a love of mathematicsand the sciences. His parents ar-rived in the U.S. in 1969 andthe family settled in Boston. Hethen worked at local utility NewEngland Electrical Systems(NEES), earning an M.B.A. andM.S.E.E. from Northeastern Uni-versity along the way. Then,Sakellaris explains, “in 1979,while working for New EnglandElectric, NEES Managementwanted to establish a companyto promote energy efficiency toavoid the need to build newgeneration plants. They askedme to lead that initiative and Iwelcomed the challenge.”

The subsidiary he launchedwas called NEES Energy. Thenin 1990, Mr. Sakellaris pur-chased NEES Energy and it be-came the energy conservationcompany he re-namedNORESCO. In 1997, he soldthat industry-leading indepen-dent energy services companyto Equitable Resources (EQT),a Fortune 500 company. Sakel-laris continued to leadNORESCO and was appointedas a Senior Vice President of Eq-uitable Resources. In January2000, he left EQT and threemonths later founded Ameresco.

Sakellaris is a DistinguishedMember Inductee of the FrancesCrowe Society at the Universityof Maine, which gave him theEdward T. Bryand DistinguishedEngineer Award in 2007. Hisawards include winning anErnst & Young Entrepreneur ofThe Year 2011 New Englandaward.

Among his support for nu-merous educational institutionsin Massachusetts and Maine isestablishing an endowment atUMass Lowell in memory of hismentor, the late Senator PaulTsongas. He is a member of theFaith Endowment and Leader-ship 100, an Archon of the Or-der of St. Andrew and a majorbenefactor of his local church,Saint Catherine’s Greek Ortho-dox Church.

Sakellaris served as a found-ing member of the National As-sociation of Energy ServiceCompanies (NAESCO). He is aformer President of NAESCOand still an active member. In2005, he was invited to join the

Clinton Climate Initiative,launched by former PresidentBill Clinton. He is also a regis-tered Professional Engineer inMassachusetts. A committedoutdoorsman, he has run in fiveBoston Marathons; Sakellarisalso competes in sailing, withhis Mini-Max boat Shockwavefrequently placing in sailing re-gattas. He lives in Milton, MA,with his wife, Cathy, and chil-dren, Christina and Peter.

www.ameresco.com

14.EFSTATHIOS(STEVE)VALIOTIS$750 MILLION REAL ESTATE

Efstathios Valiotis, 65, ispresident and founder of the As-toria-based Alma Realty Corpo-ration, one of the largest realestate firms in the New Yorkmetropolitan area. He was bornin Vordonia, Greece near Sparta,and immigrated to the UnitedStates in 1972. He worked inthe food industry and, withintwo years, purchased a news-stand and a food mart followed

by a pizzeria. His next venturewas establishing a custom-madefurniture business, Knossos Inc.,in Astoria in 1976. Within twoyears, the business expanded toinclude two retail display storeson Manhattan’s Park Avenueand Sixth Avenue and a furni-ture-manufacturing factory inQueens. Mr. Valiotis owned andactively managed Knossos until1994.

In 1978 he began his highlysuccessful career investing inreal estate. Since then, Valiotis’expertise in acquisition and de-velopment has included the pur-chase, sale, construction andmanagement of both residentialand commercial properties. In

1983, Valiotis founded his ownfirm, known as Alma Realty Cor-poration. Alma serves as the ves-sel through which Mr. Valiotisdevelops, builds, manages andacquires real estate. He has builta diverse portfolio over the lastthree decades including multi-family residential buildings,commercial buildings, ground-up construction of residentialand commercial buildings anda retail shopping center. AlmaRealty also owns and managesover 10,000 apartments of mar-ket and affordable housingproperties in New York and NewJersey as well as over 5 millionsquare feet of commercial prop-erty. He is committed to invest-ing and improving communitiesby providing safe and well-maintained

residential and commercialdevelopments. Valiotis estab-lished his construction company,Vordonia Construction Corpora-tion, in 1988, which serves asthe general contractor for themajority of his projects. Vordo-nia Contracting and SuppliesCorp. is another subsidiary ofALMA.

In 1989, Valiotis, along withseveral other investors, formedMarathon National Bank. Heserved as chairman of the bank’sboard of directors and as amember for ten years. Marathonwas acquired by Piraeus Na-tional Bank of Greece in 1999.In 2007, he formed Alma Bank,in which he is a majority share-holder. He serves as Chairmanof the Advisory Board. Thebank, created with the highestcapital investment in a NY Statecommercial bank, is rapidly ex-panding, with ten branches andseveral more branches to come.The bank started with $50 mil-lion in capital and in four yearshas grown to $750 million ingross assets.

Valiotis earned his degree inTheology from the University ofAthens. He is a major supporterof the St. Demetrios Cathedraland School in Astoria. Valiotisis a big benefactor too of theHoly Cross Greek OrthodoxChurch, School and CommunityCenter in Whitestone; thechurch’s Efstathios and Sta-matiki Valiotis Greek AmericanSchool was named after himselfand his wife. Mr. Valiotis neverforgot his roots and hometownand he financed and built aT.E.I. (technical college) in hishometown of Sparta, which alsobears his name and currentlyenrolls 2,000 students. A firmbeliever in education, he sup-ports various educational insti-

tutions. He is married to Sta-matiki Kousoulas and they havethree children, Sophia, Katerina,and George.

w w w. a l m a r e a l t y. c o m ,www.almabank.com

15.JOHNPAYIAVLAS$650 MILLION FOODINDUSTRY

John Payiavlas is chairmanof AVI Foodsystems, the coun-try’s largest independent, fam-ily-owned and-operated con-tract food service company,providing vending, institutionaldining and coffee service oper-ations.

Payiavlas, the son of immi-grants, traces his companies be-ginning to purchasing a fewvending machines for the fam-ily’s Village Café in his home-town of Warren, OH. Foundedin 1960, AVI currently employsthousands, serves millions ofconsumers daily, and servessome of the most prestigious in-stitutions in America, includingindustry, corporate headquarterscomplexes, universities, schoolsystems and healthcare facilitiesthroughout the Midwestern andEastern United States. Theirclients include Carnegie MellonUniversity, Eastman Kodak,Good Year, Honda of AmericaManufacturing, Kmart, KraftFoods, Ohio State University,Phillips, Toyota Motor Manufac-turing, University of PittsburghMedical Center, UPS, the U.S.Postal Service, Toyota MotorManufacturing, Verizon, and Xe-rox. Intensely private, Payiavlasruns the company along withhis son Anthony and his daugh-ter Patrice (Patsy). Based in



Warren, AVI has more than 50branch offices in the Midwest-ern and Eastern United States,and makes $2 billion in salesannually.

Payiavlas and his wifeMarissa were honored in 2006with the Cleveland Clinic’s Dis-tinguished Fellow Award. Payi-avlas traces his origins to the is-land of Chios. He is a Life-TimeChairman of the ArchbishopIakovos Leadership 100 Endow-ment Fund and an Archon of theEcumenical Patriarchate.

www.avifoodsystems.com

16.JAMES S.CHANOS$600 MILLION INVESTMENT

James S. Chanos, 54, is thefounder and president ofKynikos Associates, the world’sbiggest short-selling hedge fund.A second-generation Greek-American, Chanos, grew up inMilwaukee, WI. His fatherowned a chain of dry cleanersin Milwaukee and his motherworked as an office manager ata steel company. He foundedKynikos Associates (in Greek,kynikos means cynic) in 1985after a Wall Street career as afinancial analyst with PaineWebber, Gilford Securities andDeutsche Bank. Jim Levitas, hisformer boss, partnered withChanos to launch Kynikos Asso-ciates with $16 million. A yearlater, Levitas, unable to endurethe stress of short selling, leftthe company. The company’s as-sets under management are cur-

rently $6 billion. Kynikos has of-fices in New York and London.

Chanos has a long history ofmaking shrewd predictions hav-ing identified several financialmeltdowns such as BostonChicken, Conesco and Tyco In-ternational. In 2000 he startedinvestigating Enron Corpora-tion. In 2001, predicting thecompany’s financial problems,he became Enron’s short seller.By the time the Enron scandalwas public, Kynikos Associatesprofited greatly. Financial mag-azine Barron’s mentioned hisearly prediction of Enron’s fallas “the market call of thedecade, if not the past fiftyyears.” Later on, he successfullypredicted Sotheby’s stock drop–it plummeted between Novem-ber 2007 from $57 to $10. InMarch 2006, Chanos created theCoalition of Private InvestmentCompanies, an organizationaiming at promoting hedgefunds in Washington. Recently,the lobbying group has shiftedits attention to Europe.

He appears regularly in theAmerican media giving financialadvices and predictions. He haslong been considered a “mediaoperator” with a strong relation-ship with journalists that respectand promote his ideas. He con-tinues to regularly declare thatChina’s economy will crash.Chanos is a graduate of YaleUniversity, where he studiedeconomics. He has four chil-dren.

16.GEORGE M.LOGOTHETIS*$700 MILLIONSHIPPING/AVIATION/REALESTATE

George M. Logothetis, 37, isthe founding Chairman andCEO of Libra Group, consistingof 30 subsidiaries with compa-nies operating out of 20 officesworldwide.

He founded the privately-owned group with his brotherConstantine M. Logothetis in2003. Today George Logothetisis based in New York, while hisbrother, the Executive ViceChairman of the Group, is basedin London.

The diversified group wasbuilt upon the decades of workof their father, shipownerMichalis G. Logothetis, who ison the Libra Group’s board andis a senior advisor. A series ofstrategic steps by the youngergeneration allowed them to ex-tend into new areas at a timewhen many shipping companiesare strained.

George M. Logothetislaunched his career at the familybusiness in London in 1993,when he joined Lomar Shipping,the group’s UK-based shippingowning and management

group. In 1995, at the age of20, he became its CEO. Underhis leadership, Lomar expandedthe numbers of ships theyowned many times over. ThenLomar sold 67 of them between2004 and 2006, investing theprofits in many non-shippingsectors. Finally, in 2009, Lomaracquired Allocean Group for$325 million, a buy considereda bargain. Lomar has recentlystarted ordering new fuel-effi-cient Ultramax ships made.

The group followed a similarpatter with its aircraft leasingbusiness, Dublin, Ireland-basedLease Corporation International(LCI). The company waslaunched in 2004, only to sellits entire 21 aircraft fleet in2007 for $1 billion. The com-pany would invest in a new fleetof some 35 aircraft leased tocompanies including SingaporeAirlines, British Airways and AirFrance. In early 2012, LCIsigned a $400 million orderwith AgustaWestland heli-copters.

Libra Group’s real estateportfolio spans much of theplanet, with properties and of-fices in the North and SouthAmerica, Asia and Europe. LibraGroup owns and runs a total ofsome 18 hotels. The group’sGrace Hotels brand, which be-gan on Greek isles, is now foundworld-wide –including the newVanderbilt Grace Hotel, in a his-toric mansion in Newport,Rhode Island and one in Beijingalike, plus a hotel spa plannedfor Kennebunkport, ME.

In Greece, Libra Group’s Eu-roEnergy has invested in solarenergy parks and wind farms,while in the U.S. they have in-vested in the biofuels market.Their Greenwood Energy isbased in Green Bay, WI.

The list of group subsidiariesincludes travel writer/TV hostLeon Logothetis’ Principal Me-dia, which has provided TV pro-gramming since 2005. Other ofthe subsidiaries run from EagleEye Protection, providing Euro-pean forest fire detection soft-ware, to Chios Heritage mastictree farm investments. LibraCapital is the in-house invest-ment management companyand Libra Group Services, thein-house legal and administra-tive and corporate support com-pany service to companieswithin the group based in theU.K.

Logothetis and his wifeNitzia (formerly Nitzia Embiri-cos) are based in New York Cityand have a son. In 2011, thegroup created an InternationalInternship Program in collabo-ration with The American Col-lege of Greece in Athens and theUS-based Greek America Foun-dation, giving 20 young peoplethe opportunity to work at thegroup’s key locations around theworld.

www.libra.com

16.JOHNPAPPAJOHN$600 MILLION VENTURECAPITALISM

John Pappajohn, 83, is pres-ident of Equity Dynamics andPappajohn Capital Resources, ofwhich he is also sole proprietor.Equity Dynamics is a financialconsulting entity; PappajohnCapital Resources is a venturecapital firm.

Pappajohn first came fromEvia, Greece to the UnitedStates when he was just ninemonths old. His father diedwhen he was 16 years of age,and he had to work to pay hisway through college. He gradu-

ated from the University ofIowa’s College of Business Ad-ministration in 1952. Through-out his career as a venture cap-italist, he has been an earlyinvestor in over 100 investmentfirms dedicated to advancingthe biomedical and biotechnol-ogy industries.

He and his wife Mary, whohave one daughter, have part-nered in philanthropic endeav-ors, which have provided mil-lions for scholarships, businessopportunities and communityenhancements. His charitabledonations include the John &Mary Pappajohn Clinical CancerCenter, and Pappajohn Entrepre-neurial Centers at five Iowa uni-versities and colleges. To date,over 99,625 college studentshave taken part in the latter,which have sparked 3,680 newbusinesses. In 2009, the Pappa-john Scholarship Foundationdistributed $247,750 in grantsto support ethnic, disadvan-taged and/or minority students;over the previous 10 years, thefigure is at over $3.14 million.In September 2009, the DesMoines Pappajohn SculpturePark opened, featuring $40 mil-lion of the avid collector cou-ple’s artwork. In December 2010the Pappajohns pledged $26.4million towards a new Univer-sity of Iowa biomedical researchbuilding. The couple gifted over$70 million in 2009.

Pappajohn is the recipient ofmany prestigious awards, to in-clude the Horatio Alger Award(1995), the Ellis Island Medalof Honor (2000) and theWoodrow Wilson InternationalCenter Award for Corporate Cit-izenship (2007). He is the firstIowan and the second GreekAmerican (Pete Peterson wasthe first) to receive theWoodrow Wilson Award. Pap-pajohn is the recipient of severalhonorary doctorates.

www.pappajohn.com

19.TED J.LEONSIS$590 MILLION COMPUTERS,MARKETING,PROFESSIONAL SPORTS

Ted J. Leonsis, 55, is vicechairman emeritus of AmericaOnline. Leonsis is also thefounder, chairman and majorityowner of Monumental Sportsand Entertainment, formed inJune 2010, as he merged hisLincoln Holdings LLC (includingthe National Hockey League’sWashington Capitals, worth anestimated $225 million – up by$28 million over last year - andWNBA’s Washington Mystics)and Washington Sports & Enter-

tainment Limited Partnership.To create the new company,Leonsis purchased the remain-ing 56% of Washington Sports& Entertainment that he didn’town, giving him full ownershipover the National Basketball As-sociation’s Washington Wizards,the Verizon Center and the Bal-timore-Washington Ticketmas-ter franchise. MonumentalSports and Entertainment alsooperates Kettler Capitals Iceplexand George Mason UniversityPatriot Center.

After surviving an airplanecrash landing in 1983, hedrafted a list of 101 things todo in life, and has completed 82of the tasks; his $1 billion networth aim may be realized in afew years. (See the list atwww.tedstake.com.)

Few people have roots asdeep in the computer industry,or as much knowledge and ex-perience of its history and po-tential. A pioneer of the Internetand new media, Leonsis partic-ipated in launches of the AppleMacIntosh, the IBM PC and theWang office automation. He hasled four businesses that havegrown at record rates: He builtWang WP (the first word proces-sor) from a $200 million to a$1 billion company with thelargest female managementteam in the country. He wasfounder & CEO of Redgate Com-munications Corporation, con-sidered the first new media mar-keting company. He built AOLinto the first $1 billion interac-tive services company and theworld’s biggest media company,helping to increase its member-ship from fewer than 800,000to more than 8 million in a four-year span (1994-97). He has

also boosted the Capitals’ atten-dance and revenues.

Leonsis was born to a familyof modest means in Brooklyn,and spent his early years there.His family moved back to hismother’s hometown of Lowell,MA. He graduated from LowellHigh School in 1973 and at-tended Georgetown University.After graduating in 1977, hemoved back to his parents’home in Lowell and beganworking for Wang Laboratories.In 1980, Leonsis started his owncompany, which grew quickly,and sold it to InternationalThompson for $60 million in1981. He then started Redgate,which he sold to AOL in 1993,commencing his relationshipwith once-pervasive AOL, com-pleting his tenure as the audi-ence group’s president and vicechairman before stepping downin 2006.

In 2009, Leonsis joined theboard of language-learning soft-ware company Rosetta Stone.Once the mayor of Orchid, FL,Leonsis sits on the boards ofGeorgetown University, theNBA, the NHL and several char-ities. Among his favorite chari-ties are the See Forever Foun-dation and YouthAIDS. He alsosponsors his own philanthropicfoundation, the Leonsis Founda-tion, which is dedicated to cre-ating “opportunities for childrenthat enable them to reach theirhighest potential”.

Leonsis has produced docu-mentary films includingNanking (2007). He refers to hisfilmmaking endeavors as “fil-manthropy,” which uses themedium of documentary filmsas a matrix for social change.Among the 19 investmentslisted on his site is SnagFilms, avideo distribution platform thatwas recently backed to the tuneof $10 million by Comcast andventure capital firm New Enter-prise Associates (NEA). NEA’smanaging director, Peter Barris,a fellow Greek American also onthis list, was also a foundingventure capital investor in an-other Leonsis investment,Groupon. Together with SteveCase and Donn Davis, Leonsislaunched a $450 million “speed-up capital” company called Rev-olution Growth Fund II in De-cember. Its investments includepumping millions into Fedbid,which allows individuals to sellitems to the government. He’salso the author of numerousbooks. He lives in the historicMarwood Estates in Potomac,MD with his wife Lynn and twochildren.

w w w . t e d s t a k e . c o m ,www.snagfilms.com

20.P. ROYVAGELOS, M.D. $550 MILLIONPHARMACEUTICALS,HEALTHCARE

Dr. P. Roy Vagelos, 82, servedas CEO of Merck & Co., thepharmaceutical giant, from1985 to 1994. He joined theworldwide health products firmin 1975 as senior vice presidentof research, and became presi-dent of its research division in1976; starting in 1982, heserved as senior vice presidentof strategic planning. He con-tinued to hold both positionsuntil 1984, when he was electedexecutive vice president.

Before assuming broader re-sponsibilities of business lead-ership, Vagelos had won scien-tific recognition as an authorityon lipids and enzymes, and as aresearch manager. This followeda decision early in his career toput his principal energies intoresearch, rather than the prac-tice of medicine. Vagelos, whoseparents were born in Asia Minorand immigrated to the US in the1920s, earned his bachelor’s de-gree with honors in 1950 fromthe University of Pennsylvania.He was awarded a MD from Co-lumbia University in 1954. Afteran internship and residency atMassachusetts General Hospitalin Boston (1954-56), he joinedthe National Institutes of Healthin Bethesda, MD. At NIH (1956-66), he served in the NationalHeart Institute, holding posi-tions in cellular physiology andbiochemistry – first as SeniorSurgeon, and then as head ofsection of Comparative Bio-chemistry. In 1966, Vagelosjoined the Washington Univer-

sity in St. Louis School of Medi-cine as chairman of its Biologi-cal Chemistry Department.

The author of several booksand more than 100 scientific pa-pers, he was elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts &Sciences and the National Acad-emy of Sciences in 1972, and tothe American Philosophical So-ciety in 1993. After retiring fromMerck, Vagelos was chairman ofthe University of Pennsylvania’sBoard of Trustees from 1994 to1999, having served as a trusteesince 1988. He was also presi-dent & CEO of the AmericanSchool of Classical Studies inAthens from 1999 to 2001, andserved on the National ResearchCouncil Committee on Science& Technology for CounteringTerrorism in 2002. Much of hiswealth came from stock optionsat Merck, which was very prof-itable under his leadership. Dur-ing his tenure there, Merck de-veloped thecholesterol-lowering statins,mevacor and zocor.

Vagelos is sometimes calledthe father of pharmacophilan-thropy for freely providing thedrug mectizan to cure millionsof Africans of river blindness.His charity work at the Univer-sity of Pennsylvania includessponsoring five scholar-ship/study programs as well asthe $15 million Roy and DianaVagelos Laboratories. He alsosupports an incentive programfor students at his old highschool in Rahway, New Jersey.The Diana Student Center, re-named after Mrs. Vagelos, at heralma mater, Barnard College,opened in 2010. Vagelos is cur-rently chairman of biotech com-pany Regeneron Pharmaceuti-cals, whose stocks have morethan doubled over the previousyear, from $35 to over $75. Heis also chairman of ColumbiaUniversity Medical Center’sBoard of Visitors, and is chairingthe center’s capital campaign,which has already met its targetof $1 billion by 2011. In 2010the couple gave $50 million forthe Columbia Medical SchoolCenter for a new medical andgraduate education building.Vagelos is married to the formerDiana Touliatos. They live inNew Jersey, and have four chil-dren and seven grandchildren.

www.regeneron.com

21.ANGELO K.TSAKOPOULOS$540 MILLION REAL ESTATE

Angelo K. Tsakopoulos, 75,was born to a farming family inthe village of Rizes, in Arcadia,Greece. His father, a butcher,struggled to feed five children.

He first came to the UnitedStates in August 1951, sailingpast the Statue of Liberty on his15th birthday. As a college stu-dent at Sacramento State Uni-versity, he waited tables at nightin the Tony Del Prado restaurantand sold real estate on week-ends. He would eventually leaveSac State a few credits shy ofgraduation to work full time. At21 years of age, he had alreadystockpiled experiences likely un-fathomable to many of his fel-low undergraduates: war, depri-vation, emigration and stints asboth a shoeshine boy in Chicagoand a farmhand in Lodi. And hehad begun laying the ground-work for his future, arguably be-coming the most significantforce to shape Sacramento sinceJohn Sutter. He boxed in col-lege. His former boxing team-mates say the elements of hislarger-than-life persona werepresent even in the days whenhe was studying business, phi-losophy, and history under theAmericanized surname ofChicos, a name he later droppedto reclaim his family name.

Tsakopoulos has sinceclimbed to prominence throughuncommon business acumenand sheer tenacity. He turns onthe charm with politicians, playshardball with environmentalregulators, and promotes bigideas for the region. In recentyears, he’s offered to donatefarmland he controls in PlacerCounty for a private university,and to help fund its constructionby developing adjacent acreage.He has proposed that the regionopen thousands of acres ofranchland he controls along theSacramento-El Dorado Countyline for development, usingsome of those proceeds to funda new arena for the NBA’sSacramento Kings. He alsogrows wine grapes in BordenRanch and walnuts at an or-chard outside Wheatland.

In late 2010, the family pur-chased Conaway Ranch, a17,244 property of farming andranching land as well as wet-lands and water resources westof Sacramento. The SacramentoBee reported the family alreadyheld 18,000 acres of farmlandand vineyards and 40,000 acresof cattle grazing land in North-ern California.

Tsakopoulos’ older brotherGeorge, who passed away in2009, followed him to Sacra-mento, and also went into realestate. George’s family controlsthousands of acres in the region.

Angelo is founder of AKT Devel-opment Corporation, nowheaded by his son, Kyriakos,which controls about 40,000acres of land in the region andneighboring San JoaquinCounty.

He has also carved out aniche for himself as a majorplayer in and fundraiser for theDemocratic Party, and as a stan-dard bearer for Greek politicaland cultural interests in Amer-ica. The developer and his chil-dren have raised and con-tributed millions on national,state and local campaigns andissues over the past decade. De-mocratic Presidential candidatesaside, a few of the major recipi-ents include former CaliforniaGovernor Gray Davis, U.S. Sen-ator Dianne Feinstein and HouseSpeaker Nancy Pelosi.Tsakopoulos is also dedicated toadvancing the careers of GreekAmerican politicians, includingformer California state treasurerand once-gubernatorial candi-date Phil Angelides. His daugh-ter, Eleni TsakopoulosKounalakis, is currently U.S.Ambassador to Hungary.Tsakopoulos and his family haveestablished Hellenic Studieschairs at several major Ameri-can universities across the coun-try, Georgetown, Stanford andColumbia among them.

22.PETER G.ANGELOS$500 MILLION LAW, MAJORLEAGUE BASEBALL

Peter G. Angelos, 82, is anAmerican trial lawyer and thecurrent chairman & CEO of Ma-jor League Baseball’s BaltimoreOrioles. He became owner ofthe Orioles in August 1993,leading a group of investors, in-cluding prominent Marylanderslike novelist Tom Clancy, in pur-chasing the team for $173 mil-lion, a record price at the time.

According to Forbes, the Ori-oles were worth $411 million in2010 (up from $376 million theprevious year). The Orioles en-joyed some success early underAngelos’ ownership, making thepostseason as a wild card teamin 1996 and winning the Amer-ican League East Division titlein 1997. But manager DaveyJohnson resigned after the 1997season, and 14 straight losingseasons ensued. In 2005, theMid-Atlantic Sports Network,co-owned by the Orioles and theWashington Nationals, took off.It has 6 million subscribers.

Angelos was born in Pitts-burgh on July 4, 1929. He cameto Baltimore at 11 years of age.He is a graduate of Eastern Col-lege and the University of Balti-more School of Law, where hewas class valedictorian, andwent onto a lucrative career intrial law, specializing in casesinvolving harmful products, pro-fessional malpractice, and per-sonal injury.

His firm, the Law Offices ofPeter G. Angelos, has attorneysand locations in Maryland,Delaware, and Pennsylvania.Angelos began working as acriminal defense lawyer follow-ing graduation. For most of hislegal career, he was a successfulattorney representing Baltimorelabor unions and their membersthrough his own private prac-tice, which he founded in 1961.Beginning in the 1980s, he re-fashioned his firm’s focus fromcriminal law to civil class actionsuits. His law firm and wealthexpanded exponentially in




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He just filed a $50 millionIPO for Cancer Genetics, one ofthe leading cancer diagnosticscompanies in the world. His in-terest in biomedical firms andbiotechnology began with hisfirst big deal and was one of thefirst investors in multibilliondollar Caremark, the first homehealth care company in Amer-

ica.Many of Pappajohn’s deals

require him to make decision onthe value of patents, but he saidhis network enables him to ac-cess very good research. “Forfree,” he said, “but we recipro-cate.” He lets helpful people intohis deals. He said he alwaysused his own money and that ifhe needed more he wouldn’tborrow, rather he’d bring in

other investors. That gives him freedom to

make decisions on the spot. “Itake out my ‘checkie’ book” likea Greek would say,“ and I writea check. That how I can getdeals and do them fast.”

“We are always involved inprojects,” he says, speaking ofhis wife, but art is their jointpassion. They have been listedamong the top 200 art collectors

in the world 14 years in a row.“I started out with little money,but we liked art.” Mary Papa-john has an interior decoratingdegree from the University ofMinnesota.

“Neither one of us had art inour homes, nothing on thewalls, but for some reason thefirst month we were married wewent into an art gallery andbought a $50 painting and westill own it – a painting of theResurrection.”

Mary’s family is from Thebes.He told TNH, “Our fathers hadthe same story: He went backto his chorio [village] and mar-ried the prettiest girl in town.”

But the pattern worked, hesaid. His mother had a good lifeand when she was widowed,she didn’t want to get marriedagain and she lived to 98. Hisin-laws also lived into their 90s,also raising a wonderful family.

He and Mary continued tobuy art, and then they got in-volved with museums. He is onthe Trustee Council of the Na-tional Gallery of Art and atrustee of Hirshhorn Museumand Sculpture Garden in Wash-ington DC. He is on the nationalcommittee of the Whitney Mu-seum in New York and is a re-tired director of the Des MoinesArt Center. Mary is a trustee ofthe Walker Museum in Min-neapolis and the head of theircontemporary art gallery at theDes Moines Art Center.

“Once you get involved in thearts you get a pretty good han-dle on it,” the man renownedfor his analytical ability and in-tuition said modestly. One sus-pects he has good aestheticjudgment too, but as he doeswith his business associates, hecan lean on Mary’s gifts. Theyown 400 pieces.

In an innovative public-pri-vate partnership, two years agothe Pappajohns donated sculp-tures to the Des Moines Art Cen-ter and the city gave him twoblocks downtown for them.They gave $40 million worth ofsculpture, and have since addedtwo new pieces, and they willsend more.

BEYOND IOWAPappajohn spends 10-12

days per month in New York

working on deals. He has aver-aged over 45 percent annuallyfor 40 years and the formula stillworks, although he noted thatit reflects the fact that he worksin cutting edge high tech firms,getting involved very early inthe process when the potentialreturns are great. He has a pub-lic offering coming up any daynow to raise $20 million for an-other company.

He recently conducted histhird deal with the same CEO.“He was 27 with the first oneand is now 62. He told me ‘I’vegot time for one more deal.’” Hehas done two deals each with

two other CEOs. “Once I knowhow the CEOs operate, it’s easyfor me. I know everything aboutthem, their strengths and weak-nesses and it helps me managethem.”

He feels his Hellenic rootsvery strongly and has spent alot of time studying Greece’s sit-uation. Regarding the social un-rest, he said sympathetically,“We would have the same prob-lem if we cut Social Security 25percent and reduced Medicare50 percent.”

Pappajohn pointed out recent




Des Moines residents can enjoy artwork from the Pappajohns'collection against the backdrop of their city.


1982, when he represented8,500 plaintiffs – the largestnumber of plaintiffs ever - in as-bestos litigation and won. Hereportedly made over $100 mil-lion on this one case. Angeloswas also enormously successfulin suing Wyeth, the makers ofthe diet pill fen-phen, and rep-resenting the state of Marylandas lead attorney in a lawsuitagainst tobacco company PhilipMorris. The agreement had stip-ulated that he would receive25% of the recovery, but whenit was $4.5 billion, Maryland re-fused to pay; Angelos’ team set-tled for $150 million. It was af-ter that he became a majorplayer in the Baltimore commu-nity.

His law office’s most recentmassive victory was a July 1 ver-dict awarding $1.5 billion indamages to families and busi-nesses whose water was conta-minated in 2006 by an ExxonMobil gas leak in Jacksonville,MD.

A lifelong Democrat, he wonelection to the Baltimore CityCouncil, and served on theCouncil from 1959 to 1963. Heran for mayor as an indepen-dent in 1964, but lost. He hasbeen an active supporter of na-tional Democratic candidates.Locally, in 2006, he publicly sup-ported the Republican incum-bent, Bob Ehrlich, for governorof Maryland and criticizing De-mocratic candidate (now Gov-ernor) Martin J. O’Malley. An-gelos has been active incharitable programs in the cityand state. He is married, andhas two sons. Angelos enjoyshorse racing, as an owner ofthoroughbred horses. He hasgiven $10 million to his almamater; in return the new lawschool building that is beingconstructed will bear the nameof his parents. The now-underconstruction John and FrancesAngelos Law Center at the Uni-versity of Baltimore is due toopen in 2013.

w w w. a n g e l o s l a w. c o m ,w w w. m a s n s p o r t s . c o m ,www.baltimore.orioles.mlb.com

23.GEORGE N.HATSOPOULOS, PH.D$450 MILLION THERMIONICTECHNOLOGY

Dr. George N. Hatsopoulos,84, was awarded at the Novem-ber 2009 Boston History & In-novation Awards for “half a cen-tury of innovations inenvironmental quality, healthand safety technologies.”

The Greek-born scientistwanted to change the way theworld makes electricity. He andhis brother John foundedThermo Electron in 1956 (witha $50,000 loan from a Greekshipowner). Thermo Electrongrew into an international com-pany recognized as a globalleader in environmental moni-toring and analysis instruments,and a major producer of paper-recycling equipment, biomedicalproducts, alternative-energy sys-tems and other products andservices related to environmen-tal quality, health and safety. By1981, it was ranked 739thamong Fortune’s 1,000 largestindustrial firms. By the time itmerged with Fisher Scientific inNovember 2006, Thermo Elec-tron was seeing annual revenuesof over $2 billion, and employed11,000 people in 30 countries.Hatsopoulos’ work led to rapidadvances in thermionic powerconversion. He retired in 1999,but remains chairman emeritusof Thermo Fischer Scientific(NYSE:TMO), which today isworth over $20 billion.

His training began in Greeceat the National Polytechnic In-stitute in Athens. He receivedhis bachelor’s (1949), master’s(1950) and doctorate (1956),at the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology, all in MechanicalEngineering. Dr. Hatsopouloshas testified at numerous con-gressional hearings on nationalenergy policy and capital forma-tion, and has served on manynational committees on energyconservation, environmentalprotection and international ex-change. He is also noted for hisand Joseph Keenan’s famoustextbook, Principles of GeneralThermodynamics.

In 1996, Hatsopoulos wonthe John Fritz Medal, the high-est American award in the en-gineering profession. In 2007,he was one of the nine promi-nent Greek-Americans who

were selected by President Car-olos Papoulias to be honoredwith the Hellenic Republic’sprestigious Commander of theOrder of Honor award. Hat-sopoulos is now chairman ofAmerican DG Energy Inc.(ADGE), the leading on-site util-ity he formed with his brotherin 2001 offering electricity, heat,hot water and cooling to com-mercial, institutional and indus-trial customers. The company,whose stocks were valued re-cently at $73 million specializesin green energy and carbon re-ducing solutions.

www.americandg.com

23.NICHOLAS G.KARABOTS*$450 MILLION PUBLISHING,REAL ESTATE

“The issue here is not ulti-mately your net worth, but whatyou do with the value you havecreated,” believes Nicholas G.Karabots, 78, owner of KappaMedia Group, Inc. the nation’slargest publisher of puzzle mag-azines and books.

His parents, Konstantina Hri-somalis and Georgios Karabot-sios, hailed from the Pelopon-nesian villages of Anavriti andArgos, respectively. The familyname was shortened when hisfather arrived on Ellis Island.

Karabots was born in NewJersey and raised in the SouthBronx, and attended the GreekAmerican Institute. After his fa-ther lost his restaurant businessin the Wall Street Crash of 1929,Karabots held his first job at age9, in 1942, as a shoeshine boyin Manhattan’s Union Square.After high school, he entered theprinting industry, learning theropes at an RCA affiliate on WallStreet in 1951 before becominga manager of printing opera-tions elsewhere and eventuallya sales and management posi-tion, offered by a Hellenophilefrom Austria, who was a manu-facturer of printing supplies. In1964, he launched – with a part-ner – the company Phota Inc.,which manufactured X RayChemistry and assisted in thedevelopment and importation ofFuji film. In 1970 he acquired aprinting company in Scranton,PA and expanded it via theprinting and binding of TVGuide among other nationally-known magazines. That com-pany, today known as KappaGraphics, LP, celebrates 42 suc-cessful years under Karabots’ownership and 106 years sinceits founding.

Today he is Chairman of theBoard of Directors and Chief Ex-ecutive Officer of Kappa MediaGroup, Inc., and holds similarpositions in his other privately-held companies involved with,printing, publishing, productfulfillment, land development,the country club business andwinemaking and is assisted byhis daughters Andrea, Despina,Constance and Constance’s hus-band Paul. Andrea’s husbandMichael is President of KableMedia and Palm Coast Data sub-sidiaries of AMREP Corporation,a publicly-held company inwhich Karabots is a controllingshareholder.

Apart from its huge gamut ofpuzzle magazines and subscrip-tion services, Kappa PublishingGroup, Inc., also publisheswrestling, astrology, games, andother specialty magazines. Itsaffiliated companies offer com-mercial and digital printing anddistribution services whileKappa Map Group creates anddistributes both various mapproducts. Kappa Books Publish-ers LLC is a publisher and mar-keter of children’s activitybooks.

The group’s roots were inKarabots’ purchase of the Scran-ton Lithographing Company in1970, which became KappaGraphics, and the establishmentof a relationship with puzzlebook publisher Official Publica-tions, which Karabots acquired.Kappa acquired several otherpublishing companies over theyears and in turn Karabotsfounded, in 1990, the SpartanOrganization, Inc., which pro-vides management and legalservices to the various Karabotsaffiliates.

Since 1993, he has been di-rector of the Amrep Corporation(AXR/NYSE), which specializesin Real Estate and Media Indus-tries such as subscription fulfill-ment and newsstand distribu-tion services, and is currentlyVice Chairman of the Board.Amrep has developed Rio Ran-cho, New Mexico’s third-largestcity.

There are about 2,000 peo-ple employed by Amrep andKarabots’ private companiescombined.

Karabots’ real estate interestsbegan with a purchase, in 1980,of a farm outside of Philadel-phia, which led to other acqui-sitions, primarily in Pennsylva-nia and the subdivision of theseother assets and eventually thedesign and development of Jeri-cho National Golf Club, Inc.Karabots also owns theKaramoor Farm vineyard and

winery.Together with his wife of 57

years, Athena DikegorosKarabots, he established theKarabots Foundation. Harkeningback to his youth in the SouthBronx the foundation specializesin expanding opportunities foryoung people in underservedcommunities. He told TNH in2009: “My heart beats for thesmall children who are tied topoverty and don’t know thatthere is something out there

that is better.” Just last fall, theKarabots gave $7.5 million toThe Children’s Hospital ofPhiladelphia for a new pediatriccare facility and $10 million toThe Franklin Institute museum.To date the foundation has pro-vided over $50 million to manyorganizations. Nicholas andAthena Karabots also supportthe University of Pennsylvaniaand the University of Arizona intheir archaeological excavationson Mt. Lykaion in Arcadia,Greece.

He and wife live in Pennsyl-vania and have three daughtersand 10 grandchildren.

w w w. a m r e p c o r p . c o m ,www.kappapublishing.com,www.modernpublishing.com,w w w. b e n d o n p u b . c o m ,www. jer i chonat iona l .b iz ,www.karamoorwines.com,www.lykaionexcavation.org

23.GEORGE M.MARCUS$450 MILLION REAL ESTATE

George M. Marcus, 69, isfounder and chairman of Mar-cus & Millichap Real Estate In-vestment Services, one of thecountry’s premier providers ofinvestment real estate brokerageservices, and the parent com-

pany of a diversified group ofreal estate, service, investmentand development firms. It hasestablished itself as a leadingreal estate firm with more than1,200 brokers in marketsthroughout the United States.With 77 offices nationwide, thefirm focuses on investment bro-kerage, and provides financingand research services to bothbuyers and sellers. The com-pany’s closing 4,302 transac-tions in 2010 was the highest ofany commercial real estate bro-kerage firm.

Together with his partner,William A. Millichap, Marcuslaunched a new business modelnearly four decades years ago,based on matching each prop-erty with the largest pool of pre-qualified investors. In 2010,Marcus & Millichap closed$13.6 billion in investmenttransactions for private and in-stitutional investors. Included inthese transactions were shop-ping centers, office and indus-trial buildings, apartment prop-erties, hotels/motels, seniorshousing, manufactured homecommunities, and land.

Marcus is also chairman ofEssex Property Trust, a publiclyheld, multi-family real estate in-vestment trust (REIT). Locatedin Palo Alto, California andtraded on the New York StockExchange, Essex is a fully inte-grated REIT which acquires, de-velops and redevelops apart-ment communities in selectWest Coast communities. Thecompany, according to its web-site, currently has ownership in-terests in 140 apartment com-munities. Marcus is also one ofthe original founders of PlazaCommerce Bank and GreaterBay Bancorp. Marcus served on


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Greater Bay’s board of directorsuntil it was sold to Wells-Fargoin 2007 for $1.5 billion.

Marcus came to San Fran-cisco from Greece at the age offour. He completed his under-graduate studies in Economicsat San Francisco State Univer-sity in just two and a half years,and founded the university’sfirst economics club. He alsoserved as a member of theBoard of Trustees of the Califor-nia State University System in1981-89, and has helped selectseveral SFSU presidents. He wasnamed SFSU Alumnus of theyear in 1989 and one of its 11Distinguished CentennialAlumni in 1999. He and his wifeJudy helped create SFSU’s In-ternational Center for the Artswith a $3 million gift. Marcusalso helped develop SFSU’sGreek Studies program, andchairs its Modern Greek StudiesFoundation, which supports theNikos Kazantzakis Chair forModern Greek Studies.

He is also a graduate of theHarvard Business School’s Own-ers/Presidents ManagementProgram and the GeorgetownUniversity Leadership Program.Among Mr. Marcus’ professionalmemberships are the Board ofRegents of the University of Cal-ifornia, the Real Estate Round-table and the Policy AdvisoryBoard of the University of Cali-fornia in Berkeley’s Center forReal Estate & Urban

Economics.www.marcusmillichap.com

26.JOHN G.RANGOS SR.$425 MILLIONENVIRONMENTALMANAGEMENT

John G. Rangos, Sr., 82,made his fortune through thetransportation, disposal, andmanagement of industrialwastes, as well as security ser-vices.

Born in Steubenville, OH, hegrew up during the Depressionin northern West Virginia andFredericksburg, VA. An educa-tion at the Houston School ofBusiness was interrupted whenhe joined the Active Force Re-serve unit in Pittsburgh, PA. Hisserved in the Army from 1951-54, including serving on a com-bat signal team in the Far Eastwith numerous distinctions.

He began his career withRockwell Manufacturing Com-pany in Pittsburgh, where heearned the distinction of becom-ing the youngest general agentin company history. Rangosformed several companies in the1960’s, and pioneered techno-logical advances in the trans-portation and disposal of indus-trial waste. Rangos foundedChambers Development Inc. in1971, a firm that providedwaste treatment services; devel-oped commercial recycling pro-grams; and broke ground withspecially lined, layered landfillsto protect groundwater supplies.

Rangos’ many innovativeachievements include convert-ing power plant boiler ash intoa useful component of cinderblocks and anti-skid material forhighways. He also played an in-

strumental role in inventingtechniques for recycling bitumi-nous byproducts and disposingsewage and sludge. He devel-oped methods for liquid indus-trial waste disposal, and createda resource recovery system thatconverts waste-generatedmethane into energy.

Together with his sons, Alexand John Jr., Rangos advocatedstandards for regional sanitationsites that resolved many envi-ronmental concerns nationwide.They initiated present-day envi-ronmental protection standardsdecades ago, to include the de-sign and strict enforcement offederal laws forbidding corruptpractices like the transportationof illegal waste. Across the East-ern Seaboard and into the Mid-west, they built the largest, mostsophisticated land disposal fa-cilities in the industry - includ-ing double-composite-linedHDPE (high-density polyethyl-ene) facilities to protect groundwater - long before other com-panies emerged.

In October 1991, ChambersDevelopment owned and oper-ated a number of regional land-fills, with a reported marketvalue of $1.7 billion. Chamberswent public and, in 1995, wasmerged with USA Waste, thecountry’s second largest wastemanagement company. Rangosthen served as vice chairman ofUSA Waste, during which timeWaste Management, the coun-try’s largest trash hauler, wasalso acquired in 1998. Themerger was a tremendous suc-cess.

The massive Okeechobee, FLlandfill (approved in 1993, andnow operated by Waste Man-agement) is just one example ofRangos’ commitment to soundenvironmental practices and re-gional economic development.That site has a 100-year capacityand receives 7,000 tons of wastedaily. Such monumental, envi-ronmentally-friendly disposalsites are also an economic boonto the areas in which they func-tion. Okeechobee County re-ceives millions of dollars in roy-alties from its landfill each year,boosting the local government’sability to finance schools androads, as well as improve policeand firefighting services.

He also founded U.S. Utilitiesin the mid-1960’s. A precursorto Chambers Development, USUwas part of a conglomerate,which eventually became partof Chambers. USU subcon-

tracted with Stone & Webster(now part of the Shaw Group),a major engineering servicesfirm, to help build atomic en-ergy plants.

Together with his partner IanMcLennan, a respected FBIagent, Rangos cofounded Secu-rity Bureau Inc., one of the mostprominent security companiesin the country, in the mid-1970’s. SBI guarded everythingfrom banks to shopping centersto industrial and atomic energyplants. It grew into a companywith a license in every state inthe Union and eventually wassold for more than $40 million.

Rangos has three childrenand three grandchildren. Hefounded and directs the John G.Rangos Sr. Family CharitableTrust. Rangos is also the formerpresident and founder of theCongressional Medal of HonorFoundation, and the founderand former chairman for the In-ternational Orthodox ChristianCharities. He sits on numerousboards, and the Rangos Foun-dation supports medical re-search at Children's Hospital ofPittsburgh, one of the world'sfinest pediatric care centers, andJohns Hopkins University, wherehe was recently honored forsponsoring an innovative newprogram which invites brightyoung minds at Johns Hopkinsto find a cure to metastatic can-cer. The Rangos Foundation alsosupports programs at Duquesneand Carnegie Mellon Universi-ties.

www.rangosfoundation.org

27.PETER J.BARRIS*$400 MILLION VENTURECAPITAL

Peter J. Barris, 59, is a ven-ture capitalist known for helpingto launch companies includingGroupon, CareerBuilder and Di-apers.com. He has been Manag-ing General Partner of leadingventure capital investor NewEnterprise Associates (NEA),Inc. since 1999, having joinedthe company in 1992.

At NEA, he has led invest-ments in over 25 companies thathave gone public or had success-ful acquisitions. He has gracedthe Forbes Midas list of top tech-nology investors since 2007, butin 2011 was bumped up toNumber 8, due to the company’sbig bet on Groupon. They in-vested $14.8 million in the com-pany early on, and received $70million back last year - butearned on paper over a billion,as they own 13.7% of the cur-rently $9 billion company.

Under his leadership, accord-ing to the NEA website, thecompany’s assets under man-agement have grown ten-fold toover $11 billion. The companywith offices in Maryland andCalifornia’s Silicon Valley nowhas branches in India, China –and most recently - New YorkCity. NEA, founded 35 yearsago, has seen 165 portfolio com-panies going public and 265 ac-quisitions.

Barris grew up in Chicago.His father James was an engi-neer – and his grandparentswere from Greece. He earnedan MBA from Dartmouth Col-lege after studying electrical en-

gineering at Northwestern. He started his career in vari-

ous management positions atGeneral Electric Company. In aninterview with Forbes, hecounted his first bosses, whileat General Electric, Greg Lie-mandt and Jack Welch as having“the most profound impact” onhis career. He went on to bePresident and COO of LegentCorporation (LGNT) and SeniorVice President of the SystemsSoftware Division of UCCELCorporation (UCE), both ofwhich experienced profitable ac-quisitions.

Washington Life Magazineset his estimated net worth atbetween $300-$500 million in2007.

At NEA Barris took telecomcompany $570-million companyNeutral Tandem public in 2007and $590-million Echo Globalpublic in 2009. He is involvedwith NEA affiliates includingsatellite operator ProtoStar, TVsoftware/hardware companyHillcrest, recently-gone-publicGoji Food Solutions, online jobrecruitment site JobFox, infor-mation technology companyMediaBank, digital distributioncompany SnagFilms, and socialmedia management companySprout Social. He is on theboard of directors of public com-panies including Groupon(GRPN), Vonage Holdings Com-pany (VG), Echo Global Logis-tics, Inc. (ECHO), InnerWork-ings, Inc. (INWK), Boingowireless and Neutral Tandem,Inc. (TNDM).

He is also on the Initiativefor Sustainability and Energy atNorthwestern Steering Commit-tee. At Dartmouth he is on theboard of the Tuck School PrivateEquity and Entrepreneur Centerand launched the Barris Incuba-tor at Tuck, which is aimed toencourage student startups. Hepreviously served on the Execu-tive Committee of the Board ofthe National Venture Capital As-sociation and was also a found-ing member of Venture Philan-thropy Partners, a philanthropicorganization in the WashingtonDC area.

A member of Leadership 100and an Archon of the Order ofSt. Andrew, he and wife Adri-enne Barris are based inMcLean, VA and have twodaughters.

www.nea.com

28.SOTIRIOSVAHAVIOLOS $360 MILLION ASSETPROTECTION SOLUTIONS

Dr. Sotirios J. Vahaviolos isthe Founder, Chairman, andCEO of Mistras Group, the NewJersey-based global provider oftechnology-enabled asset pro-tection solutions used to evalu-ate the structural integrity,safety and efficiency of criticalenergy, industrial and public in-frastructure.

With more than 81 offices in15 countries, Mistras Group pro-vides the majority of their ser-vices to clients on a regular, re-curring outsourced basis. Itmonitors daily such historicbridges as the Ben Franklinbridge in Philadelphia PA, theSevern bridge connecting Eng-land and Wales, platforms andoil rigs in places including theNorth Sea, U.S.-based nuclearpower plants, and other indus-trial plant facilities in countriesall over the world daily, throughthe help of internet based onlinemonitoring technologies basedon satellites and other links. In-ternational clients are in thefields of oil and gas, fossil andnuclear power, public infrastruc-ture, chemicals, aerospace anddefense, transportation, primarymetals and metalworking, phar-maceuticals and food process-ing. Among them are AmericanElectric Power Inc., Bayer AG,BP, Bechtel Corp., General Elec-tric Co., Boeing Co., Excelon,ExxonMobil, Shell, and ValeroEnergy Co. The Mistras Groupcombines industry-leading prod-ucts and technologies, expertisein mechanical integrity (MI) andnon-destructive testing (NDT)services and proprietary dataanalysis software to offer cus-tomized solutions, ranging fromroutine inspections to complex,plant-wide asset integrity assess-ments and management. Thecompany works to extend theuseful life of their assets, in-crease productivity, minimize re-pair costs, comply with govern-mental safety andenvironmental regulations,manage risk and avoid cata-strophic disasters. Vahaviolosnotes that the company is “seek-ing more acquisitions and betterexpansion abroad.”

Since going public in theNYSE in October 2009, MIS-TRAS ended fiscal year 2010 at$272.1 million, up from $209.1the previous year for a revenuegrowth of 30%. The stock sharesare steadily rising, reaching$23.67 this week, a big increasefrom the $12.50 price when thestock first went public.

Vahaviolos, who was born in1946 in historic Mistras, in thePeloponnese, as a child rippedapart electrical machinery andrebuilt it for fun – as well as forbetter safety in the newly-elec-trified village. He came toUnited States to study engineer-ing at Fairleigh Dickinson Uni-versity in New Jersey, where hegraduated first in his Scienceand Engineering class and wenton, as a recipient of The BellLaboratories Graduate StudyScholarship Program, to earnMS and PhD degrees in electri-cal engineering from ColumbiaUniversity. He was also awardeda master’s degree in philosophy.

He started his career at Ameri-can Telephone & Telegraph'sBell Laboratories, where theconcept of acoustic emissionswas developed in the late 1940s.When Vahaviolos joined thecompany in the 1970s, heworked out computerized solu-tions to the long-standing prob-lem of how to filter out irrele-vant background noise duringacoustic-emission testing, thusmaking the technology useableto detect in real time imperfec-tions, cracks, and growing cor-rosion in materials and struc-tures.

Vahaviolos has written over100-technical papers and 3books, amassed numerouspatents and many honors andawards over the years, and be-longs to various professionaland scientific organizations, in-cluding the American Societyfor Non Destructive Testing, forwhich he has served as presi-dent, and the InternationalCommittee for NondestructiveTesting (ICNDT), which collab-orates with the United Nations.A former president of ICNDT, heis a Life Honorary Member ofits board. (NDT is the testing ofmaterials without interferingwith their make-up and encom-passes a broad range of scien-tific disciplines.) He was re-cently elected a Life Fellow ofthe Institute of Electrical andElectronic Engineers and washonored at the March 10 AHIHellenic Heritage Achievement.

Vahaviolos is married to As-pasia Nessas Vahaviolos, withwhom he has three daughters:Athanasia Vahaviolos, who runsthe Greek Mistras-Enviro-coustics company serving theBalkans and Eastern Mediter-ranean countries, Stephanie-Athena Folia, Mistras’ BenefitsManager, and Kristy Vahaviolos-Kyriakopoulos.

www.mistrasgroup.com

29.JAMES DIMON$355 MILLION CORPORATEADMINISTRATION

Jamie Dimon, 55, is chair-man & CEO of JPMorgan Chase,one of the country’s largestbanks. Currently ranked 112thamong Forbes highest paidCEO’s, which lists his five-yearcompensation at $109.96 mil-lion and stock ownership at$232.1 million, Dimon has man-aged to keep JPMorgan wellahead of the curve since taking



the helm in 2006. He earned ac-cording to CNNMoney $23 mil-lion in 2011. Even when all thecountry’s major banks – e.g.,Bank of America and Citigroup– were barely managing to stayafloat, the $2 trillion-in-assetsbank thrived recently, earningDimon praise from PresidentObama and the respect of hispeers. He has been on Timemagazine’s list of 100 most in-fluential people three timessince 2006. He is less popularwith the Occupy Wall Streetmovement and its offshootsaround the country, which haveoften critiqued him and JPMor-gan Chase.

Dimon was born in NewYork. His grandfather, a Greekimmigrant from Smyrna, was abroker and passed his knowl-edge of the business onto hisson and partner Theodore, Di-mon’s father. As a boy, Dimonattended the Browning School,a prestigious all-boys prepschool on the Upper East Side.He later majored in Psychologyand Economics at Tufts Univer-sity, and earned his MBA fromHarvard University BusinessSchool. Upon graduating in1982, Sanford Weill convincedhim to turn down offers fromGoldman Sachs and MorganStanley, and join him as an as-sistant at American Express.Through a series of unprece-dented mergers and acquisitionsthat ensued, they formed Citi-group, then the largest financialservices conglomerate in theworld. Weill was the one whomade the deals, but Dimon wasthe “whiz kid” who made thenumbers work. Dimon left Citi-group in November 1998 due toan internal conflict with Mr.

Weill.He serves on the boards of

directors of the Federal ReserveBank of New York, the ClearingHouse, the United Negro Col-lege Fund and Harvard BusinessSchool. He serves on the execu-tive committee of the BusinessCouncil, Business Roundtableand the Partnership for NewYork City, and is a member ofthe Financial Services Forum, Fi-nancial Services Roundtable andCouncil on Foreign Relations.He is married to Judith Kent,with whom he has three daugh-ters.

www.jpmorganchase.com

30.NICHOLASGALAKATOS,PH.D$350 MILLION BIOMEDICALTECHNOLOGY

Dr. Nicholas Galakatos, 54,isranked 66th out of 100 corpo-rate executives on Forbes mag-azine's Midas List. He has beenManaging Director of ClarusVentures since the Cambridge,MA-based firm’s inception in2005. Clarus Ventures is a lifesciences venture capital firmfounded by a team of “accom-plished investment professionalswith extensive and complemen-tary industry backgroundswhich have enabled them to es-tablish a long history of successin creating value,” according toits website, which also reports$1.2 billion of assets under itsmanagement “across two lifesciences dedicated funds.”

Galakatos has over twodecades of industry and invest-ment experience in the health-care sector. From 1997 to 2000,he was vice president of NewBusiness at Millennium Pharma-

ceuticals, a leading biopharma-ceuticals company purchased bythe Takeda Oncology Companyfor $8.8 billion in May 2008,and a member of its manage-ment team. During that timeGalakatos cofounded Millen-nium Predictive Medicine andTransForm Pharmaceuticals,where he was chairman. Priorto his stint at Millennium, hewas an associate at Venrock As-sociates focusing on early stagebiotechnology investments. Be-fore Venrock, he was head ofMolecular Biology Research atNovartis.

Born in Athens and raised inThessaloniki, where he studiedat Anatolia College. Galakatosearned his doctorate in OrganicChemistry from MIT beforepost-doctoral studies at HarvardMedical School. Until December31, 2009, he was the lead di-rector of Affymax, a bio-phar-maceutical company creatingnovel drugs for patients suffer-ing from kidney disease. AfterAffymax went public in 2006,Galakatos raised $660 millionfor the company in 2008,though the company’s stockshave dropped. Still, Galakatos“made out well with 2007 saleof Hypnion to Eli Lilly for $315million,” Forbes reported. Theover $500-million pharmaceuti-cals company AVEO, another in-vestment, went public last yeartoo. Hypnion, where Galakatoswas also lead director, was en-gaged in the discovery and de-velopment of therapeutic drugsto treat disorders of the centralnervous system, particularlysleep and wake-alertness disor-ders and circadian rhythm ab-normalities.

He is also director of cancertherapy company Portola. Heand his wife, Alice, have twosons. Galakatos is a member ofthe Director’s Council of theKoch Institute at MIT, and theGenetics Advisory Council atHarvard Medical School. He isalso on Anatolia College’s boardof trustees.

www.clarusventures.com

30.JOHNGEORGES*$350 MILLION MARINE,FOOD SERVICES

John Georges, 52, is thefounder and CEO of Georges En-terprises, a company based inElmwood, LA specializing in ac-quiring and growing businesses.It invests in marine services,food vending, grocery distribu-tion, video/arcade entertain-

ment, restaurants and real es-tate.

The company began as Im-perial Trading in 1916, a whole-sale grocery distribution com-pany founded by John Georges’grandfather Gus Pelias. Thecompany is now the eighthlargest convenience store sup-plier in the nation.

John Georges started out inthe family business at a youngage, sweeping warehouse floorsat age 11 and making deliveriesby age 15. His father DennisGeorges immigrated to the U.S.,after serving in the Greek Resis-tance from a young age duringWorld War II and the RoyalGreek Air Force.

John Georges completing hisstudies at Tulane University in1983, turning his attention toImperial Trading, expanding itssales from $29 million to $1 bil-lion today, with 4,000 retailersin nine states. Recent acquisi-tions by Georges Enterprises in-clude, in September 2011, the$50 million food distributor Clif-ford D. Fite Company, $100 mil-lion Union Grocery in 2010 andthe multi-million Harrison Com-pany in 2008. Georges Enter-prises’ CEO said in a relatedpress release: “We are lookingto make more acquisitions in thefood distribution sector.

In the vending field, In 2006,Imperial Vending merged withWhitener Snacks to become Re-freshment Solutions, a GeorgesEnterprises subsidiary. GeorgesEnterprises’ AMA Distributorsspecialize in entertainment fromvideogames and pool tables tojukeboxes. Georges Enterprises’portfolio of real estate holdings;among them are 25 acres of in-dustrial real estate in the greater

New Orleans area, including thesite once occupied by LouisianaFilm Studios.

Georges Enterprises was pre-viously very involved with ma-rine services. However, asGeorges confirmed to the TNHimmediately after the BP OilSpill, in January 2010, GeorgesEnterprises sold its fleet of off-shore tugs under Dolphin Ma-rine International Company toconcentrate on its food distrib-ution business. The family of hiswife, the former Dathel Cole-man, owns cleanup companyOil Mop OMI.

Georges purchased the 105-year old French/Creole restau-rant Galatoire for perhaps $11million a couple of years ago,with a major construction un-derway for it to return at a newlocation in Baton Rouge byChristmas 2012. The menu spe-cializes in seafood, especially lo-cal specialties like shrimp andsoft-shelled crabs.

Georges is very involved withboth Louisiana public life andthe community of The Greek Or-thodox Cathedral of the HolyTrinity, and was notable in post-Hurricane Katrina both at theUniversity of New Orleans, aswell as his own, and localchurches. The former ChurchPresident and Greek Commu-nity President hosted Ecumeni-cal Patriarch Bartholomew,when he visited New Orleans inOctober 2009.

A notable campaign financer,Georges spent millions to un-successfully run himself for gov-ernor twice, first as an indepen-dent candidate in post-Katrinain 2007, and again, as a Demo-crat, in 2010. Undeterred, he isnow eyeing the 2015 race.

He is a member of TulaneUniversity’s President's Council.Georges is a foundation memberof the University of New Orleansand LSU Medical. He is on theWorld Trade Center Board of Di-rectors, New Orleans BusinessCouncil, Jefferson BusinessCouncil, New Orleans Chamberof Council Board of Director. Hehas also chaired and been vicepresident of the Western Regionof the Young Presidents Organi-zation. He has chaired theMetairie Park Country DaySchool Recovery and been onthe board of both Crimestoppersand the Young Leadership Coun-cil of New Orleans.

He and his wife have twodaughters, Zana, and Liza, anda son, Nike.

www.georgesenterprises.com, www.imperialtrading.com

32.ANGELIKIFRANGOU$315 MILLION SHIPPING

Angeliki Frangou, 46, is theChairman of the Board andChief Executive Officer of NaviosMaritime Holdings, a leadingmaritime company with a fleetof more than 60 dry bulk vesselsand an additional 20-30 vesselsfor short- or medium-term em-ployment and over 10 milliondeadweight tons. It’s a positionshe’s held since 2005. The NYSE-listed company’s market capital-ization is currently about$419.96 million; its enterprisevalue is $3.5 billion. The com-pany maintains offices in NewYork, as well as Greece, Uruguayand Belgium. Frangou is also theChairman and Chief ExecutiveOfficer of Navios Maritime Part-ners, L.P. (NYSE: NMM) andNavios Maritime AcquisitionCorporation (NYSE: NNA).

Named one of Fortune Mag-azine’s Top 50 Most PowerfulWomen in Business Global Listin 2011, shipping is in herblood. Frangou’s father, Capt.Nikolaos Frangos, has been run-ning major Greek shipping com-pany, Good Faith, for more than40 years. By the end of the ‘90s,Frangos’ company was thelargest company in terms ofGreek-owned vessels. While re-ceiving the Aristeon Award fromthe Hellenic American Women’sCouncil in November 2009,Frangou said of her father, “Hetaught me that ingenuity andhealthy skepticism of conven-tional wisdom are the buildingblocks of success.”

Prior to taking on her currentrole, Frangou received a bache-

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lor's degree in mechanical engi-neering from Fairleigh Dickin-son University (summa cumlaude) and a master's degree inmechanical engineering fromColumbia University. From 1987to 1989, she was an analyst onthe trading floor of Republic Na-tional Bank of New York.

From 1990 until October2001, Frangou was the chief ex-ecutive officer of Franser Ship-ping S.A., a company in Piraeus,Greece. In 2004, she served asChairman, Chief Executive Of-ficer, and President of Interna-tional Shipping Enterprises, un-til ISE's acquisition of andmerger into Navios Holdings in2005. Frangou was also a mem-ber of the board of directors ofEmporiki Bank of Greece, thesecond largest retail bank inGreece, from April 2004 to July2005. Frangou is the Chairmanof the board of directors of IRFEuropean Finance InvestmentsLtd., listed on the AIM of theLondon Stock Exchange. Shewas also Chairman of the boardof directors of Proton Bank,based in Athens, from June2006 until September 2008. Sheis Vice Chairman of the Mediter-ranean Committee of the ChinaClassification Society and is amember of the Hellenic andBlack Sea Committee of BureauVeritas as well as a member ofthe Greek Committee of NipponKaiji Kyokai.

“Shipping is in Greece whatWall Street is in New York,” shesaid in a recent video that em-phasizes the continued impor-tance of the shipping sector inGreece on the This is Greece ini-tiative website.

Frangou has received numer-ous awards, including the DryCargo Company of the YearAward in 2009 and the News-maker of the Year award byLloyd’s List in 2009. She wasnamed the Connecticut MaritimeAssociation Commodore for theyear 2011. She has developed areputation as an impressive in-vestor and philanthropist.

www.navios.com

33.MICHAEL D.CAPELLAS$300 MILLION CORPORATEADMINISTRATION

Michael D. Capellas, 57, was

Chairman & CEO of First DataCorporation (FDC), the world’sleading payment processingcompany, from 2007 to 2010.He is now Chairman and CEOof VCE, the Virtual ComputingEnvironment Company, formedby Cisco and EMC with invest-ments from VMware and Intel,offering technology productsand solutions for cloud-basedcomputing.

He is on the board of Cisco,a multinational corporation net-working and communicationstechnology and services com-pany that is ranked 87th onForbes’ Global 2000 list in 2011with 70,700 employees and re-ported net sales at $42.36 bil-lion. He was also senior advisorfor Silver Lake Partners, a $13billion private equity firm fo-cused on making large-scale in-vestments in leading technologycompanies, from October 2006to July 2007.

Capellas’ earlier executiveroles include chairman & CEOof Compaq Computer Corpora-tion between 1999 and 2001.Following Hewlett-Packard’s ac-quisition of Compaq, he stayedon as president of HP for sixmonths to ease the integrationof the two companies. He thenleft HP to become chairman &CEO of MCI WorldCom between2002 and 2006, presiding overthe eventual Verizon-MCImerger. He had joined World-Com, which was in bankruptcy,to help it overcome a massiveaccounting scandal. After thetransfer to Verizon was com-pleted, Capellas received a $40

million severance package.A 30-year veteran of the IT

industry, he took charge of FirstData shortly after KohlbergKravis Roberts acquired thecredit card giant for $29 billionin April 2007. In 1992, FirstData spun off from AmericanExpress. It handles e-commerceprocessing services, includingmerchant and bank transac-tions, credit, retail and debitcard issuing and processing. Italso provides money orders andpaper check processing. Forbesranked FDC 24th this past Oc-tober among the country’slargest private companies, withits 2010 revenues at $10.38 bil-lion.

Capellas says he inherited hisgritty determination from his fa-ther, a Greek citizen who foughtwith the Greek Army against theGermans in Italy during WorldWar II. After the War, the elderCapellas met and married hiswife Juliet in Italy. The familythen immigrated to Ohio, whereCapellas’ father worked his wayup from laborer to superinten-dent at the Republic Steel Cor-poration, where he worked for30 years. Capellas developed aninterest in computers as an un-dergraduate at Kent State Uni-versity. Shortly after he gradu-ated, he met his wife, MarieAngelillo, a former nurse. Thetwo married in 1979, and trav-eled the world for two decadesas Capellas’ business reputationgrew. He was a senior vice pres-ident of Oracle Corporation in1997-98. He is credited, in hiswork with Compaq, with mak-ing it Microsoft’s key strategicpartner for the release of itsWindows 2000 operating sys-tem. In December 2006, Capel-las was appointed acting CEOof Serena Software, selected bySilver Lake, which took Serenaprivate in March 2006.

Capellas and his wife havetwo children. He likes golf androck and roll. He is also activelyinvolved in community andcharitable work. In 2002, he be-came the first recipient of theHope Technology Award fromthe Center for Missing & Ex-ploited Children. He is a mem-ber of the Board of Governorsof the Boys & Girls Clubs ofAmerica. Capellas previouslyserved as a member of theAmerican University Board ofTrustees, and is recognized as a

global thought leader in thetechnology industry. He recentlyserved as co-chair of theCLOUD² Commission, includingspecialists who offered theObama government recommen-dations on cloud computingpolicies.

www.vce.com

34.JENNIFERANISTON$230 MILLIONENTERTAINMENT

Popularly and affectionatelyknown as “America’s Sweet-heart,” Jennifer Aniston, 43,once lived in Crete and Athensas Jennifer Anastassakis. Thedaughter of famous daytimesoap opera star John Aniston(Days of Our Lives), she eclipsedher father’s television fame andsuccess with her own role asRachel Green on the eternallypopular situation comedy,Friends. In the show’s final years– it ran for ten seasons – Anistonand her five castmates struckwhat was then a record deal –$1 million each per episode –and she still collects a sizeablepaycheck from the now-iconicsitcom’s syndication.

She continues to have suc-cess on the little screen- mostrecently in Tina Fey’s 30 Rock,but Aniston’s film career hasbeen somewhat hit-or-miss.Films like The Switch (2010)were considered bombs, buthave been more than offset bybox office bonanzas like TheBreakup (2006) and Marley &Me (2008), which helped estab-

lished her as a movie star. Hernew movie Wanderlust co-starsher real-life boyfriend, JustinTheroux.

She also reportedly in 2011made over $20 million in sellingher Beverly Hills home for $35million - twice the price thatshe bought it.

Forbes, which gave a networth for her of $110 million in2007, more recently placed herat #21 on its “Celebrity 100”list, reporting in June that shemade $28 million over the pastyear, with similar figures forpast years. The actress, whocranks out at least two films ayear, has also been a producerin recent years. She divorcedfrom superstar actor Brad Pittseven years ago, but remainsmagazine-cover gold.

In February she received herown Hollywood Walk of FameStar. Some of her awards in-clude the Screen Actors Guild(1996), Emmy (2002), GoldenGlobe (2003) and People’sChoice (four times) Awards, andhas assisted and worked withmany charities like Rain (ananti- sexual assault organiza-tion), St. Jude’s and various can-cer-fighting organizations.

35.STRATTONSCLAVOS$225 MILLION COMPUTERS,CELLULAR TECHNOLOGY

Stratton Sclavos, 50, waschairman, president, & chief ex-ecutive officer of VeriSign for 12years before he resigned in May2007, leading that companythrough many acquisitions.

He is general partner atRadar Partners LLC, a privateinvestment firm and wasnamed, in 2011, a partner andmember of the executive teamof online television productioncompany Prospect Park’s onlineventures.

Sclavos is now a director atmulti-billion-dollar companySalesforce.com, which providessoftware to businesses of allsizes and industries world-wide.He served on the board of di-rectors of Intuit, Inc. from 2001to 2010, as well as the companyJuniper Networks.

Sclavos earned his bachelor’sdegree in Electrical & ComputerEngineering from the Universityof California in Davis. From Oc-tober 1993 to June 1995, he

was vice president of worldwidemarketing & sales for TaligentInc., a software developmentcompany which was a joint ven-ture among Apple Computer,IBM and Hewlett-Packard. Hejoined VeriSign in July 1995 asone of its first employees. Sincejoining VeriSign, he helped es-tablish the company as a globalcorporation used by millions ofconsumers and businesses dailyas they interact on the world’s

voice and data networks.Sclavos led the companythrough a decade of robustgrowth and technological inno-vation. His last years withVeriSign were taken up with in-vestigations into the company’sstock option program, but it isnot believed that Sclavos per-sonally benefited from the op-tion grants in question, thoughit did occur under his watch.

Sclavos was born to second-generation Greek American par-ents in San Francisco, CA. Hestill lives in California with hiswife Jody and their two chil-dren. His investments includeco-owning upscale Dio Dekarestaurant. A lifelong Bay Arearesident, he formed the SclavosFamily Foundation to supportcharitable efforts in children’seducation and medical research.He likes to play basketball andholds an ownership stake in Sil-icon Valley Sports & Entertain-ment (SVSE), the parent com-pany of the San Jose Sharkshockey team. In June 2002, hewas honored with the Ernst &Young Northern California En-trepreneur of the Year Award.He was also honored with the



Get informed www.thenationalherald.com

2001 Morgan Stanley MorganLeadership Award for GlobalCommerce; named to Forbes’Top 50 CEO’s list; and servedalongside 30 technology expertson former President George W.Bush’s National SecurityTelecommunications AdvisoryCommittee.

36.CHRIS &HARRIS PAPPAS$200 MILLION

Brothers Christopher J., 63,and Harris Pappas, 65, todaylead privately-owned PappasRestaurants, Inc. – a companyoperating over 90 restaurants inseven states. Chris Pappas is thecompany’s CEO. His brother isits president. The Nation’sRestaurant News placed thecompany #70 in its listing ofTop 100 companies in 2010(based on 2009 figures), with$480 million, when it came toU.S. Food service Revenue fig-

ures. On that listing, the com-pany’s revenue growth rate was50%. The two have become –since 2001- major shareholdersin the once-ailing, 50-year-oldrestaurant chain Luby’s, Inc.,which is listed on the NYSE; thecompany’s market capitalizationis currently $145 million. Ludy’sacquired 200-restaurant chainFuddruckers (and 3 Koo KooRoo California Kitchen eateries)in June 2010 for $63 million.Chris Pappas is President andChief CEO of Luby’s, which nowhas 94 Luby’s cafeterias, 57 Fud-druckers and four other eateries,plus 121 Fuddruckers fran-chises; Harris Pappas is its ChiefOperating Officer.

Pappas Restaurants grewfrom their father and uncles’work at Pappas Refrigeration.

Currently Pappas Restaurantshas eight brands, including Pap-pas Seafood Houses, Pappasito’sCantinas, Pappadeaux SeafoodKitchens, Pappas Bar-B-Q’s, Pap-pas Bros. Steakhouses, PappasBurger, Yia Yia Mary’s PappasGreek Kitchen and the Dot Cof-fee Shop. Each company has itsown specialty, with Yia YiaMary’s, for instance, specializingin Greek food, fish – as well asmezedes (Greek, with a hint ofTexas). Pappas Restaurants alsohas a food catering business.They recently added electric ve-hicle charging at their steak-house.

Chris Pappas serves on theBoard of Directors for theGreater Houston Partnershipand is also a member of theDean's Advisory Board at theConrad N. Hilton College of Ho-tel and Restaurant Managementat the University of Houston. Hewas inducted into the college’sHospitality Industry Hall of

Honor in 2009. Chris is a mem-ber of the Board of Directors forthe National Restaurant Associ-ation, the Texas Restaurant As-sociation, and the Greater Hous-ton Restaurant Association andis an Advisory Board member ofAmegy Bank. In 2001, he wasinducted into the Texas Restau-rant Association Hall of Honor.He is also a member of theHouston Food Bank’s CapitalCampaign Committee and hehas assisted in raising over 40million dollars for the organiza-tion. Chris received his Bache-lor's degree in Mechanical En-gineering from The Universityof Texas at Austin. He and hiswife Maria have been married30 years and have five grownchildren.

A graduate of Texas A&M,

Harris Pappas was commis-sioned as a 2nd Lieutenant inthe U.S. Army, serving one yearin Thailand and one year inVietnam, earning two BronzeStars and three Army Commen-dation medals. He is also amember of the Board of Direc-tors of Oceaneering Interna-tional, Inc., a publicly-held oiland gas operations firm, andalso served a 10-year term onthe Board of Trustees of Memo-rial Hermann Healthcare Sys-tem in Houston. He is an advi-sory director of the Boys andGirls Clubs of Greater Houstonand of Bank - Frost NationalHouston. He is on SchreinerUniversity’s Advisory Board. Heis a member of the Texas A&MFoundation Development Advi-sory Committee and serves onthe Education DevelopmentCouncil Advisory Committee.He has received awards fromboth Texas A&M University andthe school’s Mays College ofBusiness. Harris is also a mem-ber of the World President’s Or-ganization. He is also a founderof the Hellenic Foundation,which endeavors to raise schol-arship money for seminary stu-dents attending Holy CrossGreek Orthodox School of The-ology. An avid boater and fish-erman, he and his wife, VickyMarinos Pappas, have six chil-dren.

The brothers’ grandfather,H.D., arrived in the U.S. in 1897and became a restaurateur. Hissons followed his lead with en-deavors including opening Pap-pas Bar-B-Q. The Pappas Broth-ers are often help nonprofitgroups and churches renovatetheir kitchens. Highly involvedin the Annunciation Cathedralof Houston, both brothers werenamed Archons of the Patriar-chate in 2008.

www.pappas.com

36. WILLIAM S.STAVROPOULOS,

PH.D$200 MILLION CORPORATEADMINISTRATION

Dr. William S. Stavropoulos,72, is a director at Tyco Inter-national Limited, a major diver-sified, multinational companythat is a leading provider of se-curity products and services, fireprotection and detection prod-ucts and services, valves andcontrols, and other industrialproducts.

He told TNH that havingreached retirement age, he will


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market keeps sort of swattingback.” With a chuckle he notes:“The problem with accountingscams is that you can’t disclosethem in advance. It sort of miti-gates the whole idea of thescam. It has to be sort of wellhidden and that’s not what’shappening here. Everything ishappening in full view.”

He says imposing austeritymeasures on countries alreadyin recession “is madness” that’s“something out of a 19th Cen-tury playbook,” noting: “moderneconomic theory tells you thatis a major policy blunder.” Atthe same time, however, henotes that governments in theEU are incapable of providingthe counter-cyclical policiesneeded at such a time as this.

It rubs against most countriesin the EU’s history to have theirsovereignty threatened, “withEU bureaucrats running your fi-nance ministry.” He adds, speak-ing of Greece, “there are stillpeople who remember, youknow, what happened in the

1940s there.”Chanos, who was divorced

in 2006, may have his spot onthe Hamptons and Manhattansocial scene, but he remainsconnected to Greece. He sayshe travels there every year, andhas brought his children toGreece, connecting them withtheir heritage. His three sonsand daughter range in age from18 to 23.

When not crunching thenumbers, Chanos says he enjoyscontemporary art collecting andwork for charities, noting “it’ssort of the usual thing.” But healso has a passion for crunchingthe weights. He owns Edge Gymon the Upper East Side of Man-hattan. “I’m a workout nut,” heexplains, adding: “I try to I tryto get to the gym every day. Itgets harder and harder the olderyou get, but I think it’s more im-portant.”

As for what his crystal balltells him about 2012 and if itwill be a good year for the mar-kets, he says: “I have no idea,but all I know is that it will beinteresting, as they always are.”

Greek governments have beentoo generous and now theydon’t have the revenue to sup-port it. “There is no easy wayout. The best thing anyone cando now is send money or travelthere. I will charter a yacht andtake my family to the Greek is-lands this summer.” He encour-ages other Greeks to invite theirnon-Greek friends to Greece.“It’s the best time to go,” hesaid.

He said one of Greece’s pri-orities must be to eliminate ob-stacles to investment. “I wentover there 30 years ago. I wasinvited by the Greek govern-ment. They sent me an air ticketand set me up at the hotelGrand Bretagne with a 100other American businessmen.”

The officials welcomed themas people who wanted to helptheir country by generatingbusiness activity there. At onepoint, however, a man raised his

hand and said “Kyrioi [gentle-men] – I have been trying tostart a business here for twoyears but I can’t start one.” Hehad all kinds of problems secur-ing all the permits. The govern-ment now says that will change.

The mindset must alsochange, especially among the

youth. Pappajohn has been onthe board of Anatolia Collegefor 30 years, where he startedan entrepreneurial fund. He do-nated $400,000, but there wasa scarcity of young people withthe courage to start a business.With 45 percent youth unem-

ployment, that must change, butdiaspora Greeks could inspirethe youth.

“If Greece can create an en-trepreneurial environment,there are all kinds of Greekshere that would support it.” Hebelieves Greek-Americans canhelp in many ways “We need aleader, however, someone whocan say ‘follow me and let’s res-urrect Greece’…but takes aspark to get things going…Iknow the Archbishop reallywants to help.”

He is already popping withideas. “Everybody has the besttime when they go to Greece.We’ve got to start advertisingthat Greece is the place to go,in spite of what you read in thepaper. That will solve the prob-lem. Its obvious Greek-Ameri-cans can’t make the debt goaway,” but if the Greek govern-ment can’t afford a top draweradvertising campaign, he agreesGreek-Americans can financeone.

Although their charters limitwhat they can do as organiza-tions, that’s the kind of thingmembers of Leadership 100 andthe Faith endowment can do in-formally. Advertising legendGeorge Lois, for instance, re-cently told TNH he would lovefollow up the brilliant campaignhe did for Greece years ago.

Pappajohn adds that throughthe creation of foundationswhere donations can be tax de-ductible, the Community couldtarget concrete needs and heagrees that members of theCommunity and the many silogiand somatia (benevolent and re-gional organizations) here,through their friends and rela-tives in Greece, can find outwhere donations can make a dif-ference and help raise funds.

These are things the Pappa-johns know about, so their willto help and their optimism forGreece is well-founded.

[email protected]


James Chanos, In Short-Selling for the Long RunContinued from page 4


The Pappajohns believe that travel to Greece is one way tohelp the country through a difficult time.

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“Everybody has the besttime when they go toGreece. We’ve got to startadvertising that Greece isthe place to go, in spite ofwhat you read in thepaper...”

In our research for this issue,we came across many accom-plished people who are not onthe main list, but may be in afew years. Here are just a few.

TASSO ARGYROS, 30,found success in Silicon Valleyvery early. He and his partnerssold their San Carlos, Califor-nia-based data managementcompany Aster Data for $263million to Ohio-based, formercompetitor Teradata in 2011. Heis now Co-President at TeradataAster, leading the Aster Centerof Innovation. Born, raised andmostly educated in Greece, Ar-gyros is the son of a Mathemat-

ics professor. Within a year pur-suing a PhD at StanfordUniversity, he dropped out,lured into real-world business.Argyros was named a Top YoungEntrepreneur in 2009 byBloomberg BusinessWeek and aTechnology Pioneer in 2010 bythe World Economic Forum.

JOHN KOUDOUNIS, Presi-dent & Chief Executive Officerof Mizuho Securities USA Inc.,was raised in Chicago and edu-cated at Brown University(where he played football). Hehas risen in the managementranks of the $2.1 trillion globalMizuho Financial Group sincejoining in 2008. Charged withleading Mizuho’s US investmentbanking subsidiary, he has over-seen the dramatic growth ofMizuho Securities USA both insize and diversification of fixed

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be retiring from Tyco – which isin the process of dividing intothree, separate publically-tradedcompanies, at the end of 2012

Stavropoulos joined Tyco inMarch 2007. Tyco is headquar-tered in New Jersey. It employsover 100,000 people worldwide.In May 2007, just two monthsafter Stavropoulos became aboard member, Tyco agreed topay almost $3 billion to de-frauded investors, the largestsuch payment ever made by asingle company. The company’s2011 sales were over $17 bil-lion.

Prior to joining Tyco,Stavropoulos was chairman,president, & CEO of The DowChemical Company, where hiscareer spanned 39 years. His ca-reer with Dow began in Indi-anapolis with pharmaceuticalresearch in 1967. While he waswith Dow, he held various posi-tions in research, marketing andgeneral management. He alsoserved in a variety of researchand business positions in phar-maceuticals and diagnostics. Dr.Stavropoulos was named presi-dent of Dow USA in 1990, andwas elected vice president ofDow Chemical Company. Hewas then elected a senior vicepresident of Dow in May 1991,and became chief operating of-ficer in 1993. He served as CEOin 1995-2000 and again in2002- 04, and was a member ofDow’s board of directors fromJuly 1990 to March 2006 (hewas succeeded by Andrew Liv-eris, a Greek Australian). He isChairman Emeritus of the com-pany.

Stavropoulos holds a bache-lor of science degree from Ford-ham University and a doctoratein medicinal chemistry from theUniversity of Washington. He isa director of Chemical FinancialCorporation, Teradata Corpora-tion, Maersk Inc. and Tyco In-ternational LTD. He is a trusteeof the Fidelity Equity and HighIncome Funds’ Board and is anAdvisory Partner of Clayton, Du-bilier & Rice LLC. Stavropoulosis non-executive chairman ofUnivar, the largest chemical dis-tributor in the U.S.. He is on theAdvisory Board for MetalmarkCapital LLC. Stavropoulos is alsoa past chairman of the AmericanChemistry Council, Society ofChemical Industry, and Ameri-can Plastics Council. Just a fewof his many awards and honorsare AHEPA’s Man of the Year(1995), an honorary Doctor ofLaws Degree from NorthwoodUniversity (1998), the Ellis Is-land Medal of Honor (1998)and induction into Junior

Achievement of Central Michi-gan’s Business Hall of Fame(2005). “Institutional Investor”magazine named him one ofAmerica’s best CEO’s three times(1998, 2003 and 2004). In2010, he was named an Archonof the Ecumenical Patriarchateand was inducted into the Mid-land County Sports Hall of Fameas a Professional Baseball Vi-sionary (for work includingfounding the Michigan BaseballFoundation in 2005).Stavropoulos and his wife Lindahave two children, Bill and An-gela, and six grandchildren.

www.milb.com

36.RITA WILSON$200 MILLIONENTERTAINMENT

Rita Wilson, 55, is an Ameri-can film and stage actress, pro-ducer – and most recently,singer too. She is wife of super-star actor and producer TomHanks. Born Margarita Ibrahi-moff in Los Angeles, CA her fa-ther was a Pomak born inGreece. Before immigrating tothe U.S., he had lived in Bul-garia and Turkey; her motherwas born and raised in a Greekvillage on the Albanian border.Her family changed their sur-name to Wilson, which was thename of a local street in South-ern California.

As co-executive producer,Wilson is often credited with be-ing the driving force behind NiaVardalos’ smash-hit movie, MyBig Fat Greek Wedding, whichbecame the highest-grossing in-dependent film of all time. Wil-son has had recurring roles invarious television series, and hasappeared in several movies, in-cluding Midnight Caller, Volun-teers, Bonfire of the Vanities,Sleepless in Seattle, That ThingYou Do, Frasier, and RunawayBride. She also played SusanBorman, wife of astronaut FrankBorman, in the HBO miniseriesFrom the Earth to the Moon,and performed the role of RoxieHart in the Broadway revival ofChicago from June to August of2006. Recently she appeared inthe show The Good Wife.

She has contributed to theMoffitt Cancer Center by donat-ing “True Hearts” jewelry, madeof sterling silver and 14-carat

gold. The proceeds went to thebenefit of several charities. Sheand her husband are membersof the Greek Orthodox Church.She has been married to Hankssince April 1988, and has twochildren. Factoring in her hus-band’s fortune –Hanks’ pay, ac-cording to Forbes in 2011 was$35 million, the couple’s net

worth probably exceeds $200million. Mamma Mia!, the mu-sical produced by the couple in2008, made $600 million world-wide.

Wilson is moving into theworld of music, with a new 14-track CD about love and heart-break alike titled AM/FM com-ing out on May 8. She will alsoappear in upcoming films KissMe and Jewtopia in 2012/2013.Wilson is the editor of the Huff-ington Post’ Huff/Post50 site forBaby Boomers.

39.ARIANNASTASSINOPOULOSHUFFINGTON$130 MILLION NEW MEDIA

Arianna Stassinopoulos Huff-ington, 61, is a nationally syn-dicated columnist, author ofthirteen books, and the co-founder and editor-in-chief ofThe Huffington Post, a popularnews website. The HuffingtonPost – a media phenomenon andopinion-shaper- was born of thebrains and charisma of the in-defatigable Greek Americanwoman who has been called theworld’s greatest networker. Sheand her partners sold the site toAmerican Online for a neat

$315 million in February 2011.She remains editor-in-chief ofthe new Huffington Post MediaGroup.

In 2011, the site had ex-pected 2011 revenue of $60 mil-lion and 26 million unique visi-tors per month. AOL ispreparing an ambitious Huffin-gton Post Streaming Network of16 hours of live video daily.

Huffington was said to ownsome 14% of the site at its sale.According to Huffington, thecompany has some 1,400 paidjournalists (including 800 Patchwriters for AOL), yet the heartand soul of the operation arestill the big name pro bono blog-gers like Alan Dershowitz andplaywright David Mamet.Forbes, which named Huffing-ton among the 31st among theWorld’s Most Powerful Woman,writes: “The sites success hadbeen fueled by an army of 9,000free bloggers and high-profilecontributors…” There are todaysome 20,000 bloggers and 36million unique visitors a month.Huffington Posts were recentlylaunched in the UK and Canadaand upcoming sites are in theworks for Spain and Italy sched-uled this year. There were re-ports of a Greek Huffington Postcirculating as well.

The Post was born in May2005 and is one of the mostwidely read, linked to, and citedsites on the Internet. The rapidsuccess of The Post catapulted

Arianna to the Time 100, Timemagazine's list of the world's100 most influential people.

She was born AriannaStassinopoulos in Athens,Greece, the daughter of Kon-stantinos, who was a journalistand management consultant,and Elli Georgiadi. She movedto England at age 16 to attendCambridge University and hasridden a wave of energy, intelli-gence and charisma more or lessstraight through to her triumphwith The Post. The Times ofLondon described her, back in1971, as “glamorous, with lotsof charm. Her clothes are stun-ning.” She graduated with anM.A. in economics. At 21, shebecame president of the fameddebating society, the CambridgeUnion.

She moved to the UnitedStates in 1980 and was marriedto California oilman MichaelHuffington in 1986. In the late1980s, she wrote several articlesfor National Review and herhusband, a Republican, servedin the U.S. House of Represen-tatives before his career endedwhen he lost a close race for theU.S. Senate in 1994. The coupledivorced in 1997 and by then,she had gained national promi-nence and begun to shift to thepolitical left. She told The Fi-nancial Times that she had “longbeen interested in steering herconservative friends towards so-cial activism and the problemsof worsening inequities in Amer-ican life.” Nonetheless, Ms.Huffington’s first foray into theInternet was a website calledResignation.com, which calledon President Clinton to resign.In 2003, she ran as an indepen-dent candidate for Governor inthe California recall election.

Huffington makes guest ap-pearances on television shows.She serves on several boards ofcommunity service groups, in-cluding A Place Called Home,which works with at-risk chil-dren in South Central Los An-geles. She also serves on theboard of EL PAIS and the Com-mittee to Protect Journalists.She has two daughters.

www.huffingtonpost.com

40.THEODORE G.SPYROPOULOS$120 MILLION AUTOMOTIVEPARTS, PETROLEUMPRODUCTS

Theodore G. Spyropoulosmay be known to most as cur-rent World Council of HellenesAbroad (SAE) USA Region Co-ordinator, but he’s also an ac-complished businessman in theChicago area.

Born and raised in Kalavryta,Greece, at age 14, Spyropouloswent to Athens for his highschool studies. He studied Po-litical Science in Sweden. InSweden, he met his artist wife,Erika Knickman Spyropoulos.

After completing his militaryservice in the Greek navy be-tween 1962 and 1964, he andhis wife immigrated to the US,where his brothers lived. Previ-ously, the family had arrived inthe US in 1888, with his grand-parents Theodore and AglaiaSpyropoulos establishing thesuccessful Maple Leaf chocolatecompany, which was a source ofemployment for many Greek im-migrants over the years.

Within a few years of estab-lishing themselves in their newcountry, Spyropoulos and hiswife founded T.G.S. NationalWholesalers in 1975. The com-pany specializes in wholesaling

of automotive parts and its op-erations extend to Europe, theU.S. and the Middle East.

One business led to another.In 1980, the couple launched,T.G.S. Petroleum Co, Inc.

In 1985, he was a co-founderof CAM2 International, a motoroil lubricants company pur-chased from Sunoil. CAM2 In-ternational continues to grow,with over $500 million in an-nual sales. The company pro-duces agricultural and industrialchemicals too – all of which aremade at four refineries in theUS.

Since 1976 he has completeownership of A&T HoldingCompany, which is a real estateholding company. He was pre-viously director of Swiss-basedGTE Engineering, AutomotiveWholesalers of Illinois.

Spyropoulos has been Presi-dent of SAE USA since 2006, in-volved in the reorganization ofSAE’s international organizationto be politically and financiallyindependent from the Greekgovernment and to, as he says“have a true representation” of10 million Greeks abroad. A mil-lion trees – and the seeds ofmore environmentally-con-scious minds- have been plantedin Greece through the PlantYour Roots in Greece Founda-tion, under Spyropoulos’ lead-ership.

The invasion of Cyprus in1974 was an issue that first pro-pelled Spyropoulos into cam-paigning for Hellenic issues. Hewas among the founders thatyear and a president of theAmerican Hellenic Institute inWashington, DC. He also wasthe first president of the Hel-lenic American National Coun-cil, founded in 1991.

He is currently a chairman ofHermes Expo International. Hewas president of the ENOSISFederation of Hellenic AmericanOrganizations of Illinois be-tween 1991-2006.

“Education is the numberone priority on my mind,“ saysSpyropoulos, whose Spyropou-los Scholarship for Hellenic-American Students of Hellasand USA has benefitted over300 people since 1982.

Among his many distinctions,Spyropoulos is most proud ofhis Ellis Island Medal of Honorreceived in 2001, a tribute tohis family’s early roots in Amer-ica. He and wife have onedaughter, Mariyana, who is anattorney and an environmentalcommissioner in Cook County.

www.cam2international.com, www.saeusa.org

41.CONSTANTINEIORDANOU*100 MILLION INSURANCE

Constantine “Dino” Ior-danou, 62, is president, CEOand Chairman of the Board ofArch Capital Group, Ltd, aBermuda-based insurance/rein-surance global giant.

The CEO’s journey began inCyprus. He arrived in the U.S.and worked his way throughNew York University, earning aB.S. in aerospace engineeringbefore entering the insuranceindustry in a trainee role atAmerican International Group(AIG).

Iordanou told the publicationRisk & Insurance in 1999 that itwas when AIG chairman HankGreenberg noticed him in 1980that he was promoted. In 1987he moved onto Berkshire Hath-away, where he worked up to


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heading their commercial casu-alty operations. From March1992 through December 2001,Mr. Iordanou served in variouscapacities for Zurich FinancialServices and its affiliates, in-cluding as senior executive vicepresident of group operationsand business development ofZurich Financial Services, pres-ident of Zurich American Spe-cialties Division, chief operatingofficer and chief executive offi-cer of Zurich American and chiefexecutive officer of Zurich NorthAmerica.

He joined Bermuda-basedArch (NASDAQ: ACGL) in De-cember 2001 as its Presidentand member of its Board of Di-rectors. In 2003, Iordanou wasappointed president and CEO ofArch Capital Group, Ltd. In No-vember 2008, he was also ap-pointed to the post of Chairmanof the Board.

Rated one of Forbes’ 400 BestBig Companies in 2008, Archhad $5.03 billion in capital atthe end of 2011, with stocks val-ued at about $37 in March2012. Arch writes insurance and

reinsurance on worldwide basisthrough operations in Bermuda,the US Europe and Canada. Itssubsidiaries offer full range ofproperty and casualty insuranceand reinsurance products glob-ally, with a focus on specialtylines of business. Some 34% ofits work is in casualty and pro-fessional liability, about 33% forproperty/energy/marine andaviation. Arch Capital GroupLtd. recently announced that itwill acquire Ariel Re's Credit &Surety reinsurance operationsbased in Zurich.

Iordanou, who is based inGlen Head, NY, has considerablestocks in the company and hiscompensation for 2010 was$9.5 million.

He is also a director at VeriskAnalytics, Inc. of Jersey City, NJ,the American Insurance Associ-ation (AIA) and the Associationof Bermuda Insurers and Rein-surers (ABIR).

He is a founding memberand lifetime trustee of the Pan-cyprian Association of America,established in 1975. He also isa founding member of Faith: AnEndowment for Orthodoxy andHellenism. Iordanou has previ-ously served as a trustee of Roo-sevelt University and the Col-lege of Insurance and RiskManagement. His awards in-clude the Ellis Island Medal ofHonor (1999). He is married toMarianne Iordanou and theyhave three children.

www.archcapgroup.com

41.GEORGEPERLEGOS$100 MILLIONELECTRONICS

George Perlegos, 61, waschairman & CEO of Atmel Cor-poration (NYSE: ATML), aglobal leader in the manufac-turing of microcontrollers andother specialized electronicscomponents in San Jose, Cali-fornia. He was born in Tripoli,Greece. His family came to theUnited States when he was 12years of age. Though he enteredSan Jose State University in-tending to study medicine, thesemiconductor industry at-tracted his attention. He workedin Silicon Valley upon gradua-tion, and then received his PhDin Electrical Engineering atStanford, working at Intel andhelping to found SEEQ Technol-ogy. He is legendary for his workon EEPROM flash memory tech-nology at Intel.

He bootstrapped semicon-ductor company Atmel in 1984with $23,000 of his own money.The company designs, develops,manufactures and sells a rangeof integrated circuits products,including microcontrollers andadvanced logic, mixed-signal,nonvolatile memory and radiofrequency components. Perlegoswas terminated in August 2006after an investigation where theboard of directors accused himand his brother Gust (an execu-tive vice president of the com-pany) of spending $235,000 incompany funds on airplane tick-ets for themselves and their im-mediate families, although theDelaware Chancery Court ex-pressed its “discomfort with thethoroughness and fairness of theinvestigation and with the deci-sions.” Perlegos called a meetingto replace five of the existingboard members, which theboard attempted to cancel. In

March 2007, the DelawareChancery Court ruled that theshareholder meeting must pro-ceed, but this action was com-pleted after Perlegos was re-moved as president. The actionresulted in a special shareholdervote, which failed to generatethe necessary 50 percent for Per-legos.

In 2009, the San FranciscoChronicle valued Perlegos’shares at $84.4 million. Stockprices – with some fluctuations-have doubled since then. At-mel’s current market value is $5billion. Despite the conflicts atAtmel, Perlegos remains a forcein Silicon Valley as a semicon-ductor consultant. He is amonga host of Greek names listed un-der the company Silicon ValleySeed Funding Group. Analystshave watched him evolve froma brilliant engineer at Intel intoa respected leader of a billion-dollar public company. Atmel’sIPO (initial public offering) in-creased his net worth by mil-lions.

George is married to AngelikiPerlegos. They are members ofLeadership 100.

http://svgsfund.com

43.MERKOURIOS“MIKE”ANGELIADES$98 MILLIONCONSTRUCTION, REALESTATE

Born on the island of Simi,in the Dodecanese, Mike Angeli-ades, 70, established the fifthlargest construction business inthe Metro New York area (andone that is among the top 400in the country). The islander’sfirst jobs when arriving in theU.S. in 1960 included packagingcheese, olive oil and olives, boatconstruction, loading freezersfor an ice cream and eventreacherous work paintingbridges. Then he was hired byGeorge Levesanos, a friend ofhis carpenter father’s, in con-struction and realized how

much he enjoyed the trade thathe had been trained on, in part,by working with this carpenterfather in Simi.

In 1965, he and his cousinGeorge Nikolis took a major stepby establishing their ANT Con-struction Company renovatinghomes. Three years later, theyestablished a new company andthis time worked in renovatingrestaurants. He told TNH, “in ashort period of time, we endedup doing general reconstruc-tions.” Angeliades has built 182restaurants in the New YorkMetro area. He said, “I sold themajority of them to Greeks, I fi-nanced all of them and I neverwent to court for any reason andI am saying this with a sense ofpride.” In 1990 he split with hiscousin, establishing his owncompany called M.A. Angeli-ades. It specializes in federaljobs such as libraries, court-houses, and schools. M.A. An-geliades has also done severalmajor New York Mass TransitAuthority reconstruction pro-jects. His other investments in-clude the recent purchase of 47Dairy Barn convenience storesin New York.

He is one of the originalfounders of Archangel MichaelChurch in Roslyn, NY. He is alsoa member of the AHEPA GoldCoast Chapter and Leadership100.

He and his wife of over 30years, Libby, reside in Manhas-set, NY. They have four daugh-ters and four granddaughters.

www.ma-angeliades.com

44.GEORGE J.TSUNIS &FAMILY$85 MILLIONHOSPITALITY/REAL ESTATE

George J. Tsunis, 44,founded Chartwell Hotels, LLCin 2006, building on a familytradition of hotel and restaurantownership. The company has900 employees, currently own-ing and managing a total of 13hotels, including the Interconti-nental, Hilton and Marriotbrands –in the states of NewYork, New Hampshire, Pennsyl-vania, and Rhode Island. In2010, the company added a ho-tel and two office buildings. Itplans to add more hotels in2012. Chartwell’s Holiday Innat Williamsport, Pennsylvaniaearned a “Newcomer of the Yearaward” from Holiday Inn in2007.

Chartwell Hotel’s chairmanand Chief Executive Officer, Tsu-nis, makes a point of visiting thehotels as often as he can. “Idon’t think there is any substi-tute for going and visiting thehotels as a management tool.”He notes: “Like all Greeks, myfamily started out in the restau-rant business. And it’s all abouthospitality and taking care ofguests. We went from feedingthem, as coffee shop owners andrestaurateurs, to now providingovernight accommodations.”

He added: “Over the pastyear, I’ve taken advantage of thedownturn in real estate to pickup some properties. We are cur-rently developing two hotelsand a couple of office andmixed-use buildings, mostly in

Pennsylvania.”Tsunis added: “we are pro-

viding a lot of the picks andshovels for the Marcellus Shale.”He explained, “it’s the secondlargest natural gas find in thehistory of the world and thereis an incredible need for hotelsand office building and shop-ping centers an apartmentsthroughout the northern tier ofPennsylvania.”

Tsunis and his family buildon the legacy of his father, thelate James Tsunis, who togetherwith his cousin Charles Tsunis,began with coffee shops, beforecarved out a name for them-selves by building the BonwitInn on Long Island in 1971, be-fore investing in hotels and realestate. George Tsunis also over-sees his family's real estate andrestaurant holdings which in-cludes shopping centers, officebuildings in the Northeast.

After studying at N.Y.U., Tsu-nis was trained as an attorneyat St. John's University inQueens. He was a partner atLong Island law firm RivkenRadler LLP, working in real es-tate development, zoning andland use. Tsunis previously alsowas a Special Counsel to theTown of Huntington, SenatorAlfonse D'Amato's appointee onthe U.S. Senate committee onBanking, Housing and Urban Af-fairs, and an attorney for theNew York City Council. He hasworked on campaigns includingthose of Governor George Pataki(1994) and Suffolk County Ex-ecutive Robert Gaffney (1999).His decisions on whom to sup-port are based on what theirstances are on the important is-sues of the community – the Ec-umenical Patriarchate, Greece,and Cyprus.

Active in both his local com-munity and the Greek OrthodoxChurch, he was the youngestboard of director member ofLong Island’s Dowling College,his region’s American Red Crosschapter – and one of the mostyouthful Archons of the Ecu-menical Patriarchate’s Order ofSt. Andrew. He was named tothe National Council of the Ar-chons. He is also on the Boardof Trustees of Touro Law School.He often actively works behindthe scenes to promote the Hel-lenism and Orthodoxy’s inter-ests in the U.S. and is a foundingmember of the Faith endow-ment.

The Lycoming United Waywill present him with The Dou-glas C. Dickey HumanitarianAward on April 11.

He and his wife, Olga, havea son, James, and daughter,Eleni.

www.chartwellhotels.com

45.WILLIAM J.CATACOSINOS,PH.D$80 MILLION MINING ANDUTILITIES

Dr. William J. Catacosinos,80, has been a director of Inter-national Coal Group (ICG) since2004. ICG was a leading coalmining company operating inthe United States, with morethan 2,220 employees, whichwas acquired by Arch Coal in amassive $3.4 billion cash pur-chase last year.

Catacosinos is currently man-aging partner of Laurel Hill Cap-ital Partners, a private equity in-vestment firm. His son Bill andJames are also partners.

In mid-2011, the ICG acqui-sition made big news in the coalbusiness. ICG was principallyengaged in the extracting andprocessing of steam and metal-lurgical coal in Northern andCentral Appalachia. ICG pro-duced, processed and sold steamcoal from 13 regional miningcomplexes, which were sup-ported by 13 active under-ground mines, 11 active surfacemines and 11 preparation plantslocated throughout West Vir-ginia, Kentucky, Maryland, Vir-ginia, and Illinois.

Before the merger, ICG con-trolled around 318 million tonsof metallurgical quality coal re-serves and around 769 milliontons of steam coal reserves. ICGalso owned the Sago Mine inWest Virginia, where 12 minerswere killed during an explosionin January 2006. Shares at ICGsoared with the news of thedeal, which made Arch the sec-ond largest reserve holder ofcoal in the U.S.

The son of immigrants, Cat-acosinos was raised in UpperManhattan’s WashingtonHeights. His studies at NYU in-cluded a master’s degree in ad-ministration and a PhD in eco-nomics. From 1953 to 1956,Catacosinos served as an officerin the U.S. Navy and from 1957to 1969, he was Assistant Direc-tor at Brookhaven National Lab-oratory, Upton, NY. He foundedand was chairman and CEO ofApplied Digital Data Systems,Inc., a computer manufactureras well as pioneering heart fetalheart monitor company Coro-metrics Medical Systems, Inc.,which was sold to AmericanHome Products with big returns.He then went on to found andserve as Chairman and CEO ofApplied Digital Data Systems,Inc. (ADDS), which was ac-quired in 1980 by NCR.

He was also chairman & CEOof Long Island Lighting Co.,which built the controversialShoreham Nuclear Power Plant(never used, though it bore a $6billion price tag) on Long Island,from January 1984 to July 1998,pocketing a $42 million sever-ance package after a controver-sial parting of the ways at thetime.

From 2000 to 2004, Cata-cosinos had served as chairman,president & CEO of TNP Enter-prises Inc., the parent of Texas-New Mexico Power in FortWorth, TX. He then was CEO till2005, when TNP was acquiredby PNM, yielding double the ini-tial investment.

He has served on the boardsof Atlantic Bank of New York,The Center for the Study of thePresidency, First National Bankof Long Island, German Ameri-can Chamber of Commerce,Ketema, Inc., Long Island Asso-ciation, U.S. Life Corporation,Utilities Mutual Insurance Com-pany and Preservation ServicesInc.

Catacosinos has served as anAdjunct Professor at NYU’sGraduate School of Business Ad-ministration and has lectured atmany other business schools.

He and his wife Florence re-side in Mill Neck, NY. A CancerResearch Professorship is namedafter the couple at Stony BrookUniversity.

www.laurelhill.com

46.ANDREW N.LIVERIS*$70 MILLION CHEMICALS,PLASTICS, MANAGEMENT

Australian-born Andrew Liv-eris, 57, is President, Chairmanand Chief Executive Officer ofinternational chemical, materi-als, agroscience and plasticsglobal giant The Dow ChemicalCompany, which is based inMidland, Michigan. He suc-ceeded William Stavropoulos, a

friend and mentor (also listhere), in 2004 and becameChairman of the Board in 2006.

Dow today has $60 billion inannual sales and 52,000 em-ployees world-wide. Thoughthe company has faced a declinein its stock prices in recent years,Liveris has been generouslycompensated as Chairman. In2010 alone, according to Forbes’list of top CEO’s compensation,he earned $10.41 million in to-tal compensation, bringing hisfive-year earnings as CEO to $41million. According to CNNMoney, a stock price upswingbetween 2009 and 2010 paid offwhen the stock options providedto him by Dow increased invalue to the tune of $15 million.

The Board of Directors nom-inated Liveris as a force to di-versify the company. Among hisimportant moves was acquiringspecialty chemical companyRohm and Haas for $16.2 billionin 2008.

He is a firm believer in in-centives for increasing manufac-turing in the US again. He evenwrote –and frequently speaksabout – his 2011 book Make itin America on that topic. Amongthe products that the new Dowaims to make in America arenew products, often with an en-vironmentally-friendly or re-search-based core, such as solarshingles for homes. In June2011, President Obama namedhim co-chair of an AdvancedManufacturing Partnership,which aims to pool the effortsof industry, schools and the gov-ernment for innovation in fieldslike information technology,biotechnology, and nanotechnol-ogy.

He also aligned himself in2011 with the president and bil-lionaire Warren Buffett alike incalling for higher taxation ratesfor millionaires like himself.

Liveris has been at Dow for35 years, working since he firststarted off in Australia in 1976,in the areas of manufacturing,engineering, sales, marketing,and business and general man-agement. Much of this time heworked in Asia, including 14years in Hong Kong. He hasserved as general manager forDow in Thailand, and presidentof all Asia-Pacific operations. Hehas been a member of Dow'sBoard of Directors since Febru-ary 2004, and was named CEOin November 2004. He waselected as Chairman of theBoard effective April 1, 2006.

The Dow CEO/Chairmanwith roots in Kastellorizo,Greece was born in Darwin, Aus-tralia. As he told students in alecture in 2005, his grandfatherwas a Greek sailor who madethe impromptu decision to stayin Darwin, after traveling thereon a merchant ship at the startof the 20th century. Andrew Liv-eris attended the University ofQueensland in Brisbane, gradu-ating with a bachelor's degree(first-class honors) in ChemicalEngineering, and was awardedthe University Medal for thatyear. In 2005, he received anhonorary doctorate in sciencefrom the school.

The Greek-Australian sits onthe board of directors of IBM,and is vice chairman of the Busi-ness Council, and a vice chair ofthe Business Roundtable. Heserves as president and chair-man of the Board of the Inter-national Council of Chemical As-sociations. He is a member ofthe U.S. President's ExportCouncil, the US-India CEO Fo-rum, the Peterson Institute forInternational Economics, andthe American Australian Associ-ation. He serves on the board oftrustees for The Herbert H. andGrace A. Dow Foundation, US-CIB, and Tufts University.

Liveris is a Chartered Engi-neer and a Fellow of The Insti-tute of Chemical Engineers, aswell as a Fellow of the Aus-tralian Academy of Technologi-cal Sciences and Engineering. In2011 alone he received awardsfrom the Committee for Eco-nomic Development, the UnitedStates Council for InternationalBusiness (USCIB) and the YaleChief Executive Leadership In-stitute. He was appointed Inau-gural Chair of The University ofQueensland in America Founda-tion in 2011.

Last month, he was pre-sented with the distinguishedArchbishop Iakovos Leadership100 Award for Excellence.

Liveris resides in Midland, MIwith his wife Paula and theyhave three adult children.

www.dow.com

47.MANUEL N.STAMATAKIS*$50 MILLION INSURANCE,REAL ESTATE

Manuel “Manny” N. Sta-matakis, 63, is Founder, Chair-man and CEO of Valley Forge,Pennsylvania-based CapitalManagement Enterprises(CME), one of the country’sleading employee benefits con-sulting company. Prominent inPhiladelphia civic life, he isnoted for his role in negotiatingboth the rescue and revitaliza-tion of the city’s historic ship-yard and the creation of DrexelUniversity’s College of Medicine.

When it came to the insur-ance business, he credits his suc-cess to knowing the details ofthe business inside and out andhaving the following rule ofthumb: “Find the smartest peo-ple in that business and spendas much time with them as pos-sible.”

Second-generation GreekStamatakis was raised inCanonsburg, PA in what he callsa lower middle class household.Parents Marsha and Nicholashailed from Karpathos andRhodes islands, and he creditshis Yiayia for teaching himabout saving, from the coins heearned shining shoes at the localcoffeehouse.

A scholarship student and fra-ternity president, he studied in-dustrial engineering at PennState. After graduation in 1969,however, he was more interested

in pursuing a part-time job in in-surance than his engineeringwork. Together with a partner,he founded his first company,Stamritt, Inc., before launchingStamatakis and Associates in1972, a company he folded intoCME in the 1980s. He also cre-ated with a group of colleagues,First Financial Resources in the1980s, a producers’ group with100 offices nation-wide.

His insurance work first fo-cused on individual retirementplans, before shifting into exec-utive compensation and estateplanning. In most recentdecades, CME specializes in thelucrative business of group in-surance and benefits consulting.He prides himself on saving cor-porate clients millions.

Stamatakis has been in-volved, since age 26, in real es-tate development projects. He iscurrently involved in a casinoplan for Philadelphia.

On the civic side, he has beenextensively involved in variousways in shaping the public lifeand business environment ofPhiladelphia and Pennsylvania.In 1995 Governor Tom Ridgeasked him to chair the Pennsyl-vania IMPACCT Commission,which was charged with findingways to trim government spend-ing in Pennsylvania. The Com-mission identified over $5 bil-lion dollars in potential savingsHe then chaired the DelawareRiver Port Authority (DRPA) be-tween 1996 and 2003. He waspivotal in the effort to restorePhiladelphia as a major ship-building center, helping to cre-ate a partnership with the Com-monwealth of PA, the City ofPhiladelphia and the FederalGovernment to build the newestand most modern Commercialshipbuilding facility in theUnited States. He tells the TNH:“We brought in a world-classshipbuilding company from Nor-way to run the Yard and theyare currently undertaking theconstruction of the 17th and18th ocean going commercialship at the Yard, representingmore than 50% of all such shipsbuilt in the entire United Statessince 2000..” He is currently onthe boards of Aker PhiladelphiaShipyard and the PhiladelphiaShipyard Development Corpo-ration (Chairman).

He chaired, for 13 years, theDrexel University College ofMedicine, an institution that hewas involved in helping to cre-ate out of two ailing local med-



ical institutions. He remains onthe boards of both Drexel andits College of Medicine. TheManuel Stamatakis EndowmentScholarship for medical studentshas raised $2.5 million forDrexel’s future doctors throughgolf tournaments for students.(He is an avid golfer).

He serves on numerousboards, including serving aschairman of the GreaterPhiladelphia Tourism MarketingCorporation, the PhiladelphiaShipyard Development Corpora-tion and the PennsylvaniaSupreme Court Investment Ad-visory Board. He is on the boardof companies including CrowleyChemical Corporation and Mis-tras Group, Inc. to name but afew. He has, since the 1980s,raised “tens of millions,” accord-ing to Stamatakis, for Republi-can campaign fundraising, in-cluding the Presidentialcampaigns of former NYC MayorRudy Giuliani and PresidentGeorge W. Bush.

A few of his distinctions in-clude an honorary Doctorate ofBusiness from the Drexel Col-lege of Business and the Ameri-can Heart Association’s 2010Heart of Philadelphia award.

w w w. c m e - g r o u p . c o m ,www.phi l lysh ipyard .com,www.visitphilly.com

48.CAT CORA*$40 MILLION CULINARY,TELEVISION

Cat Cora, 44, is best knownfor becoming, in 2005, the firstand only female Iron Chef onFood Network’s Iron Chef Amer-ica. She is an in-demand televi-sion and promotional figure, abest-selling author and head ofa multimillion-dollar mediarestaurant, food product andcookware line. CNN Moneyplaced her businesses’ worth inJune 2011 at over $40 million.

Cora was born in Jackson,MI. Her grandfather (whosename was shortened from Kara-giozos at Ellis Island) and god-father Peter Costas ownedrestaurants. She drafted herown business plan for a restau-rant at age 15.

Cora studied Exercise Physi-ology and Biology at the Univer-sity of Southern Mississippi be-fore head to study– promptedby Julia Child at a book signing-at the Culinary Institute ofAmerica in New York. Shetrained under top chefs in NewYork and France. She was a souschef in New York before headingto California’s Napa Valley to be

the chef of Bistro Don Giovanni. Early on, Cora was a culinary

ambassador for Greek food inAmerica. Cora writes, in her firstcookbook Cat Cora’s Kitchen(2004) that returning to herfamily’s Skopelos home, she hada realization: “Every food on myaunt’s table was simple, authen-tic, and perfectly delicious – andeach had a place in my family’shistory. I belong to a line of peo-ple that stretches back hundredsof years, all of them sitting un-der these trees, tasting thesesame flavors. Suddenly itseemed as though my years oftraining to be a chef hadbrought me here, back to thistable, to learn how to bringthese flavors home.” Her othercookbooks are Cooking FromThe Hip: Fast, Easy, PhenomenalMeals and Classics With a Twist:Fresh Takes on Favorite Dishes.Last year she also released herfirst children’s book, SuitcaseSurprise for Mommy, whichhelps youngsters whose Mom orDad have to travel. She is a con-tributing food & lifestyle editorfor O, Oprah Winfrey’s maga-zine.

The charismatic chef first ap-peared on TV in 1999, as co-host of Food Network’s MeltingPot with Rocco Di Spirito.Among her many appearancesare hosting My Country MyKitchen: Greece, Date Plate andco-hosting Kitchen Accom-plished. She currently co-hostsBravo’s new reality seriesAround the World in 80 Plates,which follows 12 chefs compet-ing in a culinary race across 10countries in 44 days.

Her restaurant biz is growingrapidly. In 2008, she partneredwith Macy’s to open Cat Cora’sQue (CCQ), a casual barbeque

restaurant. In 2009, Cora part-nered with Disney to openKouzinna by Cat Cora at Dis-ney’s Board Walk Resort, whichfeatures Mediterranean andGreek favorites. In 2011, sheopened Cat Cora’s Kitchen, withlocations in the Virgin Terminal2 at San Francisco InternationalAirport and the George Bush In-tercontinental Airport in Hous-ton, TX. A Cat Cora CocktailLounge and Tapas and GourmetWorld Market will follow at SaltLake City International Airportas a part of a deal with HojeijBranded Foods.

In 2011, the savvy cheflaunched an eco-friendly line ofStarfrit cookware and a line ofGreek company Gaea’s olive oils,vinegar, cooking sauces, tape-nades and olives. She also hasline of California wines underthe Coranation label.

Cora devotes a good part ofher time and energy to nonprofitChefs For Humanity, created in2004 in response to the tsunamidisaster in Indonesia. This not-for-profit organization has part-nered with Share Our Strengthas well as the World Food Pro-gramme to provide nutrition ed-ucation and hunger relief world-wide. Cora and spouse JenniferCora live in Santa Barbara, CAwith their four young sons.

www.catcora.com

48.TINA FEY*$40 MILLION TELEVISION,FILM

One of the highest-paidwomen in television in2010/2011 was none other thanMs. Bossypants herself, Eliza-beth Stamatina “Tina” Fey, 41.Her trajectory in show businesswas no given, as she broke intocomedy first as a member of theChicago improvisational comedygroup The Second City beforegetting her big break in NewYork City. She put her comedicknack and writing to work as awriter for NBC sketch comedyseries Saturday Night Live (SNL)from 1997 to 2006. Her witlifted her to the top of that male-dominated organization – andshe became the first female headwriter in 1999, as well as a per-former starting in 2000 through2005. At SNL, she gave her owntwist on current events as a co-anchor of the Weekend Updatenews segment. Life imitated art– and vice-versa – as she createdNBC TV show 30 Rock, whichwas inspired by her own SNLexperience. Fey also made apowerful stamp on American

politics with her guest appear-ance back at SNL with a spot-on impersonation of vice presi-dential candidate Sarah Palin in2008. New York magazine re-ported that at SNL, Fey wasmaking $1.5 million/year, whileForbes indicated that she earned$13 million as producer andhead writer for 30 Rock in20010/2011, including her booksales. The previous year, hersalary was listed as $7.5 millionby the same publication.

Again, Fey’s turn to autobi-ography paid off for her, finan-cially, as her book of autobio-graphical, self-deprecatinganecdotes, Bossypants, sold amillion copies. (The New YorkTimes estimated her advance forthat book was at $5 million.) In-cluded are tales of her life grow-ing up in Upper Darby, Pennsyl-vania, with plenty of referencesto both the Greek and Germansides within her (from hermother and German/Scottish fa-ther, respectively). She talks inthe book too of feeling verymuch a minority in college atUniversity of Virginia, but al-ways completely at home in theworld of theater people.

Fey has written or starred infilm comedies including MeanGirls, Baby Mama, Date Nightand Megamind, to name a few.

Her television work has paidoff in seven Emmy Awards,three Golden Globe Awards,four Screen Actors Guild Awardsand four Writers Guild of Amer-ica Awards.

Since 2007, Forbes, the NewYork Post, Time, People andother media sources agree intheir listings that Fey is one ofthe most influential peoplearound.

She is married to composer

and producer Jeff Richmondand has two daughters.

48.JAMES N.GIANOPULOS*$40 MILLION MOVIEINDUSTRY

James N. Gianopulos, akaJim Gianopulos, 59, is a co-chairman-CEO of Fox FilmedEntertainment, with interna-tional hits under his watch in-cluding multi-billion-makingAvatar and Titanic.

His father arrived in Americain the 1950’s and ran a marineand industrial equipment man-ufacturing business. Born inBrooklyn, Gianopoulos went onto study at Boston University,New York's Fordham LawSchool, and New York UniversitySchool of Law. Before specializ-ing in entertainment law, how-ever, he spent a summer work-ing on a tanker and travelingthe world.

If he was in the news in 2011fighting for anti-piracy legisla-tion, his career in the entertain-ment began protecting the copy-right privileges of members ofthe American Society of Com-posers, Authors & Publishers(ASCAP). He went on to workat RCA/Columbia Pictures Inter-national Video and infunding/distribution for Para-mount’s international pay TV.

In 1992, he was hired by Foxto run its international TV andworldwide pay TV. He was pres-ident of Twentieth Century FoxInternational from 1994 to2000, before being appointedco-chairman along with TomRothman in 2000. “Gianopulosis a virtual unknown in Holly-wood,” wrote the San FranciscoChronicle at the time. But by2007, Premiere counted themamong the most powerful peo-ple in Hollywood.

Gianopulos was given the ti-tle of Chief Executive Officer in2006 at Fox too. In 2009, he andTom Rothman, were also ap-pointed to oversee News Corpo-ration’s Los Angeles-based cre-ative production divisions,including the film and televisionstudios. They manage allfilm/TV production and market-ing and global distributionthrough all outlets and markets,including all the new high-techmeans.

Though recent years and thespread of streaming and piracyhave seen declines in Hollywoodbox office profits, the Gianopu-los/Rothman team had – by2006 overseen 20 movies thatproduced over $100 million do-

mestically and 26 movies thatearned $100 million internation-ally. The Simpsons Movie, theX-Men series, The Devil WearsPrada, the Star Wars Trilogy, theIce Age series and Fox Search-light Pictures more “arthouse”successes like Slumdog Million-aire and Sideways were amongthe successes. Director JamesCameron's Avatar cost the studio$380 million, but earned $2.7billion worldwide.

Gianopoulos, referring withpride to a “Greek Mafia” in Hol-lywood, makes sure that all ofHellenic Hollywood’s starsgather at his annual Easter party.He is a Governor of the Acad-emy of Motion Picture Arts &Sciences, a member of the Boardof the Motion Picture & Televi-sion Fund, and a trustee of theAmerican Film Institute.

Gianopoulos also serves onthe National Entertainment Ad-visory Council for the Anti-

Defamation League and TheBrady Center. He is on the X-Foundation Board of Trustees.He also has served on HonoraryCommittees for The FulfillmentFund, The City of Hope and theMultiple Sclerosis Society forwhich he was the 2001 honoree,The Help Group, which honoredhim with its HumanitarianAward in 2005, the Alliance forLupus Research and others. Hehas been a member and sup-porter of the Army ArcherdFund's Board and on the Advi-sory Council of the Rett Syn-drome Research Trust.

He resides in Los Angeleswith his wife Ann and theirthree daughters, Mimi (an up-and-coming actress), Alexa, andNiki.

www.foxmovies.com

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By Ben FellerAP White HouseCorrespondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — This isthe economy election, right? Tellthat to the world.

President Barack Obama isgetting another dose of the re-ality of his job: the out-of-his-control events that shapewhether he will keep it.

He is lobbying Israel not tolaunch on attack on Iran thatcould set the Middle East on fireand pull the United States intoanother war. He is struggling toget world powers to unite onhalting a massacre in Syria. Heis on the defensive about stayingin Afghanistan after a U.S. sol-dier allegedly went on a killingspree against civilians.

And back home, where theeconomy is king, everyone istalking about the price of gaso-line. Which, as Obama can't sayenough, no one can controlright now.

The Republican presidentialcandidates don't have to worryas much about all this becausethey don't have the responsibil-ity of governing — a luxuryObama likes to note, althoughhe enjoyed the same when hewas the challenger. The Repub-licans, though, are being drawninto events beyond their pre-ferred message of the day.

For Obama, whose re-elec-tion bid looks rosier with everygood month of job creation, thepolitical risk in the least is thathe gets knocked off message.That happened Monday whenObama and the White Housespent a lot of effort trying to fo-cus on energy, but the dominantnews was the horrific rampagein Afghanistan.

Americans have turnedagainst the war in Afghanistan,with most of them saying thefight isn't worth it anymore.

The bigger worry for Obamais that all the outside eventsconspire to sour the publicmood, give people more toworry about and create anopening for Republicans to chal-lenge his leadership. Just be-cause presidents may not beable to control problems doesnot mean they don't get blamedfor them.

"There are so many of themnow, and dire ones," said Bar-bara Perry, a scholar of the

American presidency at the Uni-versity of Virginia's Miller Cen-ter.

"People may not care muchabout what Israel is doing, oreven what Iran is doing, butgiven American dependence onMideast oil, that has a direct im-pact on the pocketbook. Dothese things inevitably have animpact on the campaign? Ab-solutely, because they will be thequestions put to the presidentialcandidates."

As one example, the price atthe pump carries political riskfor Obama, who is taking apounding over the issue in thepolls.

The average price for a gal-lon of gasoline is now about$3.80, the highest ever for thistime of year. The White Housesays anyone suggesting a quickfix is lying to voters. Instead,Obama pushes energy explo-ration across the board and re-minds folks he championed apayroll tax cut that kept moneyin their pockets.

That doesn't offer as muchelection-year satisfaction for thetypical commuter.

"The reality is that the oilprices and the gas prices that wepay here in the United States areset on the global market," Inte-rior Secretary Ken Salazar toldreporters Monday. "We don't setthem, and we don't control them.This president and this Congresscan't control those prices."

Clearly. Obama has gottenused to this dynamic.

Good news has come beforeon the economy, only to be suf-focated by outside events. Justa few months ago, Obama at-tributed a slowing economy tothe Japanese tsunami, the ArabSpring and the European debtcrisis (not to mention his uglyshowdown with Congress overa near-government default).

Now sizable job growth hastaken hold by the month, butthat pattern is hardly assuredthrough Election Day. Obamastill has a wary eye on Europe'seconomic stability, a slowdown

in China could undermine theUnited States, and the turmoilsurrounding Iran and Israel thatcould further jolt gas prices and,perhaps, lead to war.

It was a telling sign whenObama held his first news con-ference of the year last weekand got not one question on theeconomy writ large. The focuswas on the threat of a preemp-tive Israeli attack on Iran's nu-clear sites. Now the attention isback on the Afghanistan war asObama warns against a hastyretreat.

So it goes for presidents.The big problems of the day

are covered by the media, eval-uated by pollsters and viewedwithin the election context.

Still, the general electioncampaign is expected to comedown to which contender hasbetter answers for people look-ing for a job, a better career, away to keep their house, a senseof security.

"The three most important is-sues of the election are the econ-

omy, the economy and the econ-omy," Obama campaign adviserRobert Gibbs said.

Indeed, an Associated Press-GfK poll of issues last monthfound 91 percent of people saidthe economy was highly impor-tant to them. Obama's team saysthe choice for voters is aboutrestoring American security forall or going back to a free-for-

all approach that led to the cri-sis. Republicans say he's failedto lead.

The White House isn't out tomake this election about foreignpolicy, but Gibbs said "I don'tthink it hurts" if the conversa-tion turns that way.

Obama has a story to tell onthe killing of Osama bin Laden,the ending of the war in Iraq,the squeezing of Iran throughsanctions.

The direction of the war inAfghanistan has been on thatlist too. But now it's a question,and Obama has to answer.

Afghanistan is raging withanti-Americanism after U.S.troops burned Qurans lastmonth and, over the weekend,a soldier allegedly killed 16Afghan civilians and burnedmany of the bodies.

Obama was questionedabout the horrific incident bytelevision reporters from aroundthe nation. They had been in-vited to the White House to talkabout energy, but they pushedhim on when the U.S. will begetting out of Afghanistan too.Obama said the United Statesmust not rush to the exits.

So the timetable remains: theend of 2014, at the latest, forAmericans to get out of a com-bat role in Afghanistan.

And this one: a little undernine months left for any issuein the world to rock Obama's re-election bid.

White House CorrespondentBen Feller has covered the Oba-ma and George W. Bush presi-dencies for The AssociatedPress. AP Deputy Director ofPolling Jennifer Agiesta con-tributed to this report.


By Angelike ContisTNH Staff Writer

When it comes to the upcom-ing 2012 US Presidential elec-tions, the Greek-American com-munity is split – all the way upto its wealthiest one percent.

In Republican camps, formerMassachussetts Gov. Mitt Rom-ney has the active support ofJohn Catsimatidis, who ralliedsupport around the candidatewith a $1,000-$2,500/personprivate lunch with Romney onMarch 14 at the Waldorf Astoriain Manhattan. Meanwhile, a$1,000 breakfast fund-raiserwill be held for Romney at theStockton, California home ofAlex Spanos on March 27. Who-ever wins the Republican nomi-nation can rely on California-based George Argyros forsupport; he may have providedNew Gingrich’s American Solu-tions advocacy group in previ-ous years, he has appeared onthe guest list of at least one Cal-ifornia fundraiser for Romney.

New Jersey-based MistrasGroup CEO Sotirios Vahavioloswould like a combination Re-publican candidate. He ex-plained: “I want Newt Gingrichideas and Romney to run them!It does not exist, so like the Ro-mans ‘dum spiro spero’ ……which means …. ‘while I ambreathing I hope…..’” In Novem-ber, Philadelphia Republicanfundraiser (and Mistras boardmember) Manny Stamatakis

told TNH Rick Perry was his toppick.

Meanwhile, President BarackObama can count on the sup-port of attorney and BaltimoreOrioles owner Peter Angelos. Hetold TNH: “I'll be very involvedin supporting the President…Ipredict President Obama will beelected and I intend to con-tribute to that effort.”

Hedge fund expert JamesChanos, who was on the list of

major fundraisers released byObama in February, cautiouslyagrees: “The president is mostlikely to be reelected…I thinkthat would have been unheardof last summer.” The short sellernotes: “there are still ten monthsto go and that can be a long,long time. I think the US econ-omy is actually beginning to im-prove, quite frankly and that canhelp the president.”

Chartwell Hotel’s George

Tsunis also told TNH, “mostpeople would consider me a na-tional democrat leading theGreek-American effort on behalfof Obama-Biden.”

Technology pioneer andWashington Capitals owner TedLeonsis may have donated toObama in the past, but in Sep-tember, he blogged angrily, inrelation to the president’s callfor more taxation of the wealthy.In the piece, Leonsis outlined

his own modest Brooklyn begin-nings and climb to the top, butsaid to the president: “And sinceyou have never worked beforein a real job for a real company,you need help from people whohave been there. Don’t pushthem away!” Leonsis was notavailable to the TNH for com-ment on his current stance onObama’s campaign. He raged,“I have maxed out on personaldonations to his re-election cam-

paign,” before slamming Obamafor seeking $1 billion. He wrote:“It blows my mind when I amasked for money as a donationat the same time I am gettingblasted as being a bad guy!”

Fox CEO Jim Gianopulos wasalso unhappy with the Leaderin Chief after he failed to backstronger anti-piracy legislationin January. He was quoted intrade magazine Variety as say-ing: “I have been a very earlyand ardent supporter of thepresident, but I couldn't say atthis time that I am very enthu-siastic about providing support.If you went to Detroit and said,'I think the Japanese build bettercars,' I don't think you wouldfeel a wellspring of support if,as a candidate for office, youwent there for fund-raisers thenext week."

In Hollywood, however,Obama may still count on thesupport of actress Rita Wilson,whose husband, actor TomHanks, provides the voice-overof an Obama infomercial. Andthe Tsakopoulos real estate fam-ily may repeat their support ofObama from the 2008 election.

Some of the wealthy, how-ever, insist of neutrality. Aspokeswoman for the Pete Pe-terson Foundation said, for in-stance of Pete Peterson, “he isnot endorsing any candidate orparty. The Foundation is strictlynon-partisan and does not en-dorse candidates as a matter ofpolicy.”

Investing in the 2012 Election

income, equity and futuresproducts. “We have one of thetop ten global futures groupshere at Mizuho,” notes Koudou-nis. Mizuho Securities USA isone of only 21 firms recognizedby the Federal Reserve as a Pri-mary Dealer of US Treasuries.He had previously been a seniorexecutive at ABN AMRO andMerrill Lynch.

JOHN T. LYKOURETZOS isa Founder and Portfolio Man-ager at Manhattan-based Ho-plite Capital Management, afirm launched in 2003 that mayhave $2 billion under manage-ment. Between 1999 and 2003he was an Industrials Analystand Financial Services Analystand Portfolio Manager at VikingGlobal Investors, LLC, and be-fore that, worked as an Indus-trials Analyst at Tiger Manage-ment Corporation. Hepreviously was a Financial Ana-lyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co. AYale University (1995) graduate,he is Co-Chair of the Tiger Foun-dation, serves on the Board ofthe Yale Football Alumni Com-mittee and is on the board ofdirectors of iMentor.

HARRY WILSON was only36 when he left a lucrative ca-reer as a partner at hedge fundSilverpoint Capital (and beforethat, Blackstone Group and

Goldman Sachs) to turn his at-tention to the public sphere. Heapplied his management and fi-nancial experience to positionswithin the U.S. Treasury Depart-ment and President BarackObama's Auto Industry TaskForce, leading a team in 2009that shaped policy decisions toreenergize the country’s imper-iled auto industry. While in2010, the Republican had anunsuccessful bid for New YorkState Comptroller, he has poten-tial in the public and/or privatesectors with his expertise in re-structuring troubled companiesand industries.

Four Future ‘50’?

Greek-American leaders are lined up behind both President Obama and Republican candidates including Mitt Romney ahead ofthe November elections.

Analysis: Obama tested by events outside control

Harry Wilson


All eyes are on the economy as the 2012 presidential election approaches. Trader John Bishop works on the floor of the NewYork Stock Exchange on March 13.

ap photo/riChard drew

Our annual

Easter Special

D O N ’ T M I S S

APRIL 14, 2012

Members of the community who wish to send an Eastergreeting are welcome to place an ad.

To advertise or to obtain rates:tel: (718) 784-5255 ext. 101,

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Like so many Greek American families, the Rangos family feels

Truly blessed for having the good fortune to be in America,

Where Greek Americans have had ample opportunity to thrive

Under a system which helps people achieve many good things

For their families, their communities and themselves.

That’s why we echo our earlier message, and that of the

National Herald, to answer the call to help the people of Greece

Get through this immensely difficult period of trial and misery.

As Greek Americans and people of Orthodox Christian faith,

We must have a heightened sense of human responsibility

Toward our brothers and sisters overseas, now at the mercy of

Forces they are unable to withstand, so we urge all Greek

Americans to contact IOCC, AHEPA, the Church of Greece

Or any other charitable organization willing to help Greece.

The Rangos Foundation actively supports various institutions and programs which benefit education, healthcare and humanitarian causes all over the world

ENRICHING MINDSDuquesne University - The Rangos School of Health Sciences

Carnegie Mellon University - CMU Information Networking Institute Cooperative Exchange with Athens Institute of Technology

Carnegie Science Center - The Rangos Omnimax Theater

ADVANCING HEALTHCAREChildren’s Hospital of Pittsburgh - The John G. Rangos Sr. Research Center

and John G. Rangos - Massimo Trucco Diabetes CenterJohns Hopkins University - The John G. Rangos Sr. Life Sciences Building

and the John G. Rangos Sr. Professorship of Adult Medicine

ENHANCING LIVES AND PRESERVING HISTORYIOCC - International Orthodox Christian Charities

Congressional Medal of Honor Society - CMOH Foundation

youth of Anticythera

the 50 wealthiest · pdf filethe national herald, march 17, 2012 50 wealthiest greeks in...

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