BUSINESS AND PHILANTHROPY

Richard Fields acts as the current chairman of Coastal Development LLC, which sponsors and develops entertainment venues, resort properties, and casino gaming services. Through the company, Fields was able to form the Seminole Hard Rock Casino and Hotel in Hollywood, California and Tampa, Florida in early 2004, which are said to be some of the most sought after resorts in the US.

With the success of his business, he was able to contribute to the community through the Fields Family Foundation, a community-giving organization that he established to help out other aid groups including the American Quarter Horse Foundation, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Good Shepherd Services. The group also promotes the University of Rochester Medical Center, which aims to fight muscular dystrophy.

HORSERACING AND RANCHING

Apart from business and philanthropy, Richard Fields is the owner of a ranching company called Jackson Rand Land of Cattle, a company situated in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

He was also the largest investor of a Massachusetts-based thoroughbred racetrack called Suffolk Downs in 2007, the iconic racetrack in New England that opened in 1935 and hosted horse Hall of Famers like Cigar, Whirlaway and Seabiscuit. He aims to expand into another casino resort and entertainment establishment pending gambling laws in the state.

In his spare time, Fields rides horses and is a horse sports enthusiast. Since he is the owner of Jackson Land and Cattle, he participates in horse competitions, particularly the western-style horse event called cutting, a timed horse riding competition wherein the rider and his horse work their way to cut one cow away from a whole herd.

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He was born on the 6th of July 1946 in New Haven, Connecticut.

George Bush is the eldest among four siblings, namely Dorothy, Marvin, Neil, and Jeb.

He and his siblings were raised by their parents, Barbara and George H.W. Bush, in Midland and Houston, Texas. George W. Bush is the grandson of the former US Senator from Connecticut, Prescott Bush. His father was the 41st President of the United States.

George Bush finished his high school at a boarding school in Andover, Massachusetts, the Phillips Academy.

During his high school days, George Bush was a baseball player and in his senior year, he served as the head cheerleader. After graduation, George Bush proceeded to finish a degree in history at the prestigious Yale University.

While working to finish his bachelor of arts in history degree, he became a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon. He was elected to become the president of the fraternity before graduating.

Apart from this, George Bush also became a member of the Skull and Bones Society during his senior year in college.

In 1973, George Bush started attending the prestigious Harvard Business School to earn his MBA degree. George W. Bush remains as the only American president to have received an MBA.

After receiving his MBA degree, George Bush worked for his family’s oil business.

Before he ventured into the political field, George Bush married Laura Welch in 1977. In 1994, George Bush won in the Texas gubernatorial election.

His victory came after he became a co-owner of the Texas Rangers baseball. Prior to winning in the US presidential elections, George Bush served as the 46th Governor of Texas.

Nowadays, he serves as a public speaker and keeps himself busy by writing a book about his presidency.

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Prior to serving under current US President Barack Obama, Timothy Geithner was the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Timothy Geithner’s current position leaves him in charge of directing the Federal Government’s budget during the recent 2007-2010 financial crisis. This includes the allotment of the $350 billion budget for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Timothy Geithner continued to get involved with a variety of high visibility issues such as the Obama administration’s attempts to speed up the recovery of the country’s automobile industry and the mortgage market, its plans to restructure the regulation of the county’s financial system, as well as the current US administration’s tax changes and foreign relations.

In addition to his duties as a civil servant, Timothy Geithner also holds several memberships. He is a member of the Center for Global Development Board of Directors as well as the Council on Foreign Relations.

He is also a trustee of the Economic Club of New York, as well as a chairman of the Bank for International Settlements’ committee on payment and settlement systems.

Timothy Geithner was born in New York City on the 18th of August 1961.

However, Timothy Geithner spent most of his earlier years growing up in several other countries such as Thailand, India, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In fact, he completed his high school years at the International School Bangkok in Thailand.

After finishing his secondary education in Thailand, Timothy Geithner went on to finish his Bachelor of Arts degree at Dartmouth College.

Finally in 1983, Timothy Geithner received his AB degree in government and Asian studies from the same school. In addition to this, he also studied Mandarin at the Peking University two years before his graduation from Dartmouth.

Afterwards, he proceeded to earn an MA in international economics and East Asian studies at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

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Finland and Estonia see web access as a component of a civilized society. Those countries’ governments have established internet use as a human right for their citizens, the BBC reported this week.

And most Britons polled by the news agency – 80 percent of respondents – said that they agreed with the assertion that the internet should be a fundamental right for all people.

Here in the States, the Federal Communications Commission is working to bring high-speed internet access to more of the country. People in rural areas, specifically, would benefit from the FCC’s proposal to modify the Universal Service Fund to provide financing for broadband subsidies.

The USF was created to subsidize voice coverage for rural dwellers, but, as the Associated Press reported Saturday, the shift to digital communication is rendering it obsolete.

In some areas, only one broadband provider would be granted subsidies under the modified USF – news that could bode well for internet companies in rural parts of the country.

But internet providers have been chafing against a proposal called "net neutrality" that would prevent them from regulating the content, platforms or sites their customers access.

Some, like University of Michigan law professor Susan Crawford, argue that net neutrality "provides the widest possible encouragement of business activity," but others allege that the enactment of a net neutrality law would undermine providers’ business model.

No final regulations have been released on the issue of net neutrality, but a framework could be provided in a FCC report on national broadband coverage that will be released on March 17.

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Robert Gates was a straight A student at the Wichita East High School.

After graduating in 1961, Robert Gates went to finish his studies at the College of William and Mary as a scholar. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in History in 1965.

During his days in William and Mary, Robert Gates was actively involved in the national service fraternity, the Alpha Phi Omega.

Apart from being the president of that fraternity, Robert Gates was also affiliated with the Young Republicans, an organization for the members of the United States Republican Party.

Additionally, Robert Gates also spent his college days as the business manager for the school’s literary and art magazine, the William and Mary Review. Upon his graduation from college, Robert Gates became the recipient of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan award. He was named as the graduate that “has made the greatest contribution to his fellow man.”

After finishing his BA, Robert Gates went on to pursue an MA in History at the Indiana University.

A few years later, in 1974, he completed his doctorate degree in Russian and Soviet History at the prestigious Georgetown University and in 1998, Robert Gates received a Doctor of Humane Letters from his alma mater, the College of William & Mary.

Robert Gates currently serves as the United States’ 22nd Secretary of Defense. He had been in the position since the 18th of December 2006. Before Robert Gates held this position, he worked for the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency for a total of more than 25 years.

Apart from this, Gates also worked as the Director of Central Intelligence during the Bush administration, and was likewise an officer in the United States Air Force.

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BACKGROUND

Peter Peterson was born to Greek immigrant parents in Kearney, Nebraska. His father put up and manned a diner in 1923, following the changing of his name from Georgios Petropoulos to George Peterson.

Peterson earned his undergraduate degree as a summa cum laude from Northwestern University in 1947. One year later, he was employed at Market Facts, a market research business in Chicago. By 1951, before going back to the company as its executive vice president, he received his Master’s degree from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Peter Peterson is currently married to one of the creators of the famous children’s television show Sesame Street, Joan Ganz Cooney, who is also the stepmother of his five kids.

CAREER

From 1963 to 1971 and from 1973 to 1984, he served as the chief executive officer and chairman of Bell & Howell and Lehman Brothers, respectively. Before that, in 1953, he was in Chicago, serving as a director of the McCann Erickson advertising agency.

In 2006, the Smithsonian Institution’s Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars gave Peter Peterson the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship. It was also that year when he was chosen as a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Peterson retired from being the chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations on June 30th 2007 and became a founding partner of the private equity business Blackstone Group.

A year later, he was recognized as the 149th richest person in America, after reaching a net worth of $2.8 billion at the Forbes 400. That same year, he formed The Peter G. Peterson Foundation, contributing $1 billion in endowment.

Some of his writings include:

• “Old Habits must change,” on the January 3rd 2005 issue of The Banker.
• “You Can’t Take It with You,” on the April 7th 2008 issue of Newsweek.
• “Why I’m Giving Away $1 Billion,” on the May 30th 2009 issue of Newsweek.

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BACKGROUND

Born in New York City, NY, Robert Rubin earned his summa cum laude in 1960 at Harvard College, majoring in economics. After accomplishing his undergraduate degree, he proceeded to the London School of Economics and later in 1964, got his LLB from Yale Law School.

CAREER

From 1964 to 1966, he was one of the attorneys at the Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton law firm in New York City. Robert Rubin left the firm and became an associate at Goldman Sachs in 1966. At that time, he was assigned to the risk arbitrage department. By 1971, he became one of the firm’s general partners. In 1980, he became part of the elite management committee, together with Jon Corzine, a fellow Democratic politician who later served as a senator from New Jersey. From 1987 to 1990, he served as the firm’s co-chief operating officer and vice chairman; and from 1990 to 1992, he served as its co-chairman and senior partner.

While carrying out his services in the private sector, he functioned as one of the board of directors of the Harvard Management Company, the New York Stock Exchange, the New York Futures Exchange, the Center for National Policy and the New York City Partnership.

He has also been in the board of trustees of the following:

• Mt. Sinai Hospital and Medical School
• Carnegie Corporation of New York
• US Securities and Exchange Commission Market Oversight and Financial Services Advisory Committee
• The Governor’s Council on Fiscal and Economic Priorities for the State of New York
• The Mayor of New York’s Council of Economic Advisers
• The President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations

At present, Robert Rubin is the Council on Foreign Relations vice chairman of the board of directors.

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BACKGROUND

Richard Li, born on November 8th 1966 in Hong Kong, is the son of Li Ka-Shing, touted as the wealthiest man in Asia, and the brother of Victor Li.

In 2009, Li’s girlfriend, Isabella Leong, who is a former singer in Hong Kong, gave birth to a son.

He is also a licensed dive master and pilot.

CAREER

Richard Li was primarily interested in the technology and media businesses in the 90s when he, only in his 20s at that time, saw the opportunity for the creative development of home entertainment and information services in Asia. Thus he formed STAR TV, the first satellite cable television service in Asia, which collected a view base of 45 billion in 1993. He then sold the company to News Corp, Rupert Murdoch’s business, and set out to establish Pacific Century group of companies, which includes PCCW Ltd.

Between the mid and late 90s, Li raised awareness of the contribution of technology in the economy in Hong Kong by developing Cyberport and collaborating with the corporate sector, and government and tertiary establishments to support the expansion and function of information technology in the HKSAR.

Li is a Global Information Infrastructure Commission and Center for Strategic and International Studies International Councilors Group member.

At home, Li takes part in the Chinese University of Hong Kong as a council member for the community. He is as well a Hong Kong Computer Society member.

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BACKGROUND

Born on January 18th 1963 as Theodore Waitt, he was born and raised in Sioux, Iowa and studied at the University of Iowa.

He currently lives with his family in La Jolla, California.

CAREER

Ted Waitt, together with Mike Hammond, formed Gateway 2000 on September 5th 1985, with a loan worth $10,000 secured by his grandmother. The company was primarily situated in his father’s cattle ranch in Sioux City, which they moved to Sergeant Bluff in Iowa and later to South Dakota’s North Sioux City. Here, the partners continued to grow their “down-home” branding, with computer boxes designed with white and black Holstein cow patterns.

From there, Waitt again moved the company to La Jolla, California by 1998. A year later, he made Jeffrey Weitzen the chief executive officer of the company, but in 2001 he returned for his position.

Following the acquisition of eMachines in 2004, Ted Waitt gave his position as chief executive and the daily operations of the company to Wayne Inouye, the former eMachine chief executive. After a year, he resigned from being chairman of Gateway, concluding almost 20 years of service to the company.

Wait has been on various Forbes lists, holding a rank on its 400 Richest in America and its World’s Billionaires. He has also been one of the magazine’s 40 Richest Under 40 rankings. Moreover, in 2008, he was on the 400 List for having a net worth of about $1.4 billion.

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BACKGROUND

William Niskanen holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University, as well as an economics Ph.D from the University of Chicago, which awarded him a lifetime professional service award.

CAREER

Niskanen also acted as Ford Motor Company’s director of economics, federal Office of Management and Budget’s assistant director, as well as the University of California, Los Angeles and Berkeley’s economics professor. He became RAND Corporation’s defense analyst, the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s director of special studies and the Institute of Defense Analysis Program Analysis division’s director.

William Niskanen is known for taking part in the writing of several public policy issues in trade, taxes, Social Security, regulation, federal budget policy, defense and corporate governance.

His book, called Bureaucracy and Representative Government, which was published in 1971, is regarded as a bestseller. It greatly made an impact on the public management field and challenged the public administration field. This book was reissued, with the new one featuring more essays and re-titled into Bureaucracy and Public Economics. He also has another book, the most recent one he wrote, called Reflections of a Political Economist: Selected Articles on Government Policies and Political Processes.

Niskanen attended various events. Among the recent ones he took part in include “The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution 1980-1989,” a book forum held last August 29th 2009 and “The Financial Fix – Limited Purpose Banking,” the June 8th 2009 policy forum. He was also at the “Back to Enron: Were the Wrong Lessons Learned for Corporate Governance and Energy Policy?” October 2008 book forum and the 25th Annual Monetary Conference Monetary Arrangements in the 21st Century last November 2007.

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