We also evaluate recent activity in public markets, consider the implications of Eurozone volatility, look at the changing global venture capital landscape and discover opportunities for companies thinking about entering the Indian market.
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 |  | | Terri Kelly: Heart of a pioneer, soul of a scientist | | | Pushing boundaries is something Terri Kelly knows all about. As the CEO of W.L. Gore & Associates, America’s most innovative company, Kelly recognizes that organizations work best when employees at all levels are free to test new ideas. The heir to a highly unconventional corporate ecosystem, Kelly is reinforcing critical core values while steering this $3B private global company toward more growth in areas as diverse as medical implants, filtration and fabrics. | |
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 | | | Alessandro Benetton: Bright ideas | | | Alessandro Benetton was just a baby when his father, Luciano, set up the Benetton Group in the Veneto region of Italy. Today, as the company’s 50th anniversary approaches, Alessandro, its new Chairman, is breathing new life into the Italian clothing retailer. Renowned for its vibrantly colored knitwear, this fashion industry giant now turns out more than 150 million garments a year sold through a network of 6,500 shops stretching across 120 countries. | |
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 | | | Jeffrey Sprecher: Crystal clear | | | Even when he was a kid, Jeffrey Sprecher knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur. The only question was what kind of business he would end up running. Now, as founder, Chairman and CEO of IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), he’s dominating the commodities, derivatives and energy exchange markets and making sure ICE is quick to adapt to changes in the financial services industry. | |
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 | | | Mikael Hed: To the moon and beyond | | | The phenomenal success of Angry Birds, a simple yet maddeningly addictive game, has meant a seismic shift for Rovio Entertainment and its CEO Mikael Hed. Ballooning from 12 employees when Angry Birds launched in December 2009 to more than 300 in 2011, the Finnish company now receives a steady stream of suitors while the internet buzzes with rumors of an IPO. | |
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| | Alexis Maybank and Alexandra Wilkis Wilson: Gold standard | | | It’s been a wild ride for these two friends who met at Harvard Business School. They’ve taken their company Gilt Groupe, an online fashion retailer, from a startup idea to US$500m in sales in five years, and with a recession smack in the middle. Meeting a series of hair-raising challenges in their company-building quest, Alexis and Alexandra are on an adventure that’s not only wildly successful but also rolls all their passions into one. | |
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 | | | Xavier López Ancona: Playing to win | | | Xavier López Ancona has made a success out of playing grown up. His children’s educational entertainment company, KidZania lets kids learn life skills while having fun by play-acting roles as journalists, cooks, painters, police officers and more in a miniature real-life world sponsored by some of the world’s best-known companies. He’s now expanding the Mexico-based franchise around the globe. | |
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 | | | Dov Moran: Fertile ground | | | Israeli technology entrepreneur Dov Moran is the king of reinvention. After some notable successes — the USB Flash Drive invention among them — Moran is currently supporting at least four start-up businesses. He takes a straightforward approach to innovation: spot a problem, then think of the simplest way to solve it. Technology fuels his imagination; Israel’s renowned start-up culture serving as a perfect catalyst. | |
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 | | | Andreas Kaufmann: Picture perfect | | | Andreas Kaufmann embraced his passion for photography and his appetite for risk by investing in the iconic camera company Leica eight years ago. Today, as Chairman of its supervisory board, he has helped to cement the company’s reputation as one of the most exclusive camera brands in the world. | |
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 | | | Randa Ayoubi: Cartoon heroine | | | When Randa Ayoubi was ranked 12th in CEO Middle East magazine’s 100 Most Powerful Arab Women list in 2011, it was an achievement in itself. But even more impressive: Randa was the only businesswoman listed who neither climbed the corporate ladder to become CEO nor inherited a family business. As founder and CEO of 3D and computer graphics company Rubicon Group Holding, Randa has expanded her “edutainment” company from a small Jordanian start-up in 1994 to a global operation. | |
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 | | | When the time is right | | | Faced with continuing economic uncertainty and an increasingly stringent set of investor demands, companies must take extra care when it comes to timing an IPO. | |
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| | | Crisis containment | | | With seemingly endless problems in the Eurozone, how can multinational companies stay out of the reach of disaster? We offer some tips. | |
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| | | Cautious optimism | | | The sixth annual Ernst & Young Capital Confidence Barometer, which collected the views of 1,500 senior executives around the world, found conservatism is dictating M&A sentiment and buyers are proceeding with caution. | |
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| | | VC in bloom | | | A new Ernst & Young report takes a look at the current venture capital landscape and shows that China is on the verge of surpassing Europe as the world’s No.2 venture capital hub. | |
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| | | Built to last | | | Companies are increasingly putting sustainability at the heart of their business models. A new report looks at the six big trends to consider. | |
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