Even the world’s most successful business leaders and entrepreneurs can’t escape middle age. Wonder whose influence has waned? Who has continued to be an influencer?
Having achieved outsized success in their younger years, these movers and shakers are still at it. Just because they’re no longer on the Fortune 40 Under 40 list doesn’t mean they’re not still doing incredible things. Here’s what 12 alumni of our 40 Under 40 list are up to now.
Barry Silbert
Founder of the illiquid assets marketplace SecondMarket, Silbert has been bit by the cryptocurrency bug.
A decade into his successful stretch as CEO of SecondMarket, the digital currency enthusiast has stepped down to focus on the growing bitcoin business full-time. Named to the 2009 list, Silbert is now aiming to launch a regulated, U.S.-based bitcoin exchange. His new company, Bitcoin Opportunity Corp., invests in bitcoin-related startups like India-based, bitcoin payment-processor Unocoin.
Seth MacFarlane
Joker of all trades Seth MacFarlane never stopped drawing laughs after being named to both the 2009 and 2010 40 Under 40 lists, when he was feted for having created three animated TV series—Family Guy, American Dad, and The Cleveland Show.
Since making our list for the second time, in 2011 he released his first feature-length film, the hit comedy Ted (a sequel is planned for next year). MacFarlane has also hosted the Academy Awards and released another film, A Million Ways to Die in the West. Meanwhile, the first-ever crossover episode between his show Family Guy and The Simpsons aired last month.
Gina Bianchini
Named to the 2009 list, Bianchini co-founded the social network Ning with entrepreneur-turned-venture-capitalist Marc Andreessen. (The founder of Netscape, Andreessen made the 40 Under 40 list in both 2009 and 2010.)
In 2010 Bianchini left Ning to join her co-founder’s firm Andreessen Horowitz as an executive-in-residence, and a year later became head of another social network company called MightyBell. Later, she co-founded Sheryl Sandberg’s nonprofit Lean In.
G. Mike Mikan
Mikan made our list in 2010 as CFO at UnitedHealth Group, where he had previously been head of M&A. At that time, he was already a boardmember at Best Buy (BBY).
So it was no big surprise that after a healthy career at UnitedHealth, Mikan became Best Buy's interim CEO for a brief period in 2012. Following that 4-month stint (compared to his 14-year career at UnitedHealth Group, where he led more than 100 M&A transactions), he became president of the hedge fund ESL Investments Inc., where he still works today.
LeBron James
When basketball’s global superstar made the 40 Under 40 list in 2010, James’s business brand was thriving, but his likability had taken a big hit after moving to the Miami Heat. While there, he earned two championship rings and scored a number of new endorsement deals.
In the past year alone, James made a reported $30 million from the sale of Beats By Dre to Apple (he had a small ownership stake), and joined a new sports marketing firm, Teneo Sports, along with two other superstars: Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. Fast forward to now, and LeBron James is once again a Cleveland Cavalier, with his business interests healthier than ever.
Stephen Gillett
Gillett’s caffeine-infused career has been quite an energetic rise.
At the time he was named to the 2010 Fortune 40 Under 40 list, Gillett was the youngest executive in the Starbucks (SBUX) C-suite and had helped push for free Wi-Fi in its cafes. After running global technology efforts at the coffee company, he left in 2012 to lead digital efforts at electronics retailer Best Buy. At the end of 2012, Gillett took up his current post as COO at Symantec (SYMC).
Bret Taylor
What’s the word on Facebook alum Taylor?
He stepped down as CTO of the social network (FB) in 2012 to found Quip, a startup with a business productivity app that aims to take on Microsoft Office. Named to the 2010 list as part of Facebook's "tech bench" along with Chris Cox and Mike Schroepfer, Taylor had previously founded FriendFeed, which Mark Zuckerberg acquired.
Eric Braverman
Named to the 2010 40 Under 40 list when he was a partner at McKinsey's public-sector practice, Eric Braverman shook up his career in 2013. He left his role at McKinsey to be CEO of the Clinton Foundation.
In that capacity, Braverman helped President Clinton and the Haitian government spearhead recovery efforts from that year’s catastrophic earthquake. In addition, he has founded a nonprofit theater company called Blue Line Arts.
Ian Tait
Wonder what success smells like? Tait was named to the 2010 40 Under 40 for his integral role at Portland, Oregon-based ad agency Wieden + Kennedy, where he helped make P&G’s (PG) “Old Spice Guy” ad campaign go viral.
In April 2012, Tait left Wieden + Kennedy to join Google Creative Lab as its Executive Creative Director; however, he has since moved back to W+K as Executive Creative Director, proving that perhaps you can go home again.
Binta Niambi Brown
Formerly a partner and corporate lawyer at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis when she made the 40 Under 40 in 2012, Brown left the job last year to do humanitarian work in Cambodia.
She’s since returned stateside to become a senior fellow at Harvard University, where she helps emerging businesses and advocates for women and minorities in business. Elected a trustee of Barnard College back when she was 34, this year Brown became a boardmember of Technical Career Institutes in New York and an advisory boardmember of education-tech startup 2U and of The African Technology Foundation.
Andrew Ng
Ng taught the world the power of massive open online courses (MOOCs) as the co-founder and co-CEO of Coursera, a company sprung from a machine learning course he taught at Stanford.
Named to the 2013 list for that work, the Stanford computer scientist has now left Coursera to join the Chinese search giant Baidu—often dubbed “China’s Google”—to head the company’s new artificial intelligence lab in Sunnyvale, Calif. There, Ng builds software that mimics biological brains with the goal of teaching machines.
Rachel Haot
Haot’s career is still hot. She made our 2013 list as the Chief Digital Officer for the City of New York, under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
She has kept that title but since moved to a higher level: Haot is now Chief Digital officer for New York State, as well as Deputy Secretary for Technology under Governor Andrew Cuomo, where she is helping to engineer a tech boom beyond the five boroughs.
