113
KASE l lAWAl GEN CHARlES F bOlDEN JR
Chair and CEO, CAMAC Administrator, NASA
A native of Ibadan, Nigeria, lawal A few days before the US celebrated
relied on his knowledge of Africa the 40th anniversary of the
and America to position his oil Apollo 11 mission to the moon,
company, CAMAC International bolden was sworn in as the new
Corporation, as one of the largest National Aeronautics and Space
black-owned businesses in the Administration (NASA) Administrator,
world. As CAMAC chairman the first African American to hold
and CEO, lawal, 55, helped the the position. A former astronaut
company, which he founded as an and retired US Marine Corps Major
agricultural commodities business General, bolden, 63, leads the NASA
in 1986 before moving to oil in team. President Obama, who chose
1991, rake in $2.43bn (£1.47bn) in bolden for the post, charged him
revenues last year. CAMAC also with devising cost-effective solutions
maintains offices in london, lagos, to reach the moon by 2020. After
Abuja and Johannesburg. lawal, who has advised various US more than 34 years in the Marine Corps, bolden retired in 2003 as the
presidents on African affairs, is spreading his influence throughout commanding general of the Third Marine Aircraft Wing, and served as
Texas. He serves as vice chairman of the board of the Houston senior vice president at TechTrans International, Inc until 2005 when
Airport System Development Corporation, the sixth-largest airport he became CEO of JackandPanther llC, a military and aerospace
system in the world, and also as vice chairman of the Port of consulting firm. In 1980, NASA selected him as an astronaut. He flew
Houston Authority, the largest port in the country in terms of two space shuttle missions as pilot and two as commander. In 1986,
foreign tonnage. In 2005, CAMAC acquired a controlling interest he was named the chief of the Safety Division at the Johnson Space
in Unity National bank, the state’s only FDIC-insured African- Center and was appointed assistant deputy administrator of NASA in
American-owned bank. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical 1992. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the
engineering from Texas Southern University and holds an MbA US Naval Academy, Annapolis and a master’s in systems management
from Prairie View A&M University. lawal and his wife, Eileen, have from the University of Southern California. He lives in Houston with his
three children and live in Houston. wife, Alexis ‘Jackie’, and has two adult children.
R DONAHUE ‘DON’ PEEblES HENRY lOUIS ‘SKIP’ GATES JR
Chair and CEO, Peebles Corporation, Alphonse Fletcher University professor, director WEb Du bois Institute
for African American research, Harvard University
Real estate mogul Peebles is Gates is one of the most powerful
recognised as one of the most academic voices in America. He
successful entrepreneurs in the serves as the Alphonse Fletcher
US. The 49-year-old is chairman University professor and the director
and chief executive of the Peebles of the WEb Du bois Institute for
Corporation, the country’s largest African and African American
African American real estate Research at Harvard. Gates is
development company with a $4bn editor-in-chief of the Oxford African
development portfolio of luxury American Studies Center and The
hotels, high-rise residential and Root.com. He gained critical acclaim
top commercial properties around for hosting the documentary
the US. His unrelenting desire to “African American lives” and its
own ocean-front property in Miami follow-up, “African American lives
manifested in his purchase of the 2”. He earned his master’s degree
Royal Palm Crowne Plaza Resort, making him the first African and doctorate, both in English literature, from Cambridge University,
American owner of a major hotel. Peebles actively engages in and his bachelor’s degree in history from Yale. before joining the
public policy and the political process and serves on the President faculty at Harvard in 1991, he taught at Yale, Cornell, and Duke. Gates
Obama’s National Finance Committee. Peebles is also an author served as chair of the Department of African and African American
and public speaker, offering wealth-building advice in his book “The Studies at Harvard from 1991 to 2006. He found himself at the centre
Peebles Path to Real Estate and Wealth: How to Make Money in Any of national debate in July 2009 when he was arrested in his home after
Market”, published last year. Raised in Washington, DC, in a single- a neighbour thought he and his driver were burglars and called the
parent household, he is a supporter of mentoring and inspiring police. The arresting officer, who was white, denied Gates’s claim that
youth to become entrepreneurs. He briefly attended Rutgers he was arrested because he was black. President Obama, after saying
University before leaving to embark on a real estate career. He lives the police had acted “stupidly”, later invited Gates and the officer to
in Miami with his wife, Katrina, and their children. the White House. Gates has two daughters from a previous marriage.
PowerList10_IS02_P0109-115 new.indd 3 09/09/2009 17:00
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