Lynda Weinman

Sometimes called a "mother of the Internet," Lynda Weinman sold her online learning platform, Lynda.com, to LinkedIn for $1.5 billion in May and stepped down as executive chairman a month later. Weinman, who published one of the first web design textbooks, started the business at age 40 with her husband, Bruce, initially as a way for her to communicate with her students. They then began teaching classes online. Today more than half of the top 50 largest publicly traded companies, like CVS and Microsoft, use Lynda.com's online courses and video tutorials to keep employees up to speed. About 40% of all U.S. colleges and universities also subscribe to the platform. Bachelor of Arts / Science, Evergreen State College