Clifford W Illig

Clifford Illig is one of two billionaires minted by $3.4 billion (sales) healthcare IT services company Cerner. He joins the billionaires list for the first time in 2015; cofounder Neal Patterson first cracked the list in 2013. Illig, Patterson and another Arthur Andersen colleague concieved Kansas City-based Cerner in 1979 while studying for the public accountant's exam (for fun) in a park. By 1984, they'd raised $3 million and were booking $17 million in revenue by the time they took the company public in 1986. The company has steadily grown -- and benefited greatly from digitization requirements from the national health-care overhaul in 2009 -- and now manages electronic records and processes more than 150 million health care transactions per day. Illig was Cerner's COO until 1998 and remains vice chairman of the board. He and Patterson each own a stake in Major League Soccer team Sporting Kansas City, a franchise valued at $108 million by Forbes.