Jack Dangermond

Founded Environmental Systems Research Institute in 1969 with wife, Laura. Today ESRI is the world's largest mapping software company; tracks stimulus money in some states. Son of a gardener grew up in Redlands, Calif., studied environmental science at Cal State Polytechnic Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona), urban planning at U. of Minnesota, landscape architecture at Harvard. Started ESRI with $1,100 of family savings. Goal: use computers to aid environmental planning. Today outfit provides geographic-information software to 350,000 customers, including federal agencies, health departments in all 50 states, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.