Clinton and Warren Buffet. Saylor’s company is famous for having the most alums who went on to create their own start-up ventures: 21 former MicroStrategy employees have gone on to start 12 companies in Maryland alone. His Saylor Foundation supports many charitable organizations, including Best Buddies International, Fight for Children and the American Red Cross. DWIGHT SCHAR Dwight Schar started his career on a very specifi c kind of board – a blackboard, as a humble schoolteacher. Supplementing his modest income with a weekend sales job with Ryan Homes, he took a leap of faith, leaving academia and purchasing the thenbankrupt company; this grew into the Goliath homebuilder-mortgage company NVR. Schar’s political ventures are no less bold; he’s a major player in Northern Virginia and was a part of the 1999 Virginia GOP delegation promoting then-Governor Bush to make a run at the White House. Bush returned the favor, choosing the Schar residence as home base for a posh GOP fundraiser. Business and politics mixed; Schar says that Bush’s support for limits on lawsuits against homebuilders was the dealmaker as far as his support was concerned. These days everything’s coming up roses for the Schars; he’s invited to state dinners, was appointed as a Kennedy Center trustee in 2002 and bought a ten percent stake in the Redskins for an estimated $100 million.

DOUG SMITH In the early ’90s, Doug Smith was building a wireless telecommunications company called Omnipoint, which would grow to 2,500 employees before merging with Voicestream and two other regional companies in 2000. His wife, Gabriela Smith, ran health and education projects in Bolivia; their common interests in children and education led to heavy involvement with Venture Philanthropy Partners, to which they are greatly committed to date. The Smiths started the Amanter fund (which means “to love” in Latin), which focuses on supporting these same principles of family and knowledge. $200 MILLION TO $300 MILLION JOHN E. AKRIDGE III Ever shop for strawberry Pocky at Da Hua in Chinatown or stroll to see presidential mugs at the National Portrait Gallery? If so, tip your hat to John Akridge, a major player in Gallery Place’s construction. A builder by trade, Akridge is still an Eagle Scout at heart: “Make sure it’s legal, moral and ethical fi rst,” he says, and then adds, “Hopefully, it will also make money.” Akeridge’s days as a Scout fostered his fascination with the great outdoors, and today his Eastern Shore farm functions as a demonstration site for protecting wetlands and wildlife, which befi ts his status as leader of the Nature Conservancy and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

JOE AND ROBERT ALBRITTON Although there was no evidence he knew about the illegal activities, avid equestrian Joseph Albritton became something of a dark horse himself following the Augusto Pinochet–Riggs Bank investigation. Running true to form, Albritton rallied from the scandal, and in 2004 Riggs was sold to PNC for approximately $652 million. At that point, Albritton owned 41 percent of the stock. A journalistic buff, Albritton has backed or owned The Washington Star in the Ford-Carter days and started The Politico and Politico.com in 2007. The Washington Post once described Joe as “quiet, private, philanthropic, boardsitting, art-buying, [and] horse-racing.” Not a bad list. ERIC BILLINGS AND J. ROCK TONKEL JR. Friedman, Billings and Ramsey’s co-founder, Billings, and president, Tonkel, should be sleeping a bit better at night now that the Securities and Exchange Commission has concluded the investigation of “Chinese Walls,” the separation between investment banking and other areas of the fi rm and paid their fi ne of $4.5 million. FBR’s revenue ($995 million) was down 10 percent last year and they lost their stronghold on real estate and financial service companies, but insiders are still confi dent that Billings and Tonkel’s leadership will continue to successfully guide the fi rm. The bottom line is that Billings and Tonkel have been good to the

Washington community. Through the firm’s foundation and their personal efforts, they actively support a number of charitable organizations including the boards of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, board of visitors for the Robert H. Smith School of Business, and Greater Washington Sports Alliance. SAMUEL W. BODMAN III As secretary of energy, Bodman may well advocate conserving resources, but when it comes to money, he’s good to go. Interestingly, Bodman began life as a man of science, receiving his ScD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and for the next six years served as an associate professor of chemical engineering there. Later, he married scientific knowledge with business acumen, becoming chief operating officer of Fidelity Investments and later director of Cabot, the Boston-based global chemicals behemoth. Politically, Bodman has contributed to republican causes. KEN BRODY Ken Brody sees the big picture where investments are concerned; as environmentalists advise, he thinks globally and acts locally. A milkman’s son, Brody originally had an engineering degree; his enrollment in the Harvard Business School changed his life, leading him to two decades at Goldman Sachs and a lifetime friendship with Bill Clinton. Brody is the cofounder of the investment fi rm Taconic