Occidental Petroleum

John Werner Kluge was a German-born American entrepreneur who was at one time the richest person in America. He was best known as a television... industry mogul in the United States. Kluge was born in Chemnitz, Germany and emigrated to the United States in 1922. He earned his B.A. degree in economics from Columbia University in 1937. Prior to attending Columbia University, Kluge went to Wayne State University for two years. Kluge's major move into media was by purchasing stock in the Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation in the mid-1950s. The Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation was the successor of the DuMont Television Network, which was spun off from DuMont Laboratories after the television network ceased operations in 1956. Metropolitan Broadcasting consisted of two stations, WABD in New York City and WTTG in Washington, D.C., both former DuMont outlets now operating as independent stations. Kluge joined the company as its board chairman and largest stockholder in 1958, acquiring the bulk of his shares from founder Allen B. DuMont for about USD $6,000,000.
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Ray R. Irani is the current chairman and former chief executive officer of Occidental Petroleum. He has worked at Occidental Petroleum for over 20... years, serving as a director since 1984, chief operating officer from 1984 to 1990, and chairman and chief executive officer from 1990. During his early years, he worked with notable Occidental CEO Armand Hammer, who at age 91, named Irani his successor in February 1990. According to Forbes.com, his five-year total compensation between 2001 and 2005 was $127,447,000. In 2006, after a rise in oil prices, Irani earned a total of $460 million. Irani was born in Lebanon and is of Palestinian origin. He received bachelor of science in chemistry at the American University of Beirut in 1953. He moved in the same year to Los Angeles, California, and at age 18, began graduate studies in physical chemistry at the University of Southern California. He received PhD in 1957. He subsequently worked as a researcher for the Monsanto Company until 1967 and joined the Shamrock Corporation.
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Edmund Spencer Abraham is a former United States Senator from Michigan. He served as the tenth United States Secretary of Energy, serving under... President George W. Bush. Abraham is one of the founders of the Federalist Society. Abraham was born in East Lansing, Michigan and a graduate of East Lansing High School. Of Lebanese descent, Abraham is married to Jane Abraham and has three children: a son and twin girls, Betsy and Julie. He holds a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard University, and is a 1974 Honors College graduate of Michigan State University. In 1978, while at Harvard Law School, Abraham helped found the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. It became one of the official journals of the Federalist Society, which was founded in 1982. Before his election to the Senate, Abraham was a law professor at Thomas M. Cooley Law School. He was elected chairman of the Michigan Republican Party from 1983 to 1990. He was deputy chief of staff for Vice President Dan Quayle from 1990 to 1991.
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