Few e-retailers have used the web to transform their markets more than Reed Hastings has as chairman and CEO of Netflix Inc., the online DVD rental company he founded in 1997. A web-only merchant, Netflix now accounts for nearly $1 billion in annual DVD rentals, about 12.5% of the entire market, and ranks No. 21 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide. The company also was ranked number one in customer satisfaction across all of e-commerce by ForeSee Results. Netflix has been so successful that it fought off threats from the likes of Wal-Mart Stores, which turned over its online DVD rental efforts to Netflix in 2005. And it forced market-leader Blockbuster to rethink its store-only model, but because it entered the online market late, its web subscriber base is only a third that of Netflix, which topped 6 million subscribers last June. Reed Hastings predicts that up to 10% of video rental stores will close in 2007 because of the online trend, and he expects Netflix's subscriber base will triple to 20 million in a few years.

Earlier in his career, Reed founded Pure Software, which he built it into one of the world's 50 largest public software companies. After a successful public offering and a number of acquisitions, Pure was acquired by Rational Software in 1997. Reed is an active educational philanthropist and board member of many non-profits. In addition, he was president of the California State Board of Education from 2000 to 2004. Reed received a BA from Bowdoin College and an MSCS degree from Stanford University. He holds several patents.