John Elkann

The chairman of Italian automaker Fiat. As a member of the powerful Agnelli family, which controlled Fiat, Elkann was groomed for the business, which prepared him to take on important roles in the company at a young age after the premature deaths of his grandfather Gianni Agnelli and Agnelli's son and brother. At the time Elkann attained the position of vice chairman, Fiat was suffering from its vehicles' poor reputation for reliability. Elkann worked closely with management and turned the company around.

Born in 1976 in New York City, Elkann earned his bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering and management from Turin Polytechnic in 2001. He first worked at Fiat in 1994 as an intern and earned promotions to increasingly responsible positions. He became a board member of Fiat in 1997, vice chairman in 2004 and chairman in 2010, when Luca Cordero di Montezemolo stepped down.