JIM KIMSEY

Place of Birth    : Washington, D.C
Net worth    : $129 million
Places Lived    : Arlington County, Potomac

James V. Kimsey, 71, was the co-founder, CEO, and first chairman of internet service provider America Online (AOL). Kimsey is most widely known as the Founding CEO of America Online, Inc. (AOL). He transformed what began as Quantum Computer Services in 1985 into the nation’s leading independent provider of interactive online services to consumers, and the largest company ever started in Washington.

In 1996 he became AOL Chairman Emeritus and turned his energies to new challenges in business, philanthropy and personal diplomacy through the creation of the Kimsey Foundation ( www.kimseyfoundation.org ). While the foundation provides grants that benefit the community in areas from the arts to education, its overarching mission is to level the playing field for Washington’s disadvantaged youth through education and technology.

Over the past 25 years, Jim has founded and served on the boards of a number of successful businesses, in a variety of disciplines, in the Washington , D.C. area. In 1994, he was named Business Leader of the Year by Washingtonian magazine. In 1998, he received KPMG Peat Marwick’s High Tech Entrepreneur Award, the American Academy of Achievement’s Golden Plate Award, and the first annual I Have A Dream award from the “I Have A Dream”‘ Foundation.

In 1999 Jim received the Horatio Alger Award and a place in the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame. In May of 2003, Jim received the first Kellogg Award for Distinguished Leadership from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. He currently holds Presidential appointments to the West Point Board of Visitors and the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees. Jim is also deeply engaged in international affairs.