There are quite a number of immigrants who have made a successful career in the field of technology, most of the tech boom that has changed the world today is as a  result of the effort, time and talent that immigrants have brought to the sector. The stories of Alec Gores and Douglas Leone are two such stories of baby boomers who have made successful careers in the technology field the following are the chronicles of their success and even challenges that spurred them to success.

The Alec Gores Story

Alec Gores is an American based entrepreneur who has managed to attain success by leveraging several technology companies. Gores was born in 1953 and during the course of his lifetime, he has managed to establish himself as one of the most accomplished business people with a total net worth of 2.1 billion dollars.

Early life
Gores was born in Israel and it’s where he first identified his interest in technology at a very tender age. The entrepreneur was born to a Greek father and a Lebanese mother who met in Israel. After several years, Gores parents immigrated into the United States when he was still very young. He was educated at the Genesee High School in Michigan. Gores then advanced his studies by enrolling at the Western Michigan University where he pursued a course in computer science.

Career and entrepreneurship
Gores initial attempt at  entrepreneurship saw him establish his own computer retailing company named Executive Business Systems. Gores started the company with $ 10,000 in 1978 and barely eight years later, he had grown it to a valuation of 2 million dollars. Since establishing Executive Business Systems, Gores has managed to grow his business empire substantially under the name The Gores Group. The Gores Group is essentially an investment company that has managed to significantly increase in size by acquiring other companies. So far, Gores through his company has managed to acquire more than 80 companies.

Challenges
Gores just like many other business people has had to grapple with his fair share of challenges. One of the most notable challenges he faced in the recent past was a loss of more than 17 million dollars to gambling. Be that as it may, the businessman has still managed to register successes in other areas to recoup this loss.

 

The Douglas Leone Story

Douglas Leone is an Italian born America venture capitalist who has invested significantly in the global technological scene. Leone has over the years held senior executive positions in some of the world’s leading technological companies including Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard and Prime Computer.

Early life

Leone was born in Italy to both an Italian mother and Italian father. He spent most of his childhood years in Italy and even at such a young age, the venture capitalist had a knack for technology-related concepts. At the age of eleven, Leone’s parents migrated to the United States and settled in New York where the young entrepreneur spent most of his formative years.

Education

Leone’s journey to entrepreneurship and venture capitalism commenced with his education in Cornell University where he was able to successfully complete a course in mechanical engineering and graduated in 1979. Later on, Leone joined Columbia University in order to pursue further studies and this saw him graduate with an Msc in industrial engineering. Leone’s quest for knowledge and education did not just end with his master’s program at Columbia since he decided to pursue another academic course and this was an MS in management from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Career

Leone’s career in business and venture capitalism can be attributed to among other things his stint as a senior employee in Sequoia Capital where he joined as a junior employee but later on managed to rise to the level of managing partner. As one of the managing partners, Leone played a significant role in helping the company expand into other regions including China and India. In addition to his position in Sequoia Capital, the entrepreneur has also had a major impact in other companies as well including Hewlett Packard and Sun Microsystems.

Leone’s career as an entrepreneur has also seen him undertake major investments including MedExpress, RingCentral and Aruba among others.

In 2016, the entrepreneur was ranked among the top 1000 richest billionaires by Forbes magazine with a total net worth of 2.4 billion.

 

References

Alec Gores. (2017, April 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved

09:23, July 19, 2017

Douglas Leone. (2017, June 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved