The American CEO in the twentieth century

This paper is part of an ongoing research project designed to develop quantitative information on the demography and career path of the CEOs of the largest American corporations in the twentieth century. The paper presents both qualitative and quantitative information concerning such matters as the CEO's birthplace, family background, education, work experience, and other variables. Data are presented from a data base of 200 CEOs who were in office in 1917, and compared with selected data on CEOs in office in 1997, as well as the late nineteenth-century "robber barons." Five CEOs from 1917 are profiled in brief, one of whom is then discussed at greater length in a sample biographical sketch.