18 - RODNEY SACKS, CEO, Monster Beverage Corporation
A native of South Africa, the man in charge of the nation’s fastest-growing energy drinks brand has a rather different background to many of the other executives in our gallery, beginning his career in the legal profession.
Pathway to the top: Rodney Sacks joined law firm Werksmans in 1975 and stayed there until 1989 when he jetted off the California to try his hand at something new. The youngest attorney to be made a partner at the firm, Sacks and business partner Hilton Schlosberg went on to take control of a publicly traded shell company and began searching for a business to buy. They chose Hansen, a maker of natural sodas and juices, which changed its name to Monster Beverage Corporation last year after its top-selling energy drink of the same name.
Education: Sacks has a law degree from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and post-graduate higher diploma in tax law.