Famous Entrepreneurs

Howard Hughes was a complex man.  He was a pioneer aviator, engineer, industrialist, film producer and a playboy.  He became one of the world’s wealthiest men, a billionaire.

Hughes first 2 films, Everybody’s Acting and Two Arabian Knights, were financial successes in 1927.  Two Arabian Knights won Academy Awards for Best Director of a Comedy Picture in 1929.  Other Hughes films nominated for Academy awards were, The Racket in 1928 and The Front Page in 1931.  One of the first big budget films, Hell’s Angels, cost $3.8 million.  Hughes not only wrote and directed the movie, but he financed the movie himself.  In 1932, Hughes also produced Scarface, which was loosely based on the life of Al Capone.  The 1941 film, Outlaw, made a star of Jane Russell  but caused the industry censors concern due to the special bra that Hughes, the engineer designed for the revealing costume Jane Russell wore.

Hughes the playboy, spent much of his time in Hollywood with many famous women such as Katharine Hepburn, Olivia DeHavilland, Ava Gardner, Bette Davis, Lana Turner, Gene Tierney and Joan Fontaine, whom he proposed to on two separate occasions.

Hughes father, Howard Robard Hughes Sr, found of the Hughes Tool Company.  His wealth came from inventing the ‘rock eater’, a drill bit that revolutionized oil drilling .Hughes Aircraft Company was founded in 1932 by Hughes as a division of  Hughes Tool Company.

Hughes designed and built several aircraft himself while heading Hughes Aircraft and the most technologically important aircraft was the Hughes H-1 Racer., Hughes, flying the H-1, set the airspeed record of 352 mph in September 1935.  The H-1 Racer featured a number of design innovations including retractable landing gear and all rivets and joints set flush into the body of the plane, to reduce drag.  The H-1 Racer was donated to the Smithsonian in 1975 and is on display at the National Air and Space Museum.  On July 10, 1938 Hughes set another record by completing a flight around the world in just 91 hours.

Due to his aviator feats, he received numerous awards, including the Harmon Trophy in 1936 and 1938, the Collier Trophy in 1939, the Octave Chanute Award in 1940, and a special Congressional Gold Medal in 1939 – ..in recognition of the achievements of Howard Hughes in advancing the science of aviation and thus bringing great credit to his country throughout the world.

Due to an oil leak, Hughes, piloting the experimental U.S. Army spy plane XF-11 over Los Angeles was in a near-fatal aircraft accident in July 1946. The plane crashed in Beverly Hills, mowed down three houses, and the fuel tanks exploded, setting fire to the plane and a nearby home. Hughes, wounded, was rescued by Marine master sergeant William L. Durkin .  Hughes major injuries included a dislodged heart, crushed collar bone, six shattered ribs and numerous third-degree burns.

Hughes most famous aircraft was the “Spruce Goose (H-4 Hercules). The plane was originally commissioned by the U.S. government for use in World War II, as a viable way to transport troops and equipment across the Atlantic out of range of German U-Boats.  It was a massive flying boat weighing 190 tons but was completed just after the end of WW II. The Hercules flew only once for a mile (with Hughes at the controls) on November 2, 1947.   The plane was on display in Long Beach, California next to the Queen Mary for many years, but is now part of the Evergreen Aviation Museum.

Hughes took control of TWA In 1939, after purchasing nearly $7million of TWA stock.  Under federal law Hughes was not allowed to build his own airplanes. Since Hughes already had a good relationship with Lockheed (they had built the plane he used in his record flight around the world in 1938), and asked them to replace TWA’s fleet of Boeing planes.   The revolutionary Constellation, was built in total secrecy.  1956, Hughes ordered 63 Convair 880s for TWA at a cost of $400 million. Although Hughes was extremely wealthy at this time, outside creditors demanded that Hughes cede control of TWA in return for providing the money. In 1960, Hughes was ultimately forced out of TWA, although he still owned 78 percent of the company and continued try to regain control.

Hughes took control of RKO studio’s in 1948.  Within weeks of taking control, Hughes fired ¾ of the employees causing production to be shut down for six months.    His over controlling style continually caused disruption with shooting schedules.  After the settlement of the antitrust case, United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc, Hughes was forced to sell the profitable the RKO theaters chain in 1953.By the end of 1954, at a cost of nearly $24 million, he had gained near total control of RKO.  Six months later, Hughes sold the studio to the General Tire and Rubber Company for $25 million.  This was the end of his 25-year involvement in motion pictures. Despite the fact that Hughes had destroyed a major Hollywood studio, his reputation as a financial wizard emerged unchanged since he reportedly made $6.5 million in personal profit from RKO.

One of the least known endeavors of Hughes was the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, one of the richest charities ever created.   It’s $11 billion, making the Hughes Institute the second-largest philanthropy in the country, behind Bill Gates’ foundation.  The goal of the institute is basic biomedical research including trying to understand, “genesis of life itself.

In the late 1950’s, Hughes became a recluse.  He died in April 1976, at the age of 70 in an airplane crash on the way to The Methodist Hospital in Houston. His hair, beard, fingernails, and toenails had grown grossly long, and he weighed 90 pounds despite being 6’4”. The FBI had to resort to fingerprints to identify the body.

Though Henry was brought up as any typical nineteenth century child raised on a farm he developed a mechanical interest early which swayed him from any likelihood of promoting a life similar to the one he’d known. At the young age of sixteen he left his home and moved to Detroit where he became an apprentice machinist.

After three years he returned home but his interest in the farm remained vague and his primary help was provided in the over hauling of farm equipment. During the beginning years of his marriage he supported himself and his wife by running a saw mill but by 1891, after becoming an engineer for the Edison Illumination Company, it was clear the he would dedicate his life to industrial pursuits. By 1893 he had earned a promotion

The time and money accumulated from his employee status allowed him to devote his attention toward his personal experiments. These experiments took form in 1896 when Ford developed his own self-propelled vehicle.

Though two previous attempts had failed, in 1903 the Ford Motor company was incorporated. The production of the Model t was everything he thought it should be. It was reasonably priced, reliable, and efficient but under the current conditions only a few could be made in a day.

To meet the growing demand the company opened a large factory. Within a short time he had revolutionized an assembly line and became the biggest automobile manufacture in the world.

The Ford relished in the progression of the company as well as the Model T, he was unsatisfied. He pushed to construct an automobile infrastructure. His ambitions included gas stations and better roads, which eventually led to an interstate-highway.

Ford was stubborn in his own right. He wanted everything done his own way. Though this attitude might have caused disruption it certain contributed to his success. Much like the man he admired most, Thomas Edison, Ford’s ambitions had no limit. His dreams were big and they couldn’t possibly have been achieved by anyone of less value. His stature even allowed him the progression of mass production.

He was laid to rest in 1947 but his energy and passion for the automobile industry still lives today through the minds and hearts of many other idealists. Like Ford, these idealists consistently amaze us with their advancement and unique expertise. Certainly, Henry would be proud and habit would have him initializing further technique.

Born in 1932 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to Jack and Myrtle Mackay, his parent’s dream was to some day own a home of their own. His mother was a schoolteacher, his father worked for the Associated Press, eventually becoming an AP correspondent.

Harvey attended public schools and graduated from Central High School in Saint Paul in 1950. He then went on to the University of Minnesota where he graduated in 1954 as a history major. During his college years, he worked as a salesman at a men’s clothing store. Harvey furthered his education in the executive program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

After graduating from Stanford, Harvey found a job working in the shipping department of an envelope company. He worked his way up to become a salesman, and in 1959, at the age of 26, he left the company and purchased a small failing envelope manufacturing firm, which he named Mackay Envelope Company, building it into a $100 million company with more than 600 employees.

Today, the MackayMitchell Envelope Company is one of the largest envelope manufacturers in the United States, producing about 25 million envelopes a day. As chairman, Harvey attributes his success to his philosophy and company motto: ‘Do what you love, love what you do and deliver more than you promise’.

In addition to the phenomenal growth of his envelope company, Harvey is a nationally known author and syndicated columnist for United Features, appearing in more than four dozen newspapers across the country each week.

Harvey has written several motivational business books, reaching the New York Times best selling list more than once. In total, his four books have sold more than 10 million copies, translated into 37 languages in more than 80 countries. His first number one bestseller was ‘Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive’, followed by ‘Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt’. Both of these books are among the top 15 most inspirational books of all time.

Fortune magazine called Harvey Mackay “Mr. Make Things Happen.” He is a member of Toastmasters International, which named him one of the top five speakers in the world. He also is a member of the National Speakers Association Hall of Fame. He has been a guest lecturer at various universities and business schools, including Harvard, Stanford, Michigan, Cornell, Wharton, and Penn State; in these lectures he has counseled and mentored more than 500 students and young adults.

Currently, Harvey is a board member of the Minnesota Orchestra and a former director of Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute and the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management.

In his own words, Harvey reflects on his work life: “I had a variety of short stints, from setting pins at a bowling alley to delivering newspapers to working at a golf course. In high school, I landed a neat job at a downtown St. Paul men’s clothing store. Peddling pants, socks, underwear, ties, hankies and occasionally a shirt or two may not sound glamorous, but in retrospect, it was a great job. At a young age, I had an opportunity to learn about business, have a boss, show up for work on time, handle money and credit, understand how customers shop and learn a little about the retail clothing industry. My boss, Chris, hammered these principles into me:

* Before you could count to “one-Mississippi,” you greet a customer at the front door with a “million-dollar smile” and say, “Hello … may I help you?”
* Never put more than three ties on the counter. It will only confuse the customer.
* Once you get the customer to try on the pants, consider it a done deal.”

Estee Lauder was born Josephine Esther Mentzer on July 1, 1908 in Queens, New York.

She, along with her eight brothers and sisters lived in the apartment above her father’s hardware store. Estee found her first job selling creams devised by her uncle, a chemist, Dr. Schotz. His company, New Way Laboratories, sold creams and lotions to beauty shops, beach clubs and resorts.

In 1930, she married Joseph Lauter (later changed to Lauder); they separated 9 years later and re-married each other in 1942. Taking from her earlier inspiration of her Uncle, she and her husband began formulating their own beauty creams, and in 1947, they formed Estee Lauder, Inc.

She  continued making creams with her partner. In 1948, Estee met with the manager of Sak’s Fifth avenue with her new beauty creams. After much deliberation, Sak’s agreed to carry her product, which subsequently sold out within two days.

Excited from her first successful venture, Estee set out to expand and improve her line of beauty creams and lotions. Her big break had inspired her and with rejuvenated ambition, she set out to sale every major department store in the United States, with her products. She succeeded in acquiring contracts with Neiman-Marcus, I. Magnin, and Marshall Field’s.

After unsuccessfully trying to convince several advertising agencies to take her company on as a client, Estee decided to do her own campaign by offering free samples in the mail and free gifts with the purchase of one of her products. (A practice the company still uses today).

Her big break would come in 1953, when she developed Estee Lauder’s Youth Dew, a combination bath oil and perfume that retailed for $8.50. In the first year of production, she sold more than 50,000 units. Her Youth Dew was a mainstay of the business accounting for nearly 80% of sales the first few years.

Continued expansion of her line soon included a line for men, Aramis as well as a the first ever hypoallergenic line, Clinique. By the mid-1970s, her products were available in every major department store in more than 70 countries.

In 1995, Estee Lauder, Inc. went public, and four years later it became the nation’s largest cosmetic company accounting for more than 50% of all retail beauty products sold across the USA.

After more than fifty years of determination, and hard work, Estee Lauder became the only woman on Time magazine’s 1998 list of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the century. Estee remained active in the company, until 1994, when she broke her hip.

On April 26, 2004, Estee died in her Manhattan Apartment, leaving behind a legacy and a fortune started in her kitchen with an idea and a dream. Today the Estee Lauder brand is available in over 118 countries. In 2006, Estee Lauder was ranked 340th on Forbes Fortune 500 with revenues in excess of $6.4 Billion, and employs more than 25,000 people. Her grandson William Lauder currently serves as the CEO.

Duncan Bannatyne one of Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs, grew up in Clydebank, in his early teens Duncan joined the Navy. At the age of 19 after having a disagreement with his commanding officer Duncan left the Navy. After, Duncan came to live in New Jersey. Duncan soon developed a reputation as quite a party animal. One morning while sitting on the beach he told his then girlfriend that they were moving to Stockton-on-tees and becoming millionaires. Little did he know that his personal wealth would soon grow to over $130 million.

While living in Stockton-on-tees Duncan purchased an ice cream van. At the age of 31 he owned his own business known as Duncan’s Super Ices. The business soon expanded to four vans resulting in a turnover of $300,000. Soon Duncan sold his business and moved up to Quality Care Nursing Homes as well as set up Just Learning Children’s Day Care Centers. Duncan ended up suffering a serious leg injury which took him into a gym for the first time. Duncan soon set up Bannatyne’s Fitness Ltd which included over 30 health clubs. The fitness center had an annual turnover of $30 million.

Still maintaining his business interests Duncan also became an actor. One of Duncan’s first projects in the entertainment world was Dragons Den. He became Dragon Duncan of BBC’s 2 Dragons Den. Duncan is also known for his appearance on BBC 1’s Mind Your Own Business. His tremendous entrepreneurial instincts, commercial no how and his business success helped him land these roles. Duncan played a small part in Guy Ritchre’s gangster flick, The Layer Cake.

Duncan pursues hobbies and sports such as running, climbing, water skiing, and scuba diving. He also enjoys spending his time working with charitable organizations. Such charitable organizations include UNICEF and Scottish International Relief. Duncan also established the Bannatyne Hospice for Children with HIV and AIDS in Romania.

Duncan Bannatyne is now the director of Bannatyne Enterprises overseeing health clubs, an exclusive hotel, bar and casino and most recently new housing developments. Duncan talks candidly of his life and motivates and inspires his audiences. From young party animal to wealthy business man, Duncan Bannatyne has come a long way. Who knew how true he was when he told his then girlfriend they would become millionaires? There’s no telling what the future holds for him but either way Duncan Bannatyne will always be a role model for many.

Declan Reddington (born 1973) is the managing director of AdConnection, a UK-based media planning agency. AdConnection does research on their clients needs and finds what their target markets read, watch and listen to, then advises them on a campaign of advertising and buys the ad space for them.

Founded in 2001 by 28 year old Declan Reddington, it has escalated into a £7m a year business realizing a 72% annual growth rate. It is expected to reach £11 million in sales by the end of 2008.

Declan Reddington was named one of the top ten sexiest entrepreneurs on May 9th 2008, by media site Real Business, placing 3rd.

His company is located in Wimbledon. London, UK and currently employs 14 people. Past and present clients include Eckoh Technologies, CD WOW!, kitchen retailer Mark Wilkinson and the furniture retailer Lombok. His managing partner is Catherine Becker.

Born In Somerset on February 11, 1959, Deborah’s parents divorced when she was young. Her mother moved to Essex taking along Deborah and her sister Gail. Deborah’s mother re-married (Brian) and they built a leisure park known as Weststar. Deborah and her sister, along with two stepsisters attended boarding school.

After graduating boarding school, Deborah attended Brighton Technical College studying business and then working part-time as a sales-room model. Three months later she left for Italy and at the age of 19 she opened her first business, with limited capital she launched a glass and ceramics import company supplying upscale stores like Harvey Nichols. After 18 months, financial problems plaguing the young entrepreneur, she chose to close down her business.

She later would be quoted as saying, “I consider it a failure to slog on with a business that is going to die sooner rather than later, and that’s a skill I’ve had from my very, very early days. It’s very difficult to realize that you’re not going to make any money out of something. A lot of people are blinded, they think, ‘I can’t give this up. I’d feel like a failure.’ ”

Walking away from her first business venture and determined not to give up on her entrepreneurial dreams, Deborah along with a partner bought a franchise in the Italian footwear and clothing company Stefanel. This would be the first Stefanal franchise in the UK. She recalls what a fantastic experience this was because it helped teach her a lot about retail marketing and the franchising industry.

Nevertheless, after two years she wanted to move on and having become dissatisfied with the business, she sold her share to her partner for £10,000, deciding to try her hand at other ventures. After several successful ventures, her Mother and Brian offered her a position at the family’s amusement park WestStar Holidays. Within two years, she became managing director and built the company up from one to five holiday parks, providing more than 150,000 people per year a family holiday.

During this time, she married a former employee of the park, Paul. As she became more involved in Weststar, she decided in 1999, to take over the business. Securing the funds from Lloyds, she finally was able to exercise full control over the business and establish it as the best. She sold two of the smaller parks, keeping the larger, more profitable sites. She described this transformation of the company into a ‘lean mean fighting machine’.

In 2005, after receiving several offers from interested parties, Deborah sold a 77% stake in Weststar to Phoenix Equity Partners for £33 million. She held a 23% stake and an active role within the firm. In 2007, She sold her remaining stake in the business when Parkdean Holidays bought Weststar for £83 million.

Currently she is a Judge on the BBC2 edition of Dragons Den; a reality based show that has entrepreneurs come on TV to pitch their business ideas. Deborah has invested personally in several of these ideas. Her and her husband, Paul, reside in Somerset on a restored model farm with their two horses and three cats. The couple also has a home in Primrose Hill, London.

Born Debra Jane Sivyer, September 18, 1956 in Oakland California, She was the youngest of five children. As a child, Debbi did not possess any special talents, however she did enjoy baking cookies and soon her friends, and family members were calling her the ‘cookie kid’. She dreamed of having her own ‘cookie stand’ to sell her cookie creations.

In 1969, at the age of 13, Debbi secured her first employment as a ‘ballgirl’ for the Oakland A’s baseball team. She used her wages to buy ingredients to enjoy her favorite past time of baking cookies.

In 1976, she married Randall K. Fields a 1970 Stanford University graduate and founder of Fields Investment Group. In 1977, just shy of her 21st birthday, Debbi realized her childhood dream of opening her own ‘cookie stand’. With the help of her husband, they were able to convince a bank to finance her venture and in August of that year, she opened Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chippery in Palo Alto California. The first of its kind, the store was not a typical bakery; its main product line was a cookie.

The first day proved to be difficult, as she had not sold any cookies the first few hours. She decided to stand outside the shop and hand out free samples to entice customers into her new store. This determination paid off, and soon people began to accept her new concept.

She later changed the name to Mrs. Fields Cookies to embody the fact that her business baked all types of cookies. This new concept of a shop dedicated to just cookies caught on rather quickly and soon the business was a booming success. In 1989, Debbi used a state of the art computer system to streamline operations and production schedules for her cookies. The same program is in use as a model for business efficiency at Harvard Business School.

Her husband served as chairman of the board from 1978 to 1990, while Debbi went from baking and managing one small store in Palo Alto to franchising more than 900 stores worldwide. In 1993, after watching her dream escalate to a worldwide entity and her name become a household word, she sold her investment in Mrs. Fields Cookies to private investors.

In 1997, Debbi and Randall divorced, and the following year she married Michael Rose (former CEO of Harrah’s, Inc). Today, Debbi Fields Rose resides in Memphis Tennessee, with her husband and children. She and her husband are quite active philanthropists and Debbi currently serves as a consultant to her former enterprise, Mrs. Fields Cookies.

In addition Debbi is also a board member of Outback Steakhouse, WKNO (a PBS station) and the Orpheum theater. Her accomplishments aside from baking also include authoring, her first book was an autobiography written in 1987 and published by Simon & Schuster, ‘One Smart Cookie: How a Housewife’s Chocolate Chip Recipe Turned into a Multimillion-Dollar Business: The Story of Mrs. Fields Cookies’. She also published several cookbooks, the most notable one ‘Mrs. Fields Cookie Book: 100 Recipes from the Kitchen of Debbi Fields’ (Time-Life Books, October 1992), reached the New York Times best seller list (a first for a cookbook) and has sold nearly 2 million copies. She hosted a television program on public TV, ‘Great American Desserts’, and shortly thereafter published another book, Debbi Fields Great American Desserts, (Simon and Schuster). She has continued writing and has appeared as a motivational speaker across the country, telling how she took her little ‘cookie stand’ dream and turned it into a $500 million dollar business.

Born August 19, 1883 as Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel in France, her mother died when she was very young. Her father, unable to care for her and her five siblings, gave the children over to relatives whom raised them.

When Gabrielle was about 20, she took work as a café singer, she took the stage name of Coco, and later became a mistress of several wealthy and powerful men. It was through these contacts that she was able to start up her own shop in France, and pursue her career as a designer.

In 1913, she opened her first shop in Paris in 1913, followed by another in the resort town of Deauville. Her line was hats and a limited line of garments for women. Most of the clothing Coco designed was made of jersey, at the time, it was inexpensive, yet it wore well and suited her designs. Coco had set out to design simple, practical and easy to wear clothing for the woman of the era.

With the onset of the war in 1914, her designs became even more popular, as women were abandoning their corsets because of the impracticality during the war. By the 1920’s, her business had flourished as more women took to her new fashion trends.

Coco had modernized the world with her line of clothes designed after men’s wear. She felt the style was more comfortable and women found them liberating. Her line soon expanded to include simple suits and dresses, women’s trousers, costume jewelry, perfume and textiles.

In 1921 along with the great perfumer, Ernest Beaux created this mythical perfume, Chanel No. 5. Coco met this designer through her then Russian beau, Grand Duke Dmitri. Ernest Beaux actually made more than 20 fragrances for her and it was the fifth one that Coco liked. In 1924, she took on a partner in the perfume business. Chanel No. 5 remains today as the most famous perfume ever made and the top most selling perfume in the world.

In 1925, she introduced her cardigan jacket and 1926 her famous “little black dress”, which took the world by storm.

The World War would cause her to close the doors to her shops in 1939 as France declared war on Germany. Following the end of the war and after resolving some personal issues, Coco again ventured into the designer’s arena to compete this time with young new designers such as Christian Dior.

Coco brought back her style of comfortable wearing apparel for the liberated women. She had to overcome several hurdles to make her way back into the public market after an absence of almost 14 years. In 1953, she introduced her comeback collection, although it was not an immediate success, within a few years she was again leading the pack with her tweed designs, worn by wealthy women and becoming a status symbol among all. Coco also reintroduced her handbags, jewelry, and shoes with great success in subsequent seasons.

On January 10, 1971, Coco Chanel died in France; several of her assistants continued the business until 1983 when Karl Lagerfeld took over as chief designer of Chanel’s fashion house.

Charles Wang (pronounced Wong), was born August 19th 1944 in Shanghai, China. His father Kenneth, was a judge on China’s highest court, and mother Mary immigrated to Queens, N.Y. in 1952, after the Communist Party seized power in China.

Charles attended Brooklyn Technical High School, and after graduating went on to Queens college in New York where he earned a Bachelors of Science degree in mathematics in 1966. Shortly thereafter he began working at Columbia University’s Riverside Research Institute as a computer programmer, even though he had no experience in computers, he accepted the job and after working on a few programs he was inspired to make computer programming his life.

He continued working with Columbia until the early 1970s, when he signed on with Standard Data Corp as a software salesman, working his way up to Vice President of sales. In 1974 he bought a 50% share in the US sales rights in an overseas software company, Computer Associates International, Inc.

In 1976 Charles went to work for Computer Associates with a few sales people and a small office, they set out to compete with a major software giant of the time IBM. With limited funds, Charles would use personal credit cards to finance his business expenses.  Along with his associates, they would cold call companies in an effort to sell software to increase the productivity of the IBM machines of the time. By the end of that first year in 1976, Wang had a net profit of $5000, and was gaining the attention of mainframe computer users.

Sales escalated and by 1979, Wang’s brother Tony had joined the company as President and COO. The fledging company began to acquire other small software companies and eventually amassing more than 50 acquisitions over the next two decades. By the mid 1990s, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and Oracle had made alliances with Computer Associates who was fast becoming the second largest software company in the world.

By 2000, Computer Associates value reached more than $50 billion. Charles Wang enjoyed four consecutive years as America’s highest-paid CEO, and in November 2002, made a decision to step down as CEO and relinquish his chairmanship, due in part to an SEC investigation prompted by stockholders regarding a 1998 stock option granted to him and two other company executives. However, there was insufficient evidence to bring charges against Charles Wang.

That same year, Charles purchased a majority ownership of a hockey team, the New York Islanders for $188 million. For the past eight years he has actively involved himself in charitable work, donating millions to The Make-a-Wish Foundation, the Smile Train (which he co-founded), and the State University of New York. He also funded the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center in Chinatown, and donated a new law school to China’s Suzhou University in honor of their father.

Today in addition to managing the New York Islanders, Charles has interests in real estate development, being the founder of a Plainview Properties, a real estate company, and dabbling in other sports after acquiring the New York Dragons arena football franchise. Currently he is involved in getting his Lighthouse project under way which will replace the Nassau Coliseum and develop 150 surrounding acres to include condominiums, an Athletic complex, Health Spa and a five star hotel.