Sam Wyly, a self-made billionaire of Scottish and Irish descent, grew up in Louisiana and attended local schools before going to Louisiana Tech University to study journalism and accounting. He won a scholarship to the University of Michigan Business School, where he earned his MBA.

Sam has been a working entrepreneur for nearly half a century. He has founded and/or grown successful companies in online computing, computer software products, oil refining, insurance, steakhouse franchising, arts-and-crafts retailing, hedge fund investing, environmentally friendly electricity and Internet carbon offsets.

Among the companies he created and grew are University Computing, Sterling Software, Sterling Commerce, Earth Resources, Gulf Insurance, Bonanza Steakhouses, Michaels Stores, Maverick Capital and Ranger Capital. An active proponent of clean air through clean energy, he created Green Mountain Energy (and BeGreenNow.com) and Green Bull Fund.

Sam and his wife, Cheryl, are generous contributors to countless philanthropic organizations, including the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts and the Aspen-Pitkin County Animal Shelter. Sam has also endowed alma maters Louisiana Tech and the University of Michigan Business School. Sam and Cheryl recently purchased Explore Booksellers and Bistro in Aspen, Colorado.

His autobiography, 1,000 Dollars and an Idea: Entrepreneur to Billionaire (Newmarket Press, September 2008), is his first book, and he is currently at work with his daughter Christiana on a book about green entrepreneuring.

Sam has six children, ten grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. He has lived most of his adult life in Dallas, Texas, and also spends time in Aspen and in New York's Greenwich Village.