Sir Richard Branson

Sir Richard Branson was born in 1950, and educated at Stowe School, where he established a national magazine called Student at the age of sixteen. He started a Student Advisory Centre aged 17 to help young people. Today, Virgin is one of the world's most recognized and respected brands.

Virgin Group has expanded into air travel, rail, mobile telephony, financial services, music, health and wellness, leisure, space travel, and clean technology through more than 200 companies' worldwide, employing approximately 50,000 people in 29 countries. Revenues around the world in 2006 exceeded £10 billion (US$20 billion).

Richard devotes significant energy into Virgin Unite, the independent arm of the Virgin Group that focuses on entrepreneurial approaches to social and environmental issues. In July, on his and Nelson Mandela's birthday, Richard and Peter Gabriel joined Nelson Mandela, Graça Machel, and Desmond Tutu to help announce the formation of the Elders, a group of leaders to contribute their wisdom, independent leadership and integrity to tackle some of the world's toughest problems.

Most recently, he and Virgin Unite launched the Carbon War Room, which harnesses the unique influence and resources of entrepreneurs to increase the effectiveness of climate change efforts underway through sustainable market models.