Business and Tech Leaders

Edgar F. Codd, known as Ted Codd, invented the relational database model while at IBM in 1970, which became the foundation for SQL and all RDBMS systems. He received the Turing Award for this groundbreaking work.

Willie Walsh served as the CEO of British Airways from 2000 to 2011, during which he led the airline through significant challenges including major restructuring and merger negotiations with Iberia. Rupert Murdoch is a media mogul, Gary Rodkin led ConAgra Foods, and James E. Thompson is associated with different business ventures.

Norbert Reithofer served as the CEO of BMW from 2006 to 2015, overseeing the company's expansion and focus on sustainability and technology. Steve Jobs founded Apple, John Porter is associated with different companies, and Kenneth Lewis was CEO of Bank of America. BMW's leadership has historically been German executives with automotive industry expertise.

David Brandon served as the CEO of Domino's Pizza from 1999 to 2010, leading the company through significant international expansion and modernization efforts. Ellen J. Kullman is associated with DuPont, TJ Rodgers founded Cypress Semiconductor, and Larry Kellner led Continental Airlines. The correct answer is the executive who oversaw Domino's growth during the 2000s.

Mark Zuckerberg is the co-founder and CEO of Facebook (now Meta), having led the company since its inception in 2004. Chris Taylor, Swizz Beatz (a musician), and REx Tillerson are not associated with Facebook's leadership. The question tests knowledge of major tech company leaders.

Jeffrey R. Immelt served as the CEO of General Electric from 2001 to 2017, succeeding the legendary Jack Welch. He led GE through major transformations including a shift toward digital industrial technologies. Daymond John is a fashion entrepreneur, James Ziemer led Harley-Davidson, and David M. Cote led Honeywell. The correct answer is the executive who followed Jack Welch at GE.

Samuel J. Palmisano served as the CEO of IBM from 2002 to 2011, leading the company's strategic shift from hardware to services and software. Millard Drexler is a retail executive, Charles G. Koch is a political donor and industrialist, and John A. Kaneb is in the energy sector. IBM's leadership has historically been focused on technology services and transformation.

Dieter Zetsche served as the CEO of Mercedes-Benz (and Daimler AG) from 2006 to 2019, known for his distinctive mustache and leadership in luxury vehicle development. Terry J. Lundgren is a retail executive, Jerry Kathman is in design, and Ian Davis was at McKinsey. Mercedes-Benz leadership has historically been German automotive executives.

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo served as the CEO of Nokia from 2006 to 2010, during a challenging period as Nokia faced increasing competition in the smartphone market. Sumner Redstone is a media mogul, Chris DeWolfe co-founded MySpace, and Satoru Iwata led Nintendo. The correct answer is the Finnish executive who led Nokia before the Microsoft acquisition.

Martin Winterkorn served as the CEO of Volkswagen from 2007 to 2015, during which time the company grew significantly but was later embroiled in the diesel emissions scandal. Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft, Gregory Wasson led Walgreens, and Mike Duke led Walmart. The question has a grammatical error (missing 'of' after 'CEO'), but the answer is clear.

Minoru Yamasaki was the lead architect who designed the original World Trade Center twin towers. Daniel Libeskind designed the master plan for the reconstruction after 9/11, while Dewey and Rockefeller were involved in the project's political and financial aspects.

Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998 while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University. Eric Schmidt later became CEO but was not a founding member. Steve Jobs was Apple's co-founder.

Google originated from a research project called 'BackRub' created by Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford. The project focused on analyzing backlinks to determine the importance of web pages, which became the foundation for PageRank.

Amazon.com was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 as an online bookstore before expanding into the 'everything store' it is today. Bezos started Amazon in his garage in Bellevue, Washington, and it has grown to become one of the world's largest online retailers and cloud computing providers through AWS.

Larry Ellison co-founded Oracle Corporation in 1977 and served as its CEO for decades. Dell was founded by Michael Dell, Microsoft by Bill Gates, SAP by German entrepreneurs.