H-E-B Chairman and CEO

San Antonio, Texas

Charles Butt has been in charge of the H-E-B grocery store chain since 1971. His first role in the business, which his grandmother founded in 1905, was as a bag boy in the 1940s. Butt has helped expand H-E-B into a regional powerhouse, with over 350 stores in Texas, over 50 in Mexico and more than 80,000 employees. H-E-B does upward of $23B in sales annually and donates 5% of sales to charity.

Its real estate arm, H-E-B Development, has focused on building, leasing and managing retail space adjacent to H-E-B grocery stores for more than 50 years.

Butt is known for his philanthropy, including donating $1M in June to improve San Antonio's Lincoln Park. — Scott Klocksin