Charles Koch

Charles Koch is the longtime chairman and co-CEO of Koch Inc., an industrial conglomerate with about $125 billion in annual revenues that’s the second-largest private company in the country. But he is most famous as either—depending on whom you ask—a free-market champion or a corrupter of American politics. Few people have had more influence in shaping public policy and political discourse in the U.S. than Koch and his late brother, David, through their decades-long quest to limit government regulation. Now 89, Koch recently brought on a co-CEO at Koch Inc. for the first time. His son, Chase, is currently EVP and may one day take over the company. But the elder Koch, whose personal fortune tops $67 billion, isn’t ready to retire yet. His powerful donor network spent heavily to back primarily conservative candidates in downballot races in this year’s election, and he led Koch Inc.’s rebrand this year to reflect its evolution into a company involved in all different types of technology.