CLAYTON MATHILE

Mathile started out as an accountant for General Motors in the Chevy division in Toledo, Ohio. He was later employee No. 7 at pet food firm Iams and bought the business in 1982. Seventeen years later, he sold Iams to Procter & Gamble for $2.3 billion. Today he is chairman of Aileron, a Dayton-based school that offers management training for small business owners, which he started with $130 million 11 years ago.