32 YEARS Leonard Schleifer Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Dr Leonard Schleifer left his role as a neurologist in 1988 to co-found biotech firm Regeneron . As CEO , Schleifer , 69 , has grown Regeneron from startup to a US $ 50bn firm with nine FDA-approved medicines and a reputation for making drugs at a breakneck pace . Lauded as one of Barron ’ s best CEOs , and an EY entrepreneur of the year , the billionaire is known as one of biopharma ’ s more colourful characters , and as the highest paid biopharma CEO globally , landing US $ 135.35m in 2020 .

28 YEARS Jensen Huang Nvidia

Taiwainese-American billionaire Jensen Huang co-founded chipmaker Nvidia in 1993 . Under Huang , the now 12,000-strong Nvidia has become a major player in computer gaming chips and expanded to chips for datacenters and autonomous cars . The Stanford graduate , widely considered among the world ’ s most technically savvy CEOs and a futurist , is leading an AI revolution in Silicon Valley . He has ranked top on the list of the world ’ s 100 best-performing CEOs over the lifetime of their tenure .

27 YEARS Richard Fairbank Capital One

Entrepreneurial leader Richard Fairbank has played a key role in shaping how financial services are consumed today . Following a decade in financial services , Fairbank founded Capital One in 1988 , introducing new strategies for credit models that changed the entire face of the banking industry , and growing the startup to become one of the 10 largest banks in America and a Fortune 100 firm . Becoming CEO in 1995 , the notoriously media-shy Fairbank , 71 , is the longest-tenured CEO among the top US banks .

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