Ralph Alvarez

McDonald's president and chief operating officer
Born: 1955, Cuba
Now lives in U.S.

Alvarez's family settled in Florida after leaving Cuba, where his father was an airline executive. His mother taught at the University of Miami, where Alvarez received his bachelor's degree in business administration in 1976. (Today he's on the school's International Advisory Board as well as its President's Council.) He worked for Burger King and Wendy's before joining McDonald's (MCD) in 1994.