Jonathan Nelson

Jonathan Nelson grew up in Providence, Rhode Island and studied economics at Brown University. He worked in China for chemical company Wellman. He founded Providence Equity Partners in 1989, which invests in media, communications, information services and education. The company at present manages $26 billion in funds. Last year Providence sold the last piece of its stake in German cable company, Kabel Deutschland, an investment that resulted in more than $3 billion in gains. Two more companies’ private, educational platform Blackboard and security technology firm SRA International were taken up by Providence. Nelson sits on the board of numerous Providence portfolio companies, including Univision, Yankees Sports and Entertainment Network, TVB, and Hulu, which is supposedly on the auction block. He is ranked at 854 and has net worth of 1.5 billion.