F. KENNETH IVERSON was raised in Downers Grove, Illinois. After earning a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from Cornell and a master's degree in mechanical engineering at Purdue, Iverson started his career as a research physicist and held several technical and management positions in the metals industry.
He joined Nuclear Corporation of America as a vice president in 1962. When Nuclear Corporation faced bankruptcy in 1965, the board elevated Iverson, then thirty-nine years old, to President and placed the company's future in his hands. He focused the failing company on two businesses--fabricating joists from steel (to be used in nonresidential construction) and making steel itself from recycled metal scrap. In 1972, Nuclear Corporation changed its name to Nucor Corporation. Today, Nucor is America's third-largest steel maker.
Iverson has served on the boards of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Wachovia Corporation. President Bush awarded him the National Medal of Technology, America's highest award for technological achievement.

TOM VARIAN is a principal of Strategic Communications Services in Mooresville, North Carolina. His clients include Johnson & Johnson, 3M, and the Special Projects Group at FORTUNE magazine.