Alan Horn

One of Hollywood's most respected studio executives, Alan Horn oversaw the creative teams behind some of Warner Bros.' biggest hits before transforming the fortunes of The Walt Disney Studios with a string of box-office smashes. Born in New York City in 1943, Horn graduated from his home state's Union College with an economics degree and, after serving as captain during a five-year stint in the U.S. Air Force, also obtained an MBA from Harvard Business School. Horn first ventured into the entertainment world as a production supervisor on various network sitcoms and quickly worked his way up the career ladder to land senior positions at Embassy Communications and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. In 1987, he co-founded Castle Rock Entertainment where he took control of many hugely popular entertainment properties including the iconic comedy "Seinfeld" (NBC, 1989-1998), and in 1999 was appointed President and COO of the company's fellow Time Warner subsidiary, Warner Bros. The studio was the top performer at the global box office seven times during Horn's twelve-year tenure, with the Harry Potter series, the Batman reboot and Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney's Ocean trilogy just some of the franchises he helped to guide. Despite this monumental success, Horn was forced out of his job in 2011 over concerns he was too out of touch with the movie-going public, but he bounced back a year later when he took over as Chairman of The Walt Disney Studios. Horn's handling of the worldwide operations for Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm saw the company report a record profit of $1.55 billion in 2014, with "Frozen" (2013), "Guardians of the Galaxy" (2014) and various superhero sequels all benefitting from his industry expertise.