People to Watch in 2000
Who will make big news in the business world this year? Who will emerge from relative obscurity to become a major player? To start the new year, Times business reporters selected people from their beats who they believe will be among those to watch in 2000--in Southern California, across the country and around the world. Some are well known, having made big news in previous years. Others are not exactly household names but nevertheless are likely to make a major impact in their fields.
Of course, there’s no way to predict just what’s going to happen in the next 12 months. Nor can any such list be complete--there’s always the come-from-nowhere phenom who’ll surprise everyone. But it’s a good bet that if you follow the fortunes of these 22, you’ll see the top business stories of 2000 unfold.
Vincent Smith of Quest Software
Whether tracking problems or creating a marketing report, businesses are generating and storing an ever-widening stream of data--and facing a serious need to manage it.
Enter Quest Software Inc. and Vincent Smith, the Irvine software maker’s 35-year-old chief executive. Quest makes software that allows companies to track and distribute data via their internal computer systems and the Internet.
Its impressive client roster sports major players (Amazon.com and EarthLink) and niche ones (luxury leather goods company Coach).
The profitable company’s initial public offering last summer was red-hot as its share price tripled to $47. Since then, the stock price has continued to jump, recently trading at more than $100 a share.
Under Smith’s guidance, Quest has quietly expanded through key acquisitions and is poised in 2000 to unveil several products that analysts predict will help the Orange County company dominate its space.
The youthful-looking chief executive--people have mistaken him for a junior executive--has helped create a work environment at Quest that is almost the antithesis of Silicon Valley: normal work hours and weekends spent with loved ones.
The culture and corporate direction has paid off for Smith, whose net worth is more than $2 billion, and for his staff. More than 150 of the company’s 500 employees have become multimillionaires.
