4. Ludmila Smolyansky
Title: Chairwoman
Company: Lifeway Foods
FSB 100 Rank: 49
Value of stock owned: $89.4 million
Value of options: $0 million
Total ownership value: $89.4 million
Before helping her husband build a multi-million-dollar company around products made with the European milk drink, kefir, Ludmila Smolyansky had already established herself as a local businesswoman. She operated a five-chain Russian delicatessen in Chicago, one of the first of its kind in the Windy City. "She used to take me and my brother to work and give us little jobs, like putting labels on canned goods," recalls her daughter, Julie Smolyansky. "Seeing her and my father work really hard established a strong work ethic in us."
Today, as chairperson of Lifeway Foods, Ludmila presides over a board of five directors and advises Julie, who took over as CEO in 2002.
NEXT: David L. Hatcher
Notes: Data as of the companies' most recent fiscal year-ends. Options valued net of their strike price. Equity holdings data provided by Equilar. Due to a data collection error on the part of Equilar, the rankings have been revised since they were first posted.
LAST UPDATE: Jul 01 2008 | 12:04 PM ET
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