J. Joe Ricketts

Online stock trading pioneer Joe Ricketts founded brokerage firm Ameritrade four decades ago in Omaha, Nebraska and took it public in 1997.His company acquired TD Waterhouse for $2.9 billion in stock and cash in 2006 and renamed itself TD Ameritrade.In 2011, Ricketts retired from the board of directors of TD Ameritrade; he still owns 7% of the company and son Todd is a board member.In October 2016, TD Ameritrade said it would acquire competitor Scottrade for $4 billion; the deal closed in Sept. 2017.His religious silent retreat center, the Cloisters on the Platte, in Nebraska, hosted its first session in July. He funded the campus. Ricketts' 4 children are the majority owners of the Chicago Cubs, which won the World Series in 2016 for the first time in 108 years.