PHIL KNIGHT

'Philip H. Knight' (born February 24, 1938) is the co-founder and former CEO of Nike, Inc.. Knight is known for his monetary support of the University of Oregon, where he received his bachelor's degree in accounting in 1959. Knight received his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1962. In 2006, Phil Knight donated $105 million to Stanford GSB - at the time by far the largest donation to a business school in history.
While at the University of Oregon, Knight participated in track under legendary coach Bill Bowerman. Knight was a letter winner in 1957, 1958, and 1959.
Knight's 35% stake in Nike, Inc., has a recent net worth of $7.9 billion (US), which makes him the 30th richest American.[1]
Knight stepped down as the company's CEO and President on December 28, 2004, while retaining the position of chairman of the board. He was replaced by William Perez, former CEO of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., who was in turn replaced by Mark Parker in 2006.
Knight was named a "Corporate Crook" in Michael Moore's book ''Downsize This!'' in 1997. The book cited the harsh conditions in Indonesian sweatshops, where pregnant women and girls as young as fourteen years old sewed shoes for factories that the company contracted to make its products. Moore went to Knight in the hopes of convincing him to fix this problem. That interview can be seen in Moore's film ''The Big One'' – of the nearly 20 CEOs that Moore tried to interview for his movie, only Knight agreed to speak with Moore.
Knight informed Moore that Nike does not own any of the factories that make its products. Knight told Moore if he was willing to invest in and build a factory in the US that could match the quality and price of footwear made overseas, Nike would consider buying shoes from him.
Knight pledged in 1998 to impose more stringent standards for the factories that Nike hires to make its goods, including minimum age standards, factory monitoring and greater external access to Nike's practices.
In 2000, he was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame for his Special Contribution to Sports in Oregon.
On August 18, 2007, Knight announced that he and his wife, Penny, would be donating $100 million dollars to the University of Oregon Athletics Legacy Fund.[2] This donation is reportedly the largest in the University's history.

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★ Forbes.com: Forbes World's Richest People

★ Nike founder is Ducks' spiritual godfather - The Seattle Times, 31-Oct-2006, by Bud Withers

★ Movers & Shakers: Entrepreneurs who rocked our world. - Entrepreneur Magazine, May 2007