Eli Broad is the founder of SunAmerica Inc. and KB Home, two Fortune 500 companies he cultivated over a career that spanned five decades.

Mr. Broad and his wife, Edythe, are also founders of The Broad Foundations, which they established to advance entrepreneurship for the public good in education, science and the arts. The Broad Foundations include The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, which promotes urban public education improvements, as well as provides resources for scientific and medical research; and The Broad Art Foundation, which is dedicated to increasing access to contemporary art for audiences worldwide.

Mr. Broad is a tireless patron of both local and national arts. He is a founding chairman and life trustee of MoCA in Los Angeles, as well as a life trustee at LACMA, where the Broads recently built The Broad Contemporary Art Museum. He is currently a trustee of MoMA in New York. A champion of the cultural and architectural vitality of Los Angeles, Mr. Broad spearheaded the fundraising campaign to build the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Strong believers in higher education, the Broads have further extended their philanthropy to a number of universities across the country. The Broads endowed The Eli Broad College of Business and The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management at Mr. Broad’s alma mater, Michigan State University (MSU). Also at MSU, the Broads created the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum. Local schools UCLA, USC, and Caltech now house Broad art and science centers, and Mr. Broad has also served as chairman of the board of trustees of Pitzer College and vice chairman of the board of trustees of the California State University system.

In 2004, Mr. Broad became a Regent of the Smithsonian Institution by appointment of the U.S. Congress and the President. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a recent recipient of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy.

Matthew Bishop is Chief Business Writer/American Business Editor for The Economist. He also serves as the publication’s New York Bureau Chief.

He is the author of several Economist special reports, including most recently "The Business of Giving", which looks at the industrial revolution taking place in philanthropy; "Kings of Capitalism", which anticipated and analysed the recent boom in private equity; and "Capitalism and its Troubles", an examination of the impact of problems such as the collapse of Enron.

Before joining The Economist, Matthew was on the faculty of London Business School, where he co-authored three books on subjects ranging from privatisation and regulation to corporate mergers.