3. Alan Greenspan

3. ALAN GREENSPAN Born on March 6, 1926 in New York City, Alan Greenspan was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve of the United States -- the US Fed -- from 1987 to 2006. It was said that when he sneezed, the world caught a cold. He currently works as a private advisor, making speeches and providing consulting for firms through his company, Greenspan Associates LLC. Greenspan was lauded for his handling of the Black Monday stock market crash that occurred very shortly after he first became chairman, as well as for his stewardship of the Internet-driven, 'dot-com' economic boom of the 1990s. Greenspan is an accomplished saxophone player. While in college, he played in a jazz band. He attended New York University, and received a BS in Economics in 1948, and a MA in 1950. Greenspan went to the Columbia University, intending to pursue advanced economic studies, but subsequently dropped out. In 1977, NYU awarded him a Ph.D. in Economics. On December 14, 2005, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Commercial Science from NYU, his fourth degree from that institution. Greenspan was famous for his ability to give technical and confusing speeches. US News & World Report once said "Few can confuse Wall Street as thoroughly as Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan can." And Motley Fool radio show included a game called 'What Did the Fed Chief Say?', where contestants were challenged to interpret snippets of Greenspan's speeches. His memoir, titled The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World was published in 2007. Image: Former US Fed chief Alan Greenspan (R) confers with Ben Bernanke the present chairman | Photograph: Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images