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Ten Is Enough?

Sarah Palin has five children. Can she run a country? These chief executives with big broods might have an opinion on that.

Are You Experienced? Are You Experienced?

When the government is in trouble, voters cry out for leaders from outside the Beltway. When a company is in trouble, shareholders also call for change. But a lack of baggage can also mean a lack of knowledge, and as these five C.E.O.'s demonstrate, past performance is no guarantee of future results. See All Video & Multimedia

FiveFord C.E.O. Alan Mulally, 63, has five kids, ages 20 to 31. Ford has let Mulally’s family fly on the company jet from their home in ­Seattle to the office in Dearborn, Michigan, even when he wasn’t aboard.

SixThe C.E.O. of Hilton ­Hotels, Chris Nasetta, 46, has six daughters ages five to 15, who all attend the same schools he did in the Washington suburb of ­Arlington, Virginia.

Seven“It’s absolutely ­essential to find a balance between work and family,” says Peter ­Olson, former C.E.O. of ­Random House. ­Olson, 58, has seven children ages 13 to 31—two ­adopted from Russia and one from Hungary. Edgar ­Bronfman Jr., the 53-year-old C.E.O. of ­Warner ­Music, also has seven ­children. An anti-file-sharing ­crusader, Bronfman has admitted to catching his kids ­downloading music illegally.

NinePeopleSoft co-founder David Duffield, 67, has nine children, six of them adopted. The family homestead, near Lake ­Tahoe, Nevada, is on a piece of property formerly home to the ranch where ­Bonanza was shot. David ­Neeleman, 49, the ex-C.E.O. of JetBlue and the founder of Brazilian airline Azul, has nine kids as well, ages nine to 26. ­Neeleman is in Brazil ­Tuesdays to Thursdays; on Sundays, wherever he is, he ­attends church with his family.

TenAt least two C.E.O.’s are the ­fathers of 10 children: ­Nelson Peltz, 66, chairman and former C.E.O. of restaurant giant ­Triarc Companies, and ­Richard Schulze, 67, founder and former C.E.O. of Best Buy.


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