Richard D. Parsons

Age: 58

Board Afflilations: The Estee Lauder Companies, Incorporated - Shares A (EL), Citigroup, Incorporated (C)

WHAT HE DOES
As C.E.O. and chairman of Time Warner, Dick Parsons heads the world’s largest media conglomerate.

WHAT HE’S KNOWN FOR
Good politics. During a time when it seemed no one could say anything good about Time Warner, no one could say anything bad about its C.E.O. Parsons is rarely bashed; even billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who launched a contentious 2006 attempt to take over Time Warner, has said, “Jesus, he’s a nice guy.”

He’s also resilient. In 2006 the Guardian dubbed Parsons “the great survivor” of the media world, which is an apt description of the man who righted a ship that was listing dangerously in 2001 after the disastrous merger of Time Warner and AOL. His control of the media empire also makes him one of the most powerful and prominent African Americans in the business world.

Parsons managed to dodge most of the blame for the Time Warner-AOL merger mess — up to $125 billion in shareholder value vanished in less than three years -- in part because he didn’t become C.E.O. until May 2002, but mostly because he acted quickly to patch holes. He resolved a federal investigation into AOL’s books, reduced debt, and streamlined the company — and has been credited with reinstating calm among the company’s employees and investors, although he still can’t manage to get that nagging stock price up to pre-AOL-merger levels. But that doesn’t seem to matter to most: Parsons was named Mipcom’s Personality of the Year in 2006 and Institutional Investor’s top entertainment-industry C.E.O. in 2005.

Still, some frustrated investors say he’s a little too averse to conflict and not ruthless enough to make the changes needed to drive up share prices. His niceness and deftness in people pleasing may have made him popular and offered his company balance, but his inability to appease Wall Street is what draws predators like Icahn.

Lest anyone think Parsons is too diplomatic, he has gone on record with somewhat controversial views (he’s repeatedly questioned whether internet properties like YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook have any value) and has been quick to grab power when he sees the opportunity (for example, he stepped immediately into the chairman role when AOL’s Steve Case resigned in 2003).

In addition to leading Time Warner, Parsons is chairman of the Apollo Theater Foundation, a director at Citigroup and Estée Lauder, and a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art and Howard University. He also owns a vineyard in Italy.

WHERE HE’S FROM
It’s only about 14 miles from Parsons’ childhood home in Jamaica, Queens, to his current office in Manhattan’s Time Warner Center. He attended the University of Hawaii, which is where he met his wife, Laura. After they married, Parsons enrolled in Albany Law School and, after graduating, received the highest score on the 1971 New York State bar exam. He worked as legal counsel for then-governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, whom he followed to the Ford White House to work as a senior aide. Parsons ran the Dime Savings Bank of New York from 1988 to 1995, chaired Rudolph Giuliani’s campaign to become mayor of New York City in 1993, and joined Time Warner’s board in 1991. He became president in 1995 and C.E.O. in 2002.

WHERE HE’S GOING
There are rumors that Parsons may leave the company to pursue a career in politics -- perhaps to run for mayor of New York or to join the federal government after a new president takes office. Parsons has denied these claims, but his contract with Time Warner expires in 2008, so we’ll see where the nice guy finishes. Most likely, it won’t be last. —Julia Ramey