Distinguished panelists from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania used five criteria to select the 25 Most Influential Business Persons of the Past 25 Years. The five criteria are listed below along with links to Knowledge@Wharton articles that discuss the concepts. (Note: The Knowledge@Wharton website requires you to register to read articles.)

The judges looked for individuals who have:

1. Created new and profitable ideas

Articles:
• A Non-Random Walk Through Financial Innovation: Four Titans Explain How It Occurs
• eBay: Last Man Standing

2. Affected political, civic or social change through achievement in the business/economic world

Articles:
• Images of Illness: OneWorld Health Strives to Heal the World's Poorest Communities
• What Makes Southwest Airlines Fly

3. Caused or influenced dramatic change in a company or industry

Articles:
• Special Section: The Rush to Send Back-Office Business Overseas - Part 1 The Case For, and Against, Shifting Back-office Operations Overseas
• Joyriding with the Masters of Doom: A Tale of Two Video Game Programmers

4. Created new business opportunities or more fully exploited existing ones

Articles:
• The Dell Model: How Well Will It Travel?
• Linux: It's Growing More Popular, But Can It Do Windows?

5. Inspired and transformed

Articles:
• This CEO Wants to Hold Chinese Products to a Haier Standard
• Environmental Camps, Rice Farms and Hearing Aids: Ashoka Fellows Around the World