Zdeno Chára (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈzdeno ˈxaːra]; born March 18, 1977) is a Slovak professional ice hockey defenseman. He is the captain of the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL) and won the Norris Trophy while playing for them in 2008–09. At 6 ft 9 (2.06 m), he is the tallest player ever to play in the NHL. He is also the second European-born and trained captain to win the Stanley Cup and the first from Slovakia.

Chára was drafted 56th overall by the New York Islanders in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft from HC Sparta Praha. Chára would spend his first season in North America with the Prince George Cougars, who subsequently selected Chára in that year's CHL Import Draft. Chára spent four seasons with the Islanders organization, becoming a reliable stay at home defender in a primarily defensive role. He earned a reputation as a tough player to play against – intimidating, physically strong, and a punishing hitter who could, on occasion, fight. His physical strength also gave him a very hard slap shot, which seemed to improve each season, although Chára was never deployed in an offensive role as an Islander. He was traded to the Ottawa Senators during the 2001 NHL Entry Draft as part of a blockbuster deal to acquire Alexei Yashin which was believed at the time would vastly improve the Islanders, never a contending team when Chára played there. Chára was part of a package deal along with Bill Muckalt and the second overall pick in that year's draft (which turned out to be Jason Spezza), that brought Yashin to Long Island.

Philip Kotler (born 27 May 1931 in Chicago) is an American academic focused on marketing. The author of Marketing Management among dozens of other textbooks and books, he is the S.C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. The nine volume Legends in Marketing: Philip Kotler published in 2012 collects over 150 of his articles, with critical commentary.

"Guru" books that contain a complete chapter on Professor Kotler's contributions and accomplishments:

Professor Rod Ellis is the deputy head of the Department of Applied Language Studies and Linguistics at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. In addition, he is a Cheung Kong Scholar Chair Professor at Shanghai International Studies University, and also a TESOL Professor and Chair of the Graduate School of Education at Anaheim University, where he teaches various online courses in the Master of Arts in TESOL. He has also taught in positions in Zambia, the UK, and at Temple University in Japan and the United States. He is currently editor of the journal Language Teaching Research, and is also a senior advisor to the Asian EFL Journal.

Ellis received a Master of Arts from the University of Leeds, a Master of Education from the University of Bristol, and a doctorate from the University of London. He is a leading theorist of task-based language learning, and has published two books and more than a dozen articles on the subject. Since 1980, he has authored more than 30 books and 100 articles on second language acquisition.

David Nunan (born 11 October 1949 in Broken Hill, Australia) is an Australian linguist who has focused on the teaching of English. His ELT textbook series "Go For It!" is the largest selling textbook series in the world with sales exceeding 2.5 billion copies.

Nunan's academic and student textbooks are published by Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Anaheim University Press, Palgrave/Macmillan, and the EFL publishing division of Cengage Learning. Nunan is Vice-President for Academic Affairs at Anaheim University based in Anaheim, California. Nunan serves in a concurrent role as Dean of the Graduate School of Education and Professor of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at Anaheim University where he has worked since 1996.

In 2000, Nunan served as President of TESOL Inc., the world's largest language teaching association, and was the first person to serve as President from outside North America. Previously Nunan has served as Chair and Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Hong Kong and has been involved in the teaching of graduate programs for such institutions as the University of Hawaii, Monterey Institute for International Studies, Sophia University, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand and many others. He is Academic Advisor to the GlobalEnglish Corporation, and is on the Executive Committee of The International Research Foundation for English Language Education. 

Akio Morita (盛田 昭夫 Morita Akio, January 26, 1921, Nagoya, Aichi – October 3, 1999, Tokyo) was a Japanese businessman and co-founder of Sony Corporation along with Masaru Ibuka.

Akio Morita was born in the village of Kosugaya, Japan. Morita's family was involved in sake, miso and soy sauce production in the Chita Peninsula, Aichi Prefecture since 1665. He was the oldest of four siblings and his father Kyuzaemon trained him as a child to take over the family business. Akio, however, found his true calling in mathematics and physics, and in 1944 he graduated from Osaka Imperial University with a degree in physics. He later joined the navy and served as a lieutenant during World War II. During his service, Morita met his future business partner Masaru Ibuka in the Navy's Wartime Research Committee.

On May 7, 1946, Morita and Ibuka founded Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation, the forerunner of Sony Corporation) with about 20 employees and initial capital of ¥190,000. Ibuka was 38 years old, Morita, 25. Morita's family invested in Sony during the early period and was the largest shareholder.