To be notified of new articles, sign up for email alerts or subscribe to our RSS feed

Sources for executive bios

February, 2005

Posted to SOLOLIB-L, March 4, 2005 by Patricia Watkins

Here are some excellent resources for finding info on executives in public corporations. These are some of the most frequently-mentioned resources:

Brief bios on execs in SEC filings - http://www.sec.gov, 10-K Wizard.com, etc.

Who's Who - File 234 on Dialog - http://library.dialog.com/bluesheets/html/bl0234.html

S&P's Register Corporate - Biographical, File 526 on Dialog - http://library.dialog.com/bluesheets/html/bl0526.html

Other Dialog: Marquis Who's Who, Bowker Biographical Directory, including American Men & Women of Science at http://openaccess.dialog.com/business

www.Eliyon.com (business people search, may need to verify the info)

Basic Web search, including a company's Web site

Directories of professional associations, many of which are online

"Bloomberg -- many organizations may not subscribe to this service, but for those who do, don't overlook it as a source of biographical information. For example, if you were looking for information on Warren Buffett: Type Warren Buffett, hit the green HELP key. This brings up the HELP page with various categories. Type 7 (next to People), hit the green GO key. Type 1 (next to Warren Edward Buffett), hit the green GO key."

"There isn't any standard for biographical data for top executives. It's not systematically collected, organized, or edited. Much of the information is provided by the subject him/herself or by a corporate communications department. For all we know, the resumé is padded or stretched a bit. If an executive becomes very well-known (say Bill Gates or Carly Fiorina) then reporters and writers will look into their backgrounds. Sometimes proxy statements have biographical information on candidates, for the board of directors, but usually the business career of the person. You won't see anything on Microsoft's proxy to find out that Bill Gates did poorly in school."

In Datamonitor Business Information Center, I noticed that they have a section for each company called "Key Employees & Biographies."

International Directory of Business Biographies, St. James Press, Published/Released: October 2004, ISBN: 1-55862-554-2

Posted to BUSLIB-L (December 18, 1998) by Patricia Kelleher

1. Can find bios in the proxy statement. Nexis news is a good source, especially when they go on board with a new company. Who's Who for well known execs and S&P has a Corporate Officers and Directors Directory. Also-a Directory of Corporate counsel with bios on attorneys and Martindale Hubbell.

2. There doesn't seem to be much out there at the executive level other than Dialog files and PR Newswire

3. Can access through Edgar Online 

4. Marquis Who's Who for senior people; also check the prospectus.

5. Try this site for some ideas:

6. Karen is currently taking an online course from Dialog for Biographical Searching; look at this course at Dialog's Learning/Training Center page.