The Have-Mores!: The Next Tycoons

There’s a new generation of moguls-in-the-making—and these 15 local players are leading the charge

Page 1 of 3

Mike Luby, 38
Founder, TargetRx
Mogul status: After a decade-long career in marketing and sales at Merck, Luby decided that pharmaceutical companies could market their products to doctors more effectively. He left in 1999 to start TargetRx, a Horsham-based analytical firm that acts as a middleman, collecting data from doctors that drug companies use to streamline marketing and development plans.
Tycoon potential: Besides pulling in $20 million to $25 million in revenue last year, TargetRx can now call most of the top 30 U.S. pharmaceutical companies clients. Organic growth, taking TargetRx public, and adding more divisions are in Luby’s near future.
Trivia: Luby holds a U.S. patent for his unique data-collecting approach.

Andrew L. Barroway, 41
Managing partner, Schiffrin & Barroway
Mogul status: Schiffrin & Barroway is among the most successful law firms in the country in its specialty: bringing class-action shareholder lawsuits against publicly held companies.
Tycoon potential: Barroway’s firm usually gets a good chunk—about a quarter—of the settlements it reaches with the companies it sues, which have included Tenet Healthcare Corporation (for $216.5 million), CVS ($110 million) and AOL ($100 million). Last year, Barroway and a group of other investors nearly bid on the 76ers.
Trivia: Once hosted a party at his Miami penthouse that was attended by Bono and the Edge.

John Westrum, 42
CEO, Westrum Development Company
Mogul status: Loves building stuff that revitalizes has-been neighborhoods. Recent projects include Brewerytown Square, a $200 million, well-known North Philly rehab; the Arbours, adult living communities in the Northeast and West Goshen; and the Reserve, luxury townhomes in South Philly’s Packer Park.
Tycoon potential: His golden-boy rep in City Hall—earned through his low- and mixed-income projects and dedication to civic improvement—can only help future projects. His sprawl is now going national with a 275-acre project in Chicago. Money doesn’t hurt, either; in 2006, Westrum Development generated more than $100 million in revenue.
Trivia: His first real estate deal, in Upper Dublin Township, sprang from a class project while he was still in college. It sold out before construction even started.

Michael G. Rubin, 34
CEO and chairman, GSI Commerce
Mogul status: Rubin founded GSI, which creates and operates e-commerce websites for major retailers such as Adidas, Kmart and Burberry, in 1999. The company has since become one of the leading e-commerce companies in the nation, with more than $500 million in revenue and 2,000 full-time employees.
Tycoon potential: GSI has been growing steadily, and Rubin owns about 14 percent of the company’s shares—a stake worth almost
$140 million.
Says: “During Christmas, I would see a Zales commercial, then a Radio Shack commercial, then a Dick’s Sporting Goods commercial [all GSI customers], and you recognize how much impact this company has on the e-commerce industry. That’s probably the most rewarding thing for me.”

Raza Bokhari, 40
CEO and president, Lakewood Pathology Associates
Mogul status: Villanova resident Bokhari was hired to financially stabilize a small pathology lab in Lakewood, New Jersey, so it could be sold off. He did—and bought it himself, turning it into a national entity.
Tycoon potential: Chicago-based Water Street Capital Partners recently bought a major stake of the business for $50 million. Bokhari remains a minority owner and CEO and hopes to see the company grow.
Trivia: Has a soft spot for Temple’s Fox School of Business, from which he earned his MBA in 2001; he recently donated a million bucks.