The Have-Mores!: The Next Tycoons

Michael Hagan, 43
CEO and chairman, NutriSystem
Mogul status: Hagan started a web-based business called VerticalNet during the Internet boom years and had the smarts to sell off part of his stake while it still had serious value. Since taking over NutriSystem in 2002, he’s managed to turn the once-moribund diet plan company around; revenues, profits and stock have soared in recent years.
Tycoon potential: This past fall, Forbes put NutriSystem at the top of its list of best small companies, thanks in large measure to the company’s incredible growth. Not surprisingly, that success has been good to Hagan: His five percent chunk of the company is currently worth somewhere north of $100 million. He’s also part owner of PMI, the group that purchased the Inquirer and Daily News.
Says: “I love competitive people. People who are constantly resetting the bar are the people I like to be associated with. People who get too full of themselves, I don’t enjoy hanging out with.”

David Field, 44
CEO, Entercom Communications
Mogul status: Field runs what is now the third largest U.S. radio company in terms of revenue, with more than 100 stations around the country (though none in the Philly market).
Tycoon potential: Though terrestrial radio has seen better days, Field recently engineered a deal to buy 18 more stations from CBS, and his chunk of Entercom is worth as much as $90 million.
Trivia: Field’s favorite band is Pearl Jam.

Kevin Doyle, 42
CEO, Trinity Capital Advisors
Mogul status: Doyle founded TCA, a real estate advisory, development and brokerage firm, in 2002, and it now has its hands on everything from the Fox Chase Cancer Research Center to the Plymouth Meeting Corporate Center.
Tycoon potential: TCA recently secured a 70-year lease on Girard Square—a full city block in Center City that features 865,000 square feet of office space, retail and parking—for $90 million, in one of Philly’s biggest real estate deals ever.
Trivia: Doyle is the son of a cop, and played varsity lacrosse at Villanova.

David Grasso, 36
CEO and president, Grasso Holdings
Mogul status: Real estate developer Grasso’s holdings currently include the Packard and Graham buildings in Center City, the Lofts at Bella Vista, Valley Square in Warrington, and three properties in New York.
Tycoon potential: Grasso has plans to develop a $500 million mixed-use project at 16th and Vine that would include a new Whole Foods, a 46-story tower, and 120,000 square feet of retail space.
Trivia: Plays rhythm guitar for local band Brothers From Another.

Brian Haveson, 42
Professional poker player; CEO, Lightning Poker, Inc.
Mogul status: Haveson was a partner in NutriSystem before he sold his share in 2003, making a tidy seven-figure sum. He’s since become a successful professional poker player—he’s earned almost $1 million in prize money so far—and founded Lightning Poker, a company that designs, develops and markets electronic gambling machines. He and his wife also own 552 Restaurant in Newtown.
Tycoon potential: Lightning Poker was started in 2004, but its electronic poker game debuted at its first casino—New York’s Turning Stone Resort & Casino—just this past November.
Trivia: Has a degree in aerospace engineering.