CHAIRMAN MIG MANAGEMENT SERVICES
WHY: Founded Hot Pockets maker Chef America with his brother, David Merage, and sold it to Nestlé in 2002 for $2.6B. Wealth estimated at $2.2B. Major benefactor of UCI; business school bears his name.
RECENT: Merage School fulltime MBA program ranked No. 7 among public institutions. Family-backed investment firm MIG Capital led $20M investment in Irvine-based computational storage drive maker NGD Systems in February.
NOTABLE: Donated $30M to UC Irvine’s business school in 2005, got naming rights. Family runs related tech-focused private equity and real estate arms.
