T homas Schmidheiny is a Swiss billionaire industrialist and a fourth-generation member of one of his country's most prominent business dynasties. He and his brother, Stephan, inherited the family's construction materials business. Thomas took control of the cement division, Holcim, and built it from a successful Swiss company into a global powerhouse in the building materials industry through a series of major international expansions and acquisitions.

His career-defining move was the 2015 mega-merger of Holcim with its French rival, Lafarge, which created LafargeHolcim (now rebranded as Holcim Group), the world's undisputed leader in cement and building aggregates. While he has since retired as chairman and is no longer the largest shareholder, his substantial remaining stake in the company is the primary source of his vast fortune. He is also a passionate oenophile and has invested heavily in his hobby, owning several prestigious wineries in California, Argentina, and Australia.