In honor of America’s 250th anniversary, Forbes ranked 250 living veterans across entrepreneurship, politics, and culture — everyone from pioneering business titans to Hollywood icons who share one thing in common: they wore a uniform in defense of the nation.
In compiling the list, Forbes consulted veterans groups and retired military officers, who advised against judging the quality of someone’s service or differentiating between active duty, reserve, and National Guard time, since combat exposure is often beyond an individual’s control. Only in cases of ties did the editors give a slight edge to those who served in combat, were wounded, or performed acts of unusual heroism. Instead, the ranking weighted post-military achievement heavily — particularly entrepreneurial success, wealth creation, and philanthropy — which is why business titans like Phil Knight and Bob Parsons rank ahead of George W. Bush, the only living president who served. The list spans household names (Warren Buffett, Nike’s Knight, GoDaddy’s Parsons) alongside a strong contingent of defense-tech and healthtech founders reflecting the current investment boom in veteran-led startups.
Notably for our portfolio, four of the featured founders are connected to companies we’ve invested in or worked closely with — Blake Hall of ID.me, Taylor Justice and Dan Brillman of Unite Us, and Paul Lwin of Havoc — a strong external validation of the founder quality and investment thesis behind those relationships.
Paul Lwin (#158)
Lwin is a Naval Academy graduate (class of 2007) who flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He went on to co-found defense tech startup Havoc, which is valued at over $700 million and is developing autonomous systems for land, sea, and air.
Dan Brillman (#190)
Brillman served as a pilot in the Air Force Reserve, flying combat missions in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He went on to co-found Unite Us alongside Taylor Justice in 2013, and currently serves as director of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Taylor Justice (#191)
Justice is a West Point graduate who co-founded healthtech unicorn Unite Us, a company whose software helps healthcare providers and social service organizations collaborate on patient care to prevent conditions from worsening. Unite Us was most recently valued at $2.3 billion.
Blake Hall (#200)
Hall is a former Army Ranger who founded ID.me in 2010. The unicorn company provides digital identity verification services for federal and state government agencies and was last valued at $2 billion.
To view the full Forbes Veteran 250 ranking visit: Forbes 250: America’s Most Successful Living Veterans
