John Hendricks
John Hendricks was a university fundraiser when he first conceived the idea for a cable television channel devoted to documentaries and educational programming. Borrowing against his home, he gathered $25 million from 30 individual investors and unveiled the Discovery Channel in 1985. Today, Hendricks is the Chairman of Discovery Communications, the world's number one nonfiction media company. Hendricks has been honored with a Primetime Emmy Award and with the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences highest honor, the Governors Award, for conceiving the TLC series, Great Books. The Ark Trust named him a recipient of the Genesis Award for lifetime achievement for his efforts in raising awareness around the globe about animal issues. Hendricks has also been recognized as the first corporate leader to receive the National Education Association's Friend of Education award for "innovations in education and technology and greatly expanding educational opportunity for America's schoolchildren