Mike Novogratz is the president of Fortress Investment Group, the first US-based private equity/hedge fund to sell shares to the public.

Just got indicted for insider trading? You might want to make an appointment to see Gary Naftalis. A partner at the firm Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, Naftalis is who many of the city's biggest white-collar criminals turn to in times of trouble.

The woman behind When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and Julie & Julia, screenwriter/director Nora Ephron is the queen of the late 20th century rom-com.

One of the few money managers who truly deserve the label "legendary," Soros presides over the sprawling hedge fund that bears his name. He's also one of the world's leading philanthropists and a vociferous political activist.

The music heavyweight who once ran Sony Music, Mottola is the former husband of pop diva Mariah Carey.

The man responsible for Studio 54 and the "boutique" hotel, Schrager no longer manages the collection of properties he created in the '80s and '90s, but remains an influential figure in the hotel world.

An actor turned Tony Award-winning Broadway director, Mantello has helmed everything from smash Broadway musicals (Wicked, Take Me Out, and Assassins) to star-studded failures (Three Days of Rain).

Bewkes is the CEO, President, and Chairman of the Board of Time Warner.

The bony fashion plate and longtime actress has appeared in dozens of films and TV shows, but she'll always be Carrie from Sex and the City to us. Her husband, of course, is Matthew Broderick.

The vice chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman, Lenz is the top real estate broker in the city and the United States.

Formerly the president of digital media and market development at NBC Universal, Comstock is now a senior vice president and the chief marketing officer at NBCU's parent, GE.

De Blasio represents Park Slope in the City Council, which means roughly half of his constituents are hipster parents.

Jeff Koons is one of the most notable—or profitable, at least—contemporary blue-chip American artists. In 1977 Jeff Koons left Pennsylvania for New York to pursue a career as an artist. Before attracting attention in the mid-80s, he first worked at MoMA and then took a Wall Street job to pay the bills. By the end of the decade, he'd become an art world sensation thanks to his stainless-steel bunnies, basketballs floating in glass aquariums, and porcelain homages to Michael Jackson. Koons's career took a tumble during the mid-1990s. With the production costs of his large-scale sculptures spiraling out of his control, the artist nearly went bankrupt. The IRS placed a lien on his business in 1997 and he was forced to fire most of his staff. Koons bowed out of the scene for a few years, returning at the end of the '90s with fresh financing (from Larry Gagosian) just in time for the art boom, which has since raised the prices of his works to record levels. To satisfy demand, Koons now operates from a vast, Annabelle Selldorf-designed studio on the West Side, where more than 80 trained assistants help him pump out pieces using a "paint-by-numbers" system that ensures they all look like they were created by the same hand.

With some generous help from her ex-husband, Damon Dash, Rachel Roy has become a star on the fashion scene.

Aby Rosen

Stern is the founder of Hartz Mountain Industries, one of the largest privately-held real estate companies in the U.S. with more than 38 million square feet of office, industrial, hotel and retail property in New York and New Jersey.

Hatkoff made a fortune as a real estate investor, but he's better known for having co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival with his wife, Jane Rosenthal, and her business partner Robert De Niro.

The boyish Broadway producer is the money behind hits like Rent, Avenue Q, and In the Heights.

Once one of the city's more prominent financiers—and a former city official, screenwriter, and celebrity pal—Lipper's hedge fund crumbled amid scandal in 2002. These days he's an executive vice president at real estate giant Cushman & Wakefield.

Julian Niccolini