Gong Haiyan (龔海燕)

 Company: Jiayuan.com (世紀佳緣網)

Headquarters: Shanghai

Main focus: Social networking website

Title: CEO

Age: 36

2011 Rank: N/A

Born in 1976 in Taoyuan County of Hunan Province, Gong Haiyan had to drop out of school and go to work when she was merely a high school sophomore. Three years later, Gong returned to school and was enrolled in Peking University as the best student in her native county. In 2003, Gong established China's first matchmaking website, Jiayuan.com, when she attended Fudan University to get her master's degree in communication.

After almost ten years of constant development, the website is now considered the largest and the most popular matchmaking website in China. As of October 2012, it boasts over 73 million registered users-with 27.7 million active users-and claims to have sparked more than three million marriages. On May 11, 2011, Jiayuan.com went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the stock symbol "DATE."