Reed Hastings by Kalyani Mookherji

Born as Wilmot Reed Hastings, Jr. on October 8, 1960 in Boston, Massachusetts, the future internet billionaire was the son of a lawyer who had served in the Richard Nixon administration. After high school, he enrolled into Bowden College to study mathematics and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1983. Hastings then joined the Peace Corps and left for Swaziland to teach maths. Upon his return to America, he earned his Master’s degree in computer science from Stanford University, specializing in artificial intelligence.