Steve Jobs
Category: Billionaires
Company: Apple
Industry: Technology
What Makes Him Haute: You don’t need us to tell you the background about why he’s haute. What he’s been up to in 2010 to keep his haute factor relevant is the ongoing teasers, official announcements, and updates regarding Apple’s new iPad, with the WiFi model going on sale April 3, 2010 and the 3G version not far behind it. Only time will tell if Apple can once again deliver on its hype.

Charles Johnson
Category: Billionaires
Company: Franklin Resources
Industry: Finance
What Makes Him Haute: Charles Johnson is the chairman of Franklin Resources, which he runs with his half-brother Rupert, who serves as the vice chairman. The 2009 Forbes list ranked the Yale grad at No. 261 of the world’s billionaires, with a net worth of $2.5 billion.

Rupert Johnson Jr.
Category: Billionaires
Company: Franklin Resources
Industry: Finance
What Makes Him Haute: Well, pretty much the same things as his brother, except for Forbes’ estimates Rupert’s net worth at $2.1 billion.

Pamela Joyner
Category: Entrepreneurs
Company: Avid Partners, LLC.
Industry: Investment Banking
What Makes Her Haute: She put her hard-earned degrees from Dartmouth and Harvard to good use with a 25-year career as a money manager. But it’s not just her business smarts that keep Joyner in the Bay Area headlines. She is also a fixture on the social scene, hosting exclusive events for labels like Dior at her estate in Presido Heights. Some of her career achievements include serving as a founding partner of Avid Partners and senior advisor at Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe.

Philip Kaufman
Category: Thinkers
Company: Walrus and Associates
Industry: Film
What Makes Him Haute: Kaufman is an American film director and screenwriter. His greatest blockbuster success was a film called The Right Stuff, a screenplay he wrote and directed. Although he is not widely recognized for directing a large number of films, the films he has worked on have received recognizable praise for exuding intelligence and independence. Many have considered the San Francisco-based Kaufman a risk taker, and the eclectic subjects he portrays in his films often incorporate satire and subtle humor that are synonymous with his artistic signature style.

Arturo Keller
Category: Entrepreneurs
Company: Keller Estate Winery and Vineyard
Industry: Wine
What Makes Him Haute: This noted Mexican antique auto collector first purchased a plot of land in Sonoma to build a large showroom for his vintage and classic racecars. At the suggestion of some neighbors, he planted a vineyard for aesthetic sake, and founded Keller Estate Winery and Vineyards. His passion for cars continues, though, and his collection of pristine prewar Mercedes-Benzes has received numerous accolades at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Thomas Keller
Category: Creators
Company: Thomas Keller Restaurant Group
Industry: Restaurant
What Makes Him Haute: The James Beard Foundation named Thomas Keller Best California Chef in 1996 and Best Chef in America in 1997. In 2005, his New York restaurant Per Se received three Michelin stars. In 2006, The French Laundry in Napa Valley became the first restaurant in the Bay Area to receive three Michelin stars. That made Keller the only American chef (and one of two in the world) to hold two Michelin three-star ratings simultaneously. And don’t forget about Bouchon, Bouchon Bakery, and Ad Hoc.

Vinod Khosla
Category: Entrepreneurs
Company: Khosla Ventures
Industry: Technology
What Makes Him Haute: Silicon Valley’s preeminent eco investor—named No. 1 venture capitalist by both Fortune and Forbes—Khosla invested more than $300 million of his personal fortune into start-up green technologies. Khosla was formerly a general partner at Kleiner Perkins and founder of Sun Microsystems. He created venture capital firm Khosla Ventures in 2004 to build businesses for the Internet, and the computing, mobile, silicon, and green technology arenas. In 2009, he announced that the Khosla Fund, one of the largest green tech funds, had raised $1 billion, and in January, luminary Bill Gates became an investor.

Michael Kim
Category: Entrepreneurs
Company: Cendana Capital
Industry: Venture Capitalism
What Makes Him Haute: Another mogul with a passion and a talent for the art of the deal, Kim has built a career and reputation in private equity investing. Rustic Canyon Partners is where he built fame and fortune, before forming Cendana Capital in December 2009. It is a next generation fund-of-funds investing in private equity, and Kim is serving as its advisory partner.

Omid Kordestani
Category: Billionaires
Company: Google
Industry: Technology
What Makes Him Haute: Another billionaire who has Google to thank for the bottom line of his bank account, Kordestani semi-retired as the senior vice president of global sales and business development. Some might argue it is Google who should be thanking him, considering that he brought in more than $10 billion in revenue in 2006. Today he is advising the execs and powers that be; he is listed on the Google management site as senior advisor, office of the CEO and Founders, which officially means that he is searching out new revenue sources.