(2) Tarun Palep

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President, Caribe Ventures

October 15, 2007

Everybody with kids knows Chuck E. Cheese, the entertainment chain founded in 1977 by Nolan Bushnell, the same man who brought us Atari and the first videogame, Pong.

Well, Chuck E. Cheese's can be a very profitable enterprise, as the CEO of our number two company can tell you.

Atlanta native Tarun Palep secured the rights to bring Chuck E. Cheese's to Puerto Rico…a country with plenty of families but no place family friendly to take the kids.

Tarun, who is an Emory Business School grad, opened the first Chuck E. Cheese's in the Caribbean. One of his first decisions was also one of his toughest. Unlike the other restaurants around the world, this one served no alcohol; it's family friendly.

His team at Caribe Ventures overcame the local bureaucracy and worked 24 hours a day to get ready for the grand opening; the water was turned on less than an hour before they opened their doors. The concept was a hit and now the company is getting ready to open its third location next year.

And what next? Tarun has discovered a passion for photography. He'll take a day for himself and go shoot photos of places and cultures. At retirement, he wants to evolve into a professional travel and sports photographer.

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