Greek CEOs

Forbes magazine reported in January that about a quarter of all chief executives on the Forbes Super 500 (a list of America's 500 largest corporations) were members of fraternities during college. Five fraternities were selected as the "Best Fraternities for Future CEOs." The University of Denver is home to four of these five. In the Forbes Super 500, Beta Theta Pi can boast 11 CEOs, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Sigma Chi are tied in second at nine, and Lambda Chi Alpha has eight.

In addition to 120 chief executive officers, fraternities have also fostered the careers of 48% of all U.S. presidents, 42% of U.S. senators, 30% of U.S. congressmen, and 40% of U.S. Supreme Court justices, according to Forbes and the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC).

Almost half of the readers surveyed said that fraternities and sororities help college graduates climb the corporate ranks by influencing social development. "Despite what movies such as Animal House suggest, fraternities and sororities are more than just freshman rush and beer busts. The social skills that help students gain admittance into the Greek system are the same aptitudes that can later give them a leg-up in corporate climbing. Plus, once they've graduated, they can tap into the network of past fraternity brothers or sisters who litter all tiers of corporate America."

Wachovia CEO G. Kennedy Thompson said that Beta Theta Pi, which he joined as an undergrad at the University of North Carolina, gave him "the opportunity to meet people from different backgrounds and places, and the connections have continued beyond my university years to my business life."

Click here to read the complete story on Forbes.com.