Founder, longtime chairman and CEO¹ of Corel corporation of Ottawa, Canada. Famous for being both bold and rash, he has driven Corel's stock wildly up and down through both brilliance and boneheadedness (see WordPerfect). After Corel's first big success with CorelDRAW Cowpland spent wildly on cars, homes and his trophy wife Marlen Cowpland (divorcing 1st wife Darlene along the way). For more, see the book RANDOM EXCESS.
1. Update: Michael resigned as CEO of Corel in August 2000. He still has a large stake though.