Who are the top 10 leaders in tech? Odds are no two people will agree. But that didn't stop UK-based Juniper Research from creating its own list of the most influential executives in the technology space — and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella holds the top spot.
Juniper based the rankings on factors including innovation (the disruptive effect of their technology), scalability (their impact on multiple markets), reach (their geographic influence), personal capital (the effect of their individual connections, personality and philosophy) and vision for the future.
Juniper cited Nadella for his development and implementation of Windows-as-a-Service, which the report describes as a fundamental change to Microsoft’s operating systems-focused business model.
Jony Ive, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Design, came in second. Juniper cited him for his work on the Apple Watch, which Juniper described as the benchmark for all such products going forward. In particular, Juniper cited the Watch's Wi-Fi capabilities and its doodle functionality.
Checking the List
Min-Liang Tan, co-founder and CEO of gaming products company Razer, and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who created a disruptive albeit controversial transportation model, came in third and fourth place, respectively. Juniper cited Tan for his involvement with Open Source Virtual Reality, which created a common standard for virtual reality program design.
Reed Hastings, the CEO and co-founder of Netflix, made it into fifth place. Juniper recognized him for supervising the firm's international expansion as well as for the company's strategy of original content creation.
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Want to know more? Here's the full list.
- Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO
- Jony Ive, Apple SVP Design
- Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder and CEO
- Travis Kalanick, Uber CEO
- Reed Hastings, Netflix co-founder and CEO
- Jack Ma, Alibaba founder and chairman
- Paul Eremenko, director of engineering, Google Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP)
- Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO
- Elon Musk, Tesla chairman and CEO
- Lei Jun, Xiaomi CEO
Tech Contenders
Juniper also listed a number of other tech innovators that have strong impact on their market segments, but haven't brought “revolutionary change.”
Among them, in no particular order, are:
- Eric Migicovsky, founder and CEO of the company behind the Pebble smartwatch
- Kirt McMaster, founder and CEO of the company behind the Cyanogen operating system that aims to take on Google in the Android space
- John Kunze, CEO of Xoom, a money transfer service
- Hong Ku Yeo, the lead designer behind the S6 and S6 Edge phones at Samsung
What do you think of the list? Who would you add — or delete?