CIOs Rank Among Most Influential in IT

Brian P. Watson Avatar

Updated on:

Corporate IT leaders may be overlooked in the executive suite, but their impact on the technology industry wasn’t lost on Ziff Davis Enterprise’s annual list of the most influential people in IT.

Eleven CIOs–as well as numerous CTOs and information security experts–made the top 100 list, compiled by editors from CIO Insight, eWeek and Baseline. Editors judged nominees based on their track record of IT success, far-reaching influence, ability to effect change, and engagement in developing emerging technologies.

A look at the IT chiefs who made the cut:

No. 11: John Johnson, Intel — cited for his leadership of the company’s internal mobile computing initiative.

No. 23: Rob Carter, FedEx — frequently mentioned among the best in the business, Carter is known for his success in driving IT innovation.

No. 31: John Halamka, CareGroup Health System, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Clinical Research Institute — also serves as an e-health advisor to Google and Microsoft.

No. 33: Rollin Ford, Wal-Mart — the head of largest retailer’s IT department continues to lead an ambitious RFID program.

No. 46: Tony Scott, Microsoft — chief of 4,000-strong IT operation, where the firm tests its own products internally before unleashing them to enterprise customers.

No. 48: Ralph Szygenda, General Motors — long regarded among the top of his profession, Szygenda keeps plugging away with the troubled automobile company.

No. 52: David Barnes, UPS — Gets attention for boosting efficiency in UPS’ massive fleet.

No. 56: Bob Willett, Best Buy — the former Accenture executive also serves as CEO of Best Buy International.

No. 66: John Glaser, Partners HealthCare — noted for his contributions in driving strategic technology in the health-care space.

No. 69: Randy Mott, Hewlett-Packard — the former Wal-Mart and Dell CIO now oversees IT direction for world’s biggest vendor.

No. 86: Patricia Curley, The Kraft Groupheads technology strategy for the New England Patriots, New England Revolution and Gillette Stadium.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison topped the overall list, followed by Apple chief Steve Jobs, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, IBM Chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano, and Marissa Mayer, vice president for search products and user experience at Google.

The rest of the list is dominated by big names from IT vendors and service providers, as well as notable thinkers like Gary Hamel, Faisal Hoque and Nicholas Carr.

See eWeek’s slideshow of the Top 25.

Click here for the complete list.

Back to homepage