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Werner Vogels - Agenda Setters 2008

Name: Werner Vogels

Title: Amazon VP and CTO

Position: 9 Last year: Not ranked

Why? Retail tech guru

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A newcomer to the Agenda Setters list, Werner Vogels is making waves in internet retailing as chief technology officer and VP of Amazon.com.

Since joining the company in 2004 Vogels has been at the heart of Amazon's transformation from a mere purveyor of goods to a platform for conducting business online. Thanks to his technical leadership the company now provides the infrastructure other retailers - from Marks & Spencer to the NBA - rely on to do business over the internet.

Most recently, Vogels has been a vocal exponent of the cloud computing model of software distribution.

As one Agenda Setters panellist said: "[Vogels has been] pioneering the practical implementation of the revolution that is 'the cloud', demonstrating yet again that the consumer market place innovates well ahead of the staid and conservative enterprise market place."

Coming in nine places ahead of Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, Vogels reveals the panel's belief that sometimes the techies deserve more praise than the execs for driving their businesses forward.