No. 1 Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO, Google

Last year's position: 9

Eric Schmidt was setting agendas in the tech world long before taking one of the hottest jobs around in 2001. His prior time at Novell, Sun - where he led the Java charge - and Xerox Parc attests to that.

But it has only been the past year, 12 months indisputably tied to the fortunes of Google, in which his star has risen to the top of the Agenda Setters list - meaning yet again we have a first-time winner.

Our panel's impressions of Schmidt - and indeed his younger cohorts, co-founders Brin and Page - have risen as those of the leading lights at Microsoft (Ballmer and Gates) have gone down. More and more, Microsoft is coming across as tech's grand old dame while Google is the sexy new model.

One Agenda Setters panellist says Google will "become a little more ubiquitous, as Microsoft is ubiquitous. [Schmidt] has transformed a great search engine and they're certainly pushing out in all sorts of directions, getting on the desktop with a new application, and maybe VoIP".

And it's Schmidt, the panel decided, who's transforming the business.

Those in the know talk about the strength of the CEO's office these days. A company whose values include 'make money without doing evil' and 'do one thing really, really well' has got to keep re-examining just how cut-throat it comes across and to what extent diversification is a good thing. Schmidt is central to both approaches and isn't without his critics.

But the overall image our panel and other pundits seem to have is of a seasoned exec who has taken one of the internet's biggest success stories to another level. The company's bankers will point to last year's hot IPO. Its current shareholders will all know about subsequent share price increases.

We'll see if his company can hit all its goals and whether Schmidt, the anti-Microsoft exec par excellence, can continue to lead the field.