No. 24 Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer, Microsoft
Last year's position: Not placed
Why? Articulating Microsoft's techie vision
Since Bill Gates announced he will step down as Microsoft's chief software architect, all eyes have been on the men who will soon hold the reins in Redmond.
Long-time Microsoft veteran Craig Mundie will take over Gates' job of handling the company's research and incubation units, as well as being Microsoft's public voice on technology.
That makes him a pretty important guy. Mundie will be responsible for Microsoft's technical philosophy and will lead the research for Redmond's next-generation of products. The direction he chooses will ultimately determine whether Microsoft can retain its dominance in the new web-enabled, software as a service world.
The Agenda Setters panel is betting Mundie, who joined Microsoft in 1992 and more recently championed the company’s Trustworthy Computing campaign, will do a fine job filling some very big shoes.
Take a walk down memory lane - and find out who made the Agenda Setters poll over the years:
"Ray Ozzie is a radical change force for Microsoft. He is moving them in a very different direction."
--Richard Sykes, Agenda Setters panellist
"My observation is that [kids today] are far more networked and open than any other generation we have ever seen."
--Peter Cochrane, Agenda Setters panellist
The world's most powerful women Forbes.com
Smart 50 - Asia's best users of IT ZDNet Asia
Chron 500 - The San Francisco Bay Area's top public companies San Francisco Chronicle
The 50 people who matter now Business 2.0
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Join our research panel, and you'll be asked to participate in short surveys - and then will be privy to the answers of all your colleagues, as we send you tailored versions of the results. For more about the Research Panel and how to join, click here
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