Brilliant Tech Visionaries #2

from Fortune 500 magazine 2012. enhanced by Peter@ Wiz4.biz 4/13

MICROSOFT CEO of Enertainment Biz, Don Mattrick is a “maverick” Mattrick is largely to thank for the bestselling video game console of this long-running generation, the Xbox 360. When he first arrived from Electronic Arts to Microsoft in back in 2007, things weren’t well. But Mattrick turned things around with a three-year plan to streamline the business. Mattrick also assembled the team and recruited the talent behind Kinect, the company’s motion-sensor controller for the Xbox 360 that has since become one of the most popular consumer products in recent history.

QUALCOMM CEO, Paul Jacobs is a 4G LTE-weight. If the future of computing lies in mobile devices, then Jacobs just may be one of the most influential, if understated, figures in tech. Having taken over the company in 2005 from his father, Jacobs has overseen it during an era where smartphones have proliferated. Its chips power many 3G smartphones, and the company wisely poured resources into the the latest high-speed mobile technology, 4G LTE, when other companies focused on competing technologies that fizzled. That’s why, if you pry open a new iPhone, or iPad, you’ll likely find a Qualcomm chipset inside.

VERIZON Wireless, VP & CTO David Small is a big part of their success. The ex-president of Verizon’s Northeast Area now oversees the planning and build-out of America’s “most reliable” data network. That includes its high-speed, fourth-generation LTE network, which offers download speeds up to 10 times faster than previously. Small has vowed to aggressively up the number of markets the service is available in to 400 by the end of 2012, covering more than 260 million people. For now, that puts Verizon Wireless far ahead of its nearest competitor, AT&T, which is only in 35 markets.

IBM CEO “Ginni” Rometty. IBM’s first female CEO has a storied history with the company. A Northwestern University-trained computer scientist, Rometty joined IBM as a systems engineer and quickly rose through the ranks to a series of management jobs, including Senior Vice President of sales, marketing, and strategy. During her ascent, she championed the purchase of the big business consulting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, for $3.5 billion. She’s also largely responsible for the company’s current strategy, focusing largely on cloud computing and analytics.

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