The Top 100 Executives Of 2012

It was a year marked by an ever-accelerating pace of technology innovation from next-generation smartphones and tablets to mind-bending breakthroughs in cloud computing, virtualization and networking.

It was also a year of a soaring big data technology investments propelled by the social networking revolution. A record number of solution providers added new mobile, cloud, virtualization and networking services and products to their portfolios.

With new technology tearing up the market, CRN devoted even more of the 2012 Top 100 Executives List to those executives pushing the innovation envelope. This year's list includes not only the 25 most influential executives taking technology to new heights, but 25 disruptors creating chaos in the market with new technology, and 25 innovators making game-changing contributions.

And no technology is complete without a strong channel sales plan. The top executives making the biggest sales gains are honored in our top 25 channel sales leaders list.

So just who are the executives breaking the technology and channel sound barrier? This year's Top 100 Executives list includes a Stanford Ph.D. who turned his network virtualization research project into a company that fetched $1.05 billion; a Purdue University computer science graduate who revolutionized the cloud storage market; a State University of New York MBA graduate who took his company's "Accelerate" slogan to heart, making big channel sales gains; and a former solution provider COO and supply chain whiz who now heads up the most valuable company in the world.

Here is our list of the Top 100 Executives of 2012.

The 25 Most Influential Executives Of 2012
As part of our ranking of the Top 100 Executives Of 2012, CRN looks at the 25 executives who exerted the most influence over the industry this year.

The Top 25 Disrupters Of 2012
As part of our ranking of the Top 100 Executives Of 2012, CRN looks at the 25 executives who created chaos in the industry (in a good way).

The Top 25 Channel Sales Leaders Of 2012
CRN looks at some of the industry’s fiercest channel advocates in our ranking of the year’s Top 25 Channel Sales Leaders, Part 3 of our list of the Top 100 Executives of 2012.

The Top 25 Innovators Of 2012
Whether they are the driving force behind hot technology innovations or the leaders of the startups that are shaping the future of IT, here are CRN’s picks for the most innovative executives of the year in Part 4 of our list of the Top 100 Executives of 2012.