‘He achieved the impossible’ – 15 channel leaders on their vendor GOATS

“My rationale for voting Pat Gelsinger in particular, is that he has led with conviction and in his personal and unique way, some of the greatest vendors that have existed over the last few decades. In some cases making sweeping changes or significant acquisitions at VMware and now Intel. His style of leadership is one of utter professionalism and he leads with intellect, is technically astute, whilst exuding passion and people connectivity in a way that is hard to replicate. He touches emotionally staff and partners in a way I have never seen a leader be able to in the past. He is quite simply my hero because I relate to him, understand his moral attitude to life (both family and work).”

“Has there been a more influential designer in the IT industry than Britain’s own Sir Jony Ive? So many iconic products have come from Apple – that have changed the way the world communicates, listens and collaborates. Not only the iconic products but the software they run and even the stores and office headquarters that sell them – his influence and genius we can be thankful for every day. The products we use are beautiful because of him and his influence has affected not just Apple but all Apple’s competitors too. Even if you aren’t an Apple user – you can appreciate iconic design – and no-one has done more for aesthetics in our wonderful IT industry than Sir Jony Ive.”

“I chose Satya because it takes a rare combination of intellect, vision and courage to reinvent an already wildly successful organisation. As a result, Microsoft have retained a position of leadership in the constantly disrupted world of technology.”

“Jeff Bezos somehow achieved the seemingly impossible. He convinced the public markets to support the massive expansion of a loss-making business for years. A true ‘jam tomorrow’ story that simply could not have happened without the market believing the story that Bezos told. AWS stands out as the jewel in an already star-studded list of achievements.”

“[I nominated] Diane Green because of the profound impact she has had in technology from engineering to leadership. Her both technical and commercial understanding steered VMware from start up to revolutionary and her advocacy for women in tech has been immense. Diane was not only a break through talent but a trail blazer for women in tech.”

“Aside from being the first woman to head IBM, Ginni Rometty was involved with setting up the Pathways in Technology schools’ programme. The idea was to teach skills that would be employable in the tech world. She knew that for the billions of people on earth, a future with a STEM or university degree wasn’t going to be their future and the programme offered a direct pathway to STEM-related opportunities. It expanded to 28 countries and regions and was largely aimed at students from disadvantaged and underserved communities, giving them the right skills to be successful.”

“What I like about Andy is his openness about putting his leadership principles out there; one of my favourite principles on learning and being continuously curious. He talks about having a good attitude and always being hungry to learn. I think this is what keeps him one step ahead as one of the best tech leaders out there! We can all learn from his principles.”

“Bill’s vision and execution in pivoting ServiceNow from the business that ran IT to the company that is now defining how the world works. It is hard to name a more influential, charismatic and impactful leader in our industry.”

“Everyone thought the Symantec-McAfee security dominance would never end. Then came CrowdStrike; George Kurtz took a vision for infusing AI into security and upended the endpoint security paradigm. He’s created one of the best companies on the market.”

“When I was an industry analyst, I was privileged to meet several CEOs from major tech companies, but Michael Dell truly stood out. He is refreshingly approachable and genuinely curious. As a leader, I admire him for being bold. The EMC acquisition, the decision to take Dell private, and, of course, fundamentally disrupting the PC industry with a direct-to-consumer model are all examples of bold decisions that paid off. A worthy choice for this list.”

“Bill Gates created and established the most successful technology company of my lifetime and one I and all the world’s channel partners have taken great benefit from. That alone would have been enough to make him my number one pick. However what he has gone on to do, how he has used his immense wealth and wisdom for the planet’s betterment, is even more impressive and inspiring.”

“John Chambers must be hailed as one of the most significant business leaders of the modern ages whether discussing technology or non-technology organisations. Under his leadership Cisco continually reinvented itself to be at the forefront of positive market changes in networking, software, security and IT platforms building beyond its networking infrastructure heritage and remains one of the most innovative and relevant technology organisations on the planet. Without doubt John Chambers’ highly successful stewardship of Cisco, which was not without its challenges, makes a great knowledge template for MBA students and future business leaders.”

“Whether it be through her book Lean In, or paying it forward and supporting other women such as Kim Scott [the author of Radical Candor], Sheryl is one of the most inspirational female role models of her time.”

“Meg Whitman took over HP after a short disastrous stint by Leo Apotheker. HP was an industry and channel stalwart, but the market was losing confidence in a company that was becoming a sluggish giant. Whitman stabilised the ship, and gained confidence back from the partner community. She was one of those executives that was a true ambassador for HP with partners, and knew that one of HP’s competitive moats was its partner community. When HP made the decision to separate its businesses, Whitman knew that partners would be instrumental to that exercise and dedicated significant resources to ensure that partners were involved at every key milestone.”

“Andy Jassy played a central in not only the rise of AWS, but the evolution of a whole new market. He oversaw the growth of AWS from market challenger to industry giant, along the way creating one of the most valuable businesses in tech. With a partner ecosystem and customer base that are as broad as they are deep, Jassy created a dominant player that today is the largest firm in the TechMarketView UK Software and IT Services Ranking of players. Jassy has now replaced Bezos as Amazon CEO, and there were subsequently some question marks around certain strategic choices made by successor, Adam Selipsky. He has since been replaced by new AWS CEO, Matt Garman, who – like Selipsky – has very big boots to fill.”