From Elon Musk to Satya Nadella: Here are the 29 top tech CEOs of 2018, according to employees

Advertisement
From Elon Musk to Satya Nadella: Here are the 29 top tech CEOs of 2018, according to employees

Best tech CEOs 2018

Stephen Brashear/Getty; Kevork Djansezian/Getty; Saurabh Das/AP; Skye Gould/Business Insider

Advertisement
  • This week, Comparably - a website that rates companies across a number of different areas - released its list of Best CEOs of 2018.
  • Of the 50 chief executives on that list, 29 were from tech companies.
  • Below, we've compiled the list of best tech CEOs of the year.

For tech, 2018 was a year full of scandal.

From Facebook's dealings with Cambridge Analytica, to Elon Musk smoking weed on-air, the tech industry had its share of controversy in 2018.

When tech executives weren't being questioned on Capitol Hill, however, some were being praised by employees for their leadership and the companies they've helped create.

This week, Comparably - a website that rates companies across a number of different areas - released its 2018 list of Best CEOs. Of the 50 chief execs on that list, 29 were from tech companies.

Advertisement

Here are the 29 best large tech company CEOs of the year:

Get the latest Google stock price here.

{{}}

29. Bill McDermott, SAP

29. Bill McDermott, SAP

Headquarters: Newtown Square, Pennsylvania

Year they became CEO: 2002

What their company does: Enterprise software for business operations and customer management

28. Scott Wagner, GoDaddy

28. Scott Wagner, GoDaddy

Headquarters: Scottsdale, Arizona

Year they became CEO: 2018

What their company does: Internet domain registry and website hosting

Advertisement

27. Daniel Schulman, PayPal

27. Daniel Schulman, PayPal

Headquarters: San Jose, California

Year they became CEO: 2014

What their company does: Online payments

26. Michael Sullivan, Acquia

26. Michael Sullivan, Acquia

Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts

Year they became CEO: 2017

What their company does: Open source content management system for websites

Advertisement

25. Colin Doherty, Fuze

25. Colin Doherty, Fuze

Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts

Year they became CEO: 2017

What their company does: Cloud-based communication systems

24. Susan Wojcicki, YouTube

24. Susan Wojcicki, YouTube

Headquarters: San Bruno, California

Year they became CEO: 2014

What their company does: Video-sharing platform

Advertisement

23. Steven Berglund, Trimble

23. Steven Berglund, Trimble

Headquarters: Sunnyvale, California

Year they became CEO: 1999

What their company does: Maker of global navigation satellite systems receivers, laser rangefinders, unmanned aerial vehicles, and more

22. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook

22. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook

Headquarters: Menlo Park, California

Year they became CEO: 2004

What their company does: The world's largest social network

Advertisement

21. Reed Hastings, Netflix

21. Reed Hastings, Netflix

Headquarters: Los Gatos, California

Year they became CEO: 1997

What their company does: Online platform for watching movies, shows, and more

20. Amy Zupon, Vertafore

20. Amy Zupon, Vertafore

Headquarters: Denver, Colorado

Year they became CEO: 2016

What their company does: Insurance software

Advertisement

19. Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber

19. Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber

Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Year they became CEO: 2017

What their company does: Ride-sharing services, food delivery, and more

18. Michael Dell, Dell

18. Michael Dell, Dell

Headquarters: Round Rock, Texas

Year they became CEO: 1984

What their company does: Computer maker and more

Advertisement

17. Ryan Smith, Qualtrics

17. Ryan Smith, Qualtrics

Headquarters: Provo, Utah

Year they became CEO: 2002

What their company does: Online market research software acquired by SAP in November 2018

16. Bryce Maddock, TaskUs

16. Bryce Maddock, TaskUs

Headquarters: Santa Monica, California

Year they became CEO: 2008

What their company does: Outsourced customer support

Advertisement

15. Michael Morhaime, Blizzard Entertainment

15. Michael Morhaime, Blizzard Entertainment

Headquarters: Santa Monica, California

Year they became CEO: 2007*

What their company does: Video game creators, including World of Warcraft

*In October, Morhaime stepped down as Blizzard CEO.

14. Elon Musk, SpaceX/Tesla

14. Elon Musk, SpaceX/Tesla

Headquarters: Hawthorne, California

Year they became CEO: 2002/2003

What their company does: Space transportation/electric car and energy storage

Advertisement

13. John Van Siclen, Dynatrace

13. John Van Siclen, Dynatrace

Headquarters: Waltham, Massachusetts

Year they became CEO: 2008

What their company does: Application performance management for programs running in the cloud and on-premise

12. Doug Mack, Fanatics

12. Doug Mack, Fanatics

Headquarters: Jacksonville, Florida

Year they became CEO: 2014

What their company does: Online sporting goods retailer

Advertisement

11. Carlos Rodriquez, ADP

11. Carlos Rodriquez, ADP

Headquarters: Roseland, New Jersey

Year they became CEO: 2011

What their company does: Payroll solutions provider

10. Tim Cook, Apple

10. Tim Cook, Apple

Headquarters: Cupertino, California

Year they became CEO: 2011

What their company does: Computer hardware, software, and more

Advertisement

9. Lynn Jurich, Sunrun

9. Lynn Jurich, Sunrun

Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Year they became CEO: 2007

What their company does: Residential solar energy provider

8. John Legere, T-Mobile

8. John Legere, T-Mobile

Headquarters: Bellevue, Washington

Year they became CEO: 2012

What their company does: Wireless communications provider

Advertisement

7. Marc Benioff, Salesforce

7. Marc Benioff, Salesforce

Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Year they became CEO: 1999

What their company does: Customer-relationship management software

6. Alex Shootman, Workfront

6. Alex Shootman, Workfront

Headquarters: Lehi, Utah

Year they became CEO: 2016

What their company does: Project management software

Advertisement

5. Jeff Bezos, Amazon

5. Jeff Bezos, Amazon

Headquarters: Seattle, Washington

Year they became CEO: 1994

What their company does: Ecommerce, cloud computing, consumer electronics, and more

4. Brian Halligan, Hubspot

4. Brian Halligan, Hubspot

Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Year they became CEO: 2006

What their company does: Sales and marketing software

Advertisement

3. Brad Smith, Intuit

3. Brad Smith, Intuit

Headquarters: Mountain View, California

Year they became CEO: 2008*

What their company does: Accounting software that offers tax preparation and payroll services

*Smith announced in April that he will step down as Intuit CEO at the end of 2018.

2. Sundar Pichai, Google

2. Sundar Pichai, Google

Headquarters: Mountain View, California

Year they became CEO: 2015

What their company does: The world's most popular search engine, which also creates cloud computing, hardware, and software products, and more

Advertisement

1. Satya Nadella, Microsoft

1. Satya Nadella, Microsoft

Headquarters: Redmond, Washington

Year they became CEO: 2014

What their company does: Develops, licenses, and sells computer software and devices