From the frenetic pace of advances in generative AI to navigating cyber challenges and challenging economic conditions, the last year has been an influential one for the technology world.
As 2023 nears its end, Technology Magazine shines a light on the influential figures who steer the tech world and are at the forefront of an era where technology is not just a tool, but a force that shapes our collective future.
10. Sukanya S, SVP & CIO, Tata Consultancy Services
Joining IT Services and Consulting company TCS in 1989 as a SETP Trainee, Sukanya S has more than 33 years of experience at TCS, including several key leadership positions including that of Business Head for Travel, Transportation & Hospitality Unit, Global Head - Delivery Excellence and Delivery Head for some of TCS’ leading customers.
She became its Chief Information Officer in October 2023.
9. Nagesh Saldi, CIO, Tesla
Nagesh Saldi joined Tesla in 2012 as the VP of Engineering, before being promoted to the CIO position six years later.
Alongside his team, Saldi is driving the sophisticated and pioneering digital transformation initiatives that Tesla is renowned for. He is responsible for the management of Tesla’s overall applications and systems. These include overseeing its global supply chain, worldwide manufacturing and factories, engineering, e-commerce, business intelligence and financial management.
8. John Powers, Global CTO & CIO, Deloitte
John Powers is a principal at Deloitte and serves as Global Chief Transformation Officer and Chief Information Officer (CIO).
As CIO, Powers chairs the Deloitte Technology Executive and has responsibility for all facets of technology including strategy, applications, infrastructure, support and execution. Additionally, as Transformation Officer, he guides, directs, and sponsors the implementation of transformative programs and is accountable for embedding sustainable change.
He formerly led Deloitte’s Defense Sector and its Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) practice in the US and globally.
7. Michael Wintergerst, Global CTO, IBM
Michael Wintergerst is part of IBM’s ecosystem unit as the Global Chief Technology Officer across all brands for the SAP business.
He works hand in hand with SAP to enhance IBM's hybrid cloud offerings, infuse IBM’s Watson solution into SAP products, partner with SAP in the security space and further strengthen the 50-year bond between SAP and IBM.
In his role Wintergerst enables customers with the very best IBM and SAP solutions.
6. Stefan Palzer, EVP & CTO, Nestle
As CTO Stefan Palzer leads Nestlé’s R&D activities to deliver nutritious, healthy, sustainable and affordable food and beverage innovation globally.
He and his teams are focused on exploring cutting-edge science and technology across Nestlé’s value chain, accelerating innovation and scientific breakthroughs and bringing relevant product innovations to market rapidly.
After studying Food Technology at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, Stefan obtained a PhD in Process Engineering and a qualification as Professor from the same University. He holds an MBA in Marketing from the University of Hagen, Germany.
5. Sam Kini, Global CIO, Unilever
Sam Kini has worked extensively across the technology industry with a strong focus in the telecommunications sector, including at Virgin Media and Telenet.
Before joining Unilever in 2020, Kini was the Chief Data & Information Officer at EasyJet, where she was accountable for all IT, Data, Digital, Cyber Security Operations, Portfolio, and Transformation Delivery.
Her current role has her overseeing the company’s enterprise architecture as well as the development and delivery of applied technology across all applications and platforms.
4. Timothy Campos, VP & CIO, Apple
Apple CIO since 2022, Timothy Campos was Facebook’s first CIO for nearly seven years - joining after becoming the youngest CIO of any Fortune 500 company at KLA-Tencor. At Facebook, he was responsible for helping to double employee productivity to an industry-leading US$1.8m in revenue per employee through innovation in software development and operations.
Before joining Apple Campos served as CEO at software company Woven, which was acquired by Slack in 2021. Campos has a BS in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California at Berkeley, and an MBA from Columbia.
3. Satya Nadella, Chairman & CEO, Microsoft
Satya Nadella is Chairman and CEO of Microsoft. Before being named CEO in February 2014, Nadella held leadership roles in both enterprise and consumer businesses across the company.
Joining Microsoft in 1992, he quickly became known as a leader who could span a breadth of technologies and businesses to transform some of Microsoft’s biggest product offerings.
Most recently, Nadella was EVP of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group. He joined Microsoft from Sun Microsystems.
Originally from Hyderabad, India, Nadella earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Mangalore University, a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago.
2. Werner Vogels, VP & CTO, Amazon
Dr Werner Vogels is Chief Technology Officer at Amazon where he is responsible for driving the company’s customer-centric technology vision.
As one of the forces behind Amazon’s approach to cloud computing, he is passionate about helping young businesses reach global scale, and transforming enterprises into fast-moving digital organisations.
Vogels joined Amazon in 2004 from Cornell University where he was a distributed systems researcher. He has held technology leadership positions in companies that handle the transition of academic technology into industry. Vogels holds a PhD from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and has authored many articles on distributed systems technologies for enterprise computing.
1. Thoman Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud
With deep experience in enterprise software, Thomas Kurian leads Google Cloud on its mission to accelerate organisations' ability to digitally transform their business.
Born in 1966 in Kerala in the south of India, Kurian started his career with McKinsey & Company as a consultant serving clients in the software, telecommunications and financial services industries for six years in London and Brussels.
In September 1996 he joined Oracle, working as Vice President of its e-business division and later working as President of Product Development. Kurian also served as a member of Oracle’s Executive Committee for 13 years.
Working closely with Oracle founder Larry Ellison, in 2018 Kurian resigned from the company after 22 years, having reportedly clashed with Ellison on the company’s cloud strategy.
Kurian became CEO of Google Cloud in 2018, overseeing a shift towards winning enterprise clients. In April Google reported that its cloud unit finally turned profitable in the first quarter of 2023.
