Pat McGovern
Company: IDG
Home: Hillsborough
McGovern is the undisputed heavyweight champion of tech media execs, and he can trace it all back to the world’s first computer magazine, Computers & Animation, where he was an assistant editor. As chairman of International Data Group, he oversees a multi-billion dollar global empire that spans 90 countries and reaches more than 200 million people. Amid the constant churn in tech and publishing, his patient, focused adherence to long-term vision has let IDG grow and adapt through diversification, reader service, and global expansion. Lately he’s been touting the economics of electronic media, and IDG has a new “Internet-first” strategy.
Kavitark Ram Shriram
Company: Sherpalo
Home: Mountain View
He’s called the Sherpa of Google not just because he wrote a six-figure check for its growth, but also because he was involved in the formation of the DNA of the company (he still sits on the board). The self-made billionaire started at Netscape, launched shopping site Junglee (sold to Amazon in ’98), and then founded Sherpalo in 2000. Besides Google, he’s gone on to back Yodlee, Zazzle.com, and currently backs Indian and American outfits like Mevio and 24/7 Customer.
Jerry Sanders III
Company: Advanced Micro Devices
Home: San Francisco
A champion of competition, Sanders, as co-founder and CEO of semiconductor manufacturer AMD, created the only real competitor to Intel. Before he stepped aside in 2002, for three-plus decades, he refused to back down despite odds and market share being stacked against him, allowing AMD to thrive while thousands of firms ended up in the tech graveyard. When IBM decided to not market desktops based on its own processors for Windows, AMD stayed. When Compaq and HP stopped making processors, AMD kept plugging away. While Motorola at times seems unsure in its commitment to desktop and server platforms, it’s never a question for AMD. During the dot-com boom, when Intel suffered from supply problems, AMD grew market share from single digits to almost 20 percent.
Sergey Brin
Company: Google
Home: Palo Alto
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, when Google makes a move, everybody pays attention. Along with Larry Page, whom he met at Stanford, Brin is the co-founder of the Google empire, and he currently operates as the president of technology. After developing the original search engine software, the duo launched the company out of a friend’s garage. Today, he’s one of the wealthiest Americans and has been dubbed the most important person on the Web by many tech publications. Oh, yeah, and he’s only 35.
Larry Page
Company: Google
Home: San Francisco
Page has racked up a multi-billion dollar net worth since launching Google with Brin in 1998. He grew the company to about 200 employees before moving himself to the president of products in 2001. While the recent economic slip has reduced his overall worth by a couple of billion, Google is still the undisputed dominating force in the tech world.
Haute Design
January 2, 2009Raise Your Grasses: The California Academy of Sciences
