Clay Bavor

A veteran Googler and Princeton computer ­science grad, Bavor heads the search giant’s ambitious new virtual-reality unit (motto: “VR for everyone”). Reporting directly to Google CEO ­Sundar Pichai, Bavor oversaw this year’s launch of the company’s new VR operating system along with the debut of its own headset, controller, and hardware blueprints for other manufacturers to build on. Now it falls on Bavor to make VR mainstream—and to beat out front-runners like ­Facebook’s Oculus VR and HTC’s Vive.