Satya Nadella

Satya Nadella has successfully led Microsoft through not one but two major transformations in his decade at the helm of the world’s largest software company—first from PCs to the cloud, and now to AI. His prescient early bet on OpenAI helped put Microsoft in the pole position of the generative AI race. But competitors such as Alphabet’s Google have been catching up. Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI is reportedly tense, as OpenAI seeks to remake its corporate structure and increasingly competes directly with Microsoft for customers. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s own consumer-focused AI efforts have failed to catch fire so far. Still, Microsoft remains firmly ensconced in Big Tech’s upper echelon, with a market capitalization north of $3.7 trillion. Under Nadella’s leadership, Microsoft’s Azure cloud-computing service steadily gained market share from Amazon’s AWS, and Microsoft’s 365 suite of business productivity software remains ubiquitous across industries. Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot meanwhile has become a must-have tool for every software developer. And Nadella is not sitting still, continuing to invest in Microsoft’s internal AI capabilities as well as placing savvy bets on up-and-coming startups in fields from driverless cars to quantum computing. Considered one of the sharpest strategic minds in management today as well as a charismatic and empathetic leader, he has the ear of Fortune 500 CEOs, startup founders, investors, and presidents and prime ministers.