Bridget van Kralingen

IBM CEO Ginni Rometty picked van Kralingen to oversee some of Big Blue’s most strategic businesses to help spur growth, including the company’s nascent blockchain unit. She also manages some of IBM’s biggest customer accounts, like GM and Morgan Stanley. This year her leadership was key in some of IBM’s largest deals, such as its $34 billion Red Hat acquisition and a multibillion-dollar alliance with AT&T.