Craig Conway: President and CEO, PeopleSoft

Years from now, PeopleSoft's history will likely be divided into two periods: B.C. and A.D. That's before Craig Conway and after David Duffield. Founded in 1987, PeopleSoft became an ERP software powerhouse in the early '90s. Under the guidance of CEO Duffield, it was one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the industry. Then the bottom fell out. With sales faltering and customers revolting, PeopleSoft brought in Conway to serve as president and COO. By the end of the summer, he was CEO. Just 44 years old at the time, Conway turned things around, but not without a struggle. The company endured a two-year drought between major product releases, but Conway's management skills held things together. He guided the company through a lengthy and difficult 1999 merger with CRM software-maker Vantive, which yielded the celebrated PeopleSoft 8 CRM this summer. And perhaps most impressively, Conway tightened financials and solved the company's numerous budget problems while doubling spending on R&D. Of late, he's guided PeopleSoft as it converts its entire software suite to an Internet-based architecture, which has distinguished the company from the client-server-based competition. Now PeopleSoft is more successful than ever.