Ice, Ice Baby: 10 High-Tech CEOs To Complete The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Stepping Up To The (Icy) Plate

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has made its way to Silicon Valley.

Over the past few weeks, some of the biggest names in technology have joined the fight against ALS -- also known as Lou Gehrig's disease – via the now-viral Ice Bucket Challenge. The way it works is somebody is challenged to either donate $100 to ALS research or dump a bucket of ice water on their head within 24 hours (although, in a lot of cases, folks are doing both). After completing the challenge, the ALS supporter then nominates others to do the same.

So far, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has helped raise more than $50 million in donations. Here are 10 high-tech executives who've helped make that happen.

Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was one of the earlier tech giants to accept the Ice Bucket Challenge and didn't pass on the chance to nominate others. He extended an ice-bucket invite to fellow Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg; Microsoft founder Bill Gates; and Netflix founder Reed Hastings.

"That was really cold," said a drenched Zuckerberg, with a shiver, at the end of his challenge.

Bill Gates

Microsoft pioneer Bill Gates tackled the ALS Ice Bucket challenge exactly how you would expect him to: like an engineer. A video of Gates' challenge shows him crafting up blueprints and designing a structure that, in the end, serves as a self-dumping bucket.

Gates nominated TV and radio personality Ryan Seacrest; CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors Elon Musk; and Chris Anderson, the curator of TED conferences.

John Chambers

Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers took on the Ice Bucket Challenge to pay special tribute to the Cisco employees who have been impacted by the disease.

"It's a terrible disease that has affected many of us here within the Cisco family and around the world," Chambers said on his challenge video. "Together, we can defeat this disease. But it takes each of us making a personal contribution, which I absolutely will do, but also having the courage to challenge others to come together to make a difference."

With that, Chambers nominated Safra Catz, president and CFO at Oracle; John Doerr, venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins; Joe Tucci, CEO of EMC; and Graham Beale, chief executive of the Nationwide Building Society.

"For those of you dumping the ice on me, your careers may be influenced by this," Chambers joked before letting employees douse him with ice water.

Michael Dell

The Ice Bucket Challenge also made its way to Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell, who recorded a video of his icy encounter outside the future site of the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas in Austin.

"I'm donating and I'm encouraging every one who can to as well," Dell said, before nominating Marc Benioff, founder and CEO of Salesforce.com; Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett-Packard; and actor Samuel L. Jackson.

Meg Whitman

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman went all out with her challenge, proceeding to jump in an Olympic-sized swimming pool after being doused in ice-cold water.

"I'm thrilled to be a part of this challenge," Whitman said on her video, noting that she lost a close childhood friend to ALS about 20 years ago.

Whitman nominated former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; General Motors CEO Mary Barra; and former presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Tim Cook

To the oh-so-appropriate tune of Vanilla Ice's "Ice, Ice Baby" playing in the background, Apple CEO Tim Cook also took the icy plunge.

"This is a terrible disease and I'd like to donate," Cook said. "But I'd also like to take the ice because I'd like to pass this on to some of my friends."

With that, Cook nominated hip hop legend and Beats Electronics co-founder Dr. Dre; Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger; and musician Michael Franti.

Satya Nadella

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also made a splash with the Ice Bucket challenge, but not without nominating a few of his high-tech peers: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Google CEO Larry Page.

"I think this is a great opportunity for all of us to contribute, not only to raising the awareness, but to [ALS] research that can find cures," Nadella said.

Larry Page (And Sergey Brin)

Larry Page accepted Nadella's challenge, and even dragged his fellow Google co-founder Sergey Brin along for the ride.

Page and Brin braved the icy waters together, both wearing shirts from HBO's new show "Silicon Valley."

Jeff Bezos

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also stepped up to Nadella's challenge, but not without cracking a few jokes first.

In a video, Bezos said he considered nominating former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, but joked that his bucket would "just leak." In the end, Bezos instead nominated his "true childhood heroes" -- "Star Trek" stars William Shatner, Patrick Stewart and George Takei.

"I've been following this ice bucket challenge and I find it totally amazing," Bezos said.

Sanjay Poonen

Sanjay Poonen, general manager of VMware's end-user computing business, enlisted the help of his nephew and two sons to take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge recently while knee-deep in Lake Tahoe. Poonen then challenged his former boss and SAP CEO Bill McDermott, his current boss and VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger, and EMC's Joe Tucci.