The Top 100 Executives Of 2013

There's a saying in football that no lead is safe. Right now, perhaps more than at any other time, that applies to the IT industry as well. As the pace of technology evolution quickens, no IT company, no matter how big and dominant it may be, is invulnerable. Smaller companies and startups, meanwhile, find themselves battling in an ever-more competitive IT arena to survive, let alone thrive.

It's no surprise, then, that the value of management—no, make that leadership—is higher than ever. And so we present this year's CRN Top 100 Executives, our annual list of the IT industry's foremost leaders. They include the 25 most influential executives who are driving the pace of the industry; 25 innovators who are setting the technology course; 25 channel sales leaders who take all that vision and technology and make it real for solution provider partners; and 25 disrupters whose work challenges the industry status quo.

This year's Top 100 Executives list includes one of the industry's longest-serving chief executives whose bold responses to market transitions is a blueprint for other industry CEOs; a developer of bleeding-edge network security tools and technology; a veteran channel chief who makes sure one of the industry's biggest vendors maintains its channel-first approach; and a CTO tasked with keeping one of the largest storage system developers nimble and innovative.

Here, written by the CRN staff, is our list of the Top 100 Executives of 2013.