The 25 Most Influential Executives Of 2010

1. Paul Maritz, President and CEO, VMware

No one -- and we do mean no one -- has powered more high-margin sales and profits for partners this year. Think about this: VMware virtual machines now outnumber physical servers. Virtual deployments are expected to be up 28 percent this year. VMware, meanwhile, is posting sales gains at a 40 percent-plus clip. This year, Maritz and company delivered more product innovation than some companies do in a lifetime, giving VMware market leadership in the cloud market. Maritz has the technical chops to know where the market is going and he isn’t afraid to make the necessary big bets.