For tech, 2018 was a year full of scandal .
2018-12-29
From Facebook's dealings with Cambridge Analytica, to Elon Musk smoking weed on-air, the tech industry had its share of controversy in 2018.
When tech executives weren't being questioned on Capitol Hill , however, some were being praised by employees for their leadership and the companies they've helped create.
This week, Comparably — a website that rates companies across a number of different areas — released its 2018 list of Best CEOs . Of the 50 chief execs on that list, 29 were from tech companies.
Here are the 29 best large tech company CEOs of the year:
29. Bill McDermott, SAP
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Headquarters: Newtown Square, Pennsylvania
Year they became CEO: 2002
What their company does: Enterprise software for business operations and customer management
28. Scott Wagner, GoDaddy
Comparably
Headquarters: Scottsdale, Arizona
Year they became CEO: 2018
What their company does: Internet domain registry and website hosting
27. Daniel Schulman, PayPal
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Headquarters: San Jose, California
Year they became CEO: 2014
What their company does: Online payments
26. Michael Sullivan, Acquia
Acquia
Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts
Year they became CEO: 2017
What their company does: Open source content management system for websites
25. Colin Doherty, Fuze
Comparably
Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts
Year they became CEO: 2017
What their company does: Cloud-based communication systems
24. Susan Wojcicki, YouTube
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Headquarters: San Bruno, California
Year they became CEO: 2014
What their company does: Video-sharing platform
23. Steven Berglund, Trimble
Trimble
Headquarters: Sunnyvale, California
Year they became CEO: 1999
What their company does: Maker of global navigation satellite systems receivers, laser rangefinders, unmanned aerial vehicles, and more
22. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook
AP
Headquarters: Menlo Park, California
Year they became CEO: 2004
What their company does: The world's largest social network
21. Reed Hastings, Netflix
Headquarters: Los Gatos, California
Year they became CEO: 1997
What their company does: Online platform for watching movies, shows, and more
20. Amy Zupon, Vertafore
Vertafore
Headquarters: Denver, Colorado
Year they became CEO: 2016
What their company does: Insurance software
19. Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber
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Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Year they became CEO: 2017
What their company does: Ride-sharing services, food delivery, and more
18. Michael Dell, Dell
Oracle PR/Flickr
Headquarters: Round Rock, Texas
Year they became CEO: 1984
What their company does: Computer maker and more
17. Ryan Smith, Qualtrics
Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch
Headquarters: Provo, Utah
Year they became CEO: 2002
What their company does: Online market research software acquired by SAP in November 2018
16. Bryce Maddock, TaskUs
Comparably
Headquarters: Santa Monica, California
Year they became CEO: 2008
What their company does: Outsourced customer support
15. Michael Morhaime, Blizzard Entertainment
Mark Davis / Getty Images
Headquarters: Santa Monica, California
Year they became CEO: 2007*
What their company does: Video game creators, including World of Warcraft
*In October, Morhaime stepped down as Blizzard CEO.
14. Elon Musk, SpaceX/Tesla
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Headquarters: Hawthorne, California
Year they became CEO: 2002/2003
What their company does: Space transportation/electric car and energy storage
13. John Van Siclen, Dynatrace
Comparably
Headquarters: Waltham, Massachusetts
Year they became CEO: 2008
What their company does: Application performance management for programs running in the cloud and on-premise
12. Doug Mack, Fanatics
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Headquarters: Jacksonville, Florida
Year they became CEO: 2014
What their company does: Online sporting goods retailer
11. Carlos Rodriguez, ADP
Comparably
Headquarters: Roseland, New Jersey
Year they became CEO: 2011
What their company does: Payroll solutions provider
10. Tim Cook, Apple
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Headquarters: Cupertino, California
Year they became CEO: 2011
What their company does: Computer hardware, software, and more
9. Lynn Jurich, Sunrun
Sunrun
Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Year they became CEO: 2007
What their company does: Residential solar energy provider
8. John Legere, T-Mobile
Comparably
Headquarters: Bellevue, Washington
Year they became CEO: 2012
What their company does: Wireless communications provider
7. Marc Benioff, Salesforce
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Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Year they became CEO: 1999
What their company does: Customer-relationship management software
6. Alex Shootman, Workfront
YouTube/Workforce
Headquarters: Lehi, Utah
Year they became CEO: 2016
What their company does: Project management software
5. Jeff Bezos, Amazon
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for WIRED25
Headquarters: Seattle, Washington
Year they became CEO: 1994
What their company does: Ecommerce, cloud computing, consumer electronics, and more
4. Brian Halligan, Hubspot
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Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Year they became CEO: 2006
What their company does: Sales and marketing software
3. Brad Smith, Intuit
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Headquarters: Mountain View, California
Year they became CEO: 2008*
What their company does: Accounting software that offers tax preparation and payroll services
*Smith announced in April that he will step down as Intuit CEO at the end of 2018.
2. Sundar Pichai, Google
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Headquarters: Mountain View, California
Year they became CEO: 2015
What their company does: The world's most popular search engine, which also creates cloud computing, hardware, and software products, and more
1. Satya Nadella, Microsoft
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Headquarters: Redmond, Washington
Year they became CEO: 2014
What their company does: Develops, licenses, and sells computer software and devices
