Donald Valentine

Referred to as the "grandfather of Silicon Valley venture capital," Valentine was an American venture capitalist who concentrated mainly on technology companies in the United States. Valentine grew up in the Bronx,...

Michael J. Flynn

Proposer of Flynn's Taxonomy, a landmark classification of computer architectures developed in 1966, Flynn also served as Design Manager of prototype versions of the IBM 7090 and 7094/II. He joined IBM in...

Paul Vincent Galvin

Co-founder of Motorola, Galvin helped establish one of the world's leading telecommunications companies. Founded as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation on September 25, 1928, Motorola became a leader in communications equipment. Galvin was born...

Samuel (Sam) Wyly

Co-founder of several computer businesses, including Datran, which began construction of a nationwide system of microwave towers to transmit data among 27 American cities, Wyly is an American entrepreneur, businessman, and philanthropist....

Barry Schrager

Co-designer and developer of early commercial computer security software products, Schrager is recognized as one of the people who started the concept of data security when he founded and became the first...

Dave Smith

Known as the "Father of MIDI" for his role in developing the Musical Instrument Digital Interface, Smith pioneered many groundbreaking technologies in music. He was also responsible for the Prophet 5, the...

Richard (Dick) Hedger

Participant in the System 38 and AS/400 Operating System development management teams at IBM Rochester, Hedger brings over 40 years of experience in broad software development, software project management, quality management, and...

Wei Yen

Major contributor to the Cydra-5 mini-supercomputer, Yen is a software developer and entrepreneur who has been involved with several companies, including as chairman and founder of AiLive. He and his brother David...

Laszlo (Les) A. Belady

Author of the most-cited paper in software over two decades, Belady's 1966 article on Virtual Memory Systems set a landmark acknowledged by the Citation Index Classic. A design engineer and veteran senior...

Sergey Mikhailovich Brin

Co-founder of Google, Inc., the world's largest Internet company based on its search engine and online advertising technology, Brin built the company alongside Larry Page. Together with Page, they are often referred...

Sam Harrell

Co-founder of SEMATECH, the partnership between the U.S. government and U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturers to regain competitiveness for the U.S. semiconductor industry, Harrell is a leading specialist in semiconductor and international trade and...

Florian Brody

Co-inventor of Voyager's Expanded Books, the first electronic books to be read on a laptop, Brody is an international marketing executive and digital media specialist with over 25 years of experience. He...

Michael (Mike) Lazaridis

Founder of Research In Motion (RIM), Lazaridis co-created and manufactured the BlackBerry wireless handheld device. He has also served as chancellor of the University of Waterloo, and is an Officer of the...

Charles Simonyi

Overseer of Microsoft's flagship Office applications Word and Excel, Simonyi also directed development of Excel's predecessor Multiplan. In 1981, he applied directly to Bill Gates for a job at Microsoft. With Multiplan,...

Paul Maritz

Responsible for essentially all of Microsoft's desktop and server software — including such major initiatives as the development of Windows 95, Windows NT, and Internet Explorer — Maritz has served as a...

Paul Thelen

Founder of the largest portal for downloadable games in the world, Thelen built Big Fish Games into a platform distributing in excess of 1.5 million games per day. After graduating from the University...

Helen Greiner

Elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2013 for leadership in the design, development, and application of practical robots, Greiner is an American engineer and businesswoman best known as a co-founder...

Grady Booch

Developer of the Unified Modeling Language, Booch got his first programming experience on a Fortran IV while in high school. Graduating from military academy in 1977, he worked as a software project...

Henry Ross Perot

Founder of Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in 1962, Perot built one of the most influential technology services companies in American history. He sold EDS to General Motors in 1984, and founded Perot...

Marc Russell Benioff

Founder and CEO of Salesforce.com, Benioff is credited with "turning the software industry on its head" by using the Internet to "revamp the way software programs are designed and distributed." He has...