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25 – Founder and CEO, Creadio

Will Lucas founded brand marketing technology company Creadio back in Will-Lucas2003.  He recently launched Classana, an educational resource discovery engine.

Lucas is also the organizer behind TedXToledo, which is now in its second  year.

24. Stacy Spikes – Co-founder, MoviePass

Stacy Spikes’ MoviePass is one of the most exciting things to happen to 24-stacy-spikesthe  movie business in a while. It’s essentially Netflix for movies still playing in  theaters.

Before co-founding MoviePass, Spikes was a long-time marketing executive who  recently delved into the tech world. He’s considered one of the leaders of film  entertainment marketing. Before starting MoviePass, Spikes founded the  Urbanworld Film Festival, which  is now the largest of its kind in the world. Urbanworld has premiered more  #1 films than any other North American Film Festival, including Sundance and  Tribeca.

23. Hamet Watt – co-founding MoviePass

Hamet Watt is a former entrepreneur in residence at True Ventures. 23-hamet-wattBefore  co-founding MoviePass alongside Stacy Spikes, he founded full-service media  buying platform NextMedium, and health app bLife.

22. Don Charlton – CEO, The Resumator

Don Charlton has changed the way hiring gets done online.  During the 22-don-charltonmost recent presidential election, both President Barack Obama and  Mitt Romney used The Resumator to handle all of the job applications coming  in.

Before founding The Resumator, Charlton established himself as an  award-winning interactive designer,

21. Majora Carter – Founder, Sustainable South Bronx, Startup Majora Carter recently opened up a new startup incubator and tech  21-majora-cartereducation center in South Bronx to foster entrepreneurship.

“There is a dramatic  shortage of engineering talent in the U.S. labor force, and we want to fill that  gap with people who could otherwise end up in the criminal justice and welfare  systems,” she recently  told Fast Company. She  says most of the talent in the South Bronx either leaves or doesn’t get  “nurtured into something positive.”

In 2010, Carter was  touted as one of the 100 most creative people in business. She’s  also a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster.

20. Wayne Sutton – Founder and CEO, PitchTo

Wayne Sutton founded PitchTo to help investors make smarter decisions 20-wayne-sutton and  entrepreneurs perfect their pitches.

Before founding PitchTo, Sutton was a partner at the NewMe accelerator where  he advised startups in product development and customer acquisition strategies,  among other things. Sutton has more than 10 years worth of experience in  Internet technology, and has advised numerous startups, including Tioki, Gokit,  and StockofU.

19. Kimberly Bryant – Founder, BlackGirlsCode

Kimberly Bryant wants to ensure that young black girls have the 19-kimberly-bryantopportunity  to learn how to code. In 2011, Bryant founded BlackGirlsCode, a six-week program  that teaches basic programming concepts, and gives underrepresented youths the  chance to learn about robotics, and a wide range of other technological  concepts.

Before founding BlackGirlsCode, Bryant spent about decade in biotechnology  where she held several management roles at companies including Genentech,  Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, and Merck.

18. Jon Gosier – Founder and CEO, MetaLayer

Serial entrepreneur Jon Gosier is the mastermind behind data analysis 18-jon-gosierstartup  MetaLayer, global innovation consultancy Appfrica, and non-profit organizations  HiveColab and Abayima.

Gosier is a senior fellow at TED who has given talks on topics including the  democratization of data platforms and social currency.

17. Tony Gauda – CEO and co-founder, Bitcasa

Tony Guada’s Bitcasa entered the online storage  market with a major 17-tony-gaudapoint of differentiation: infinite storage for its  users.

Gauda launched Bitcasa at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference back in  2011. Gauda and his co-founder have been able to attract $7 million funding from  some of the most well-respected venture capital firms in the business, including  Horizon Ventures, Andreessen-Horowitz, and First Round Capital. Gauda previously engineered fraud protection systems at Mastercard.

16. Angela Benton – Founder, CEO at NewMe Accelerator

NewMe is an accelerator geared toward minorities. It was featured in 16-angela-bentonCNN’s  Black in America: The New Promised Land: Silicon Valley in 2011.

Benton launched NewMe alongside co-founder Wayne Sutton. Prior to NewMe,  Benton launched BlackWeb20.com, an online publication for African-Americans  interested in technology and new media

15. Brian Watson – Analyst, Union Square Ventures

Before joining USV in 2012, Watson worked at Organizing for America, 15-brian-watsonTrendrr,  JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Gilt Groupe.

Now he works alongside prominent tech executives like Brad Burnham, Fred  Wilson, and Albert Wenger.

14. Michael Seibel – Justin.Tv, SocialCam

14-michael-seibelMichael Seibel has two successful startups under his belt: live video  streaming service Justin.tv and social video app SocialCam.

In 2012, Seibel  and his startup SocialCam got acquired for $60 million by 3D design software  company Autodesk just 18 months after launching.

Seibel’s success has recently earned him a spot as a part-time partner at  Silicon Valley’s most prestigious accelerator, Y Combinator.

13. Charles Hudson – Partner at SoftTech VC

In addition to investing in early-stage companies with SoftTech VC, 13-charles-hudsonHudson is  also an entrepreneur.

He is the co-founder and CEO of Bionic Panda Games. Hudson has also been  involved with the event company Social Gaming Summit, which Mediabistro  eventually acquired. He’s also been involved with social game developer Serious  Business, a company that Zynga later acquired.

12. Kanyi Maqubela – Partner, Collaborative Fund

Kanyi Maqubela has worked in consumer technology since 2006. But he’s 12-kanyi-maqubelaquickly  climbed up the ladder from a serving as a field director at solar leasing and  sales company One Block Off the Grid to a venture partner at Collaborative  Fund.

Maqubela joined Collaborative Fund as entrepreneur in residence in 2011, and  became a full-time partner in December 2012.

11. Tristan Walker – EIR, Andreessen Horowitz

Before joining  Andreessen Horowitz, Walker worked at Foursquare as 11-tristan-walkerdirector of business  development for about two and a half years. Walker was one of Foursquare’s  earliest employees, joining the company only after  sending several emails to  Foursquare founders Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai.

While at Foursquare, Walker helped  form partnerships with Bravo, MTV, CNN, The New York Times, NBA, and  Starbucks.

10. Erik Moore – Founder and Managing Partner, Base Ventures

Moore has invested in nearly two dozen startups, including TracksBy, 10-erik-mooreEcomom,  and Socialcam. He was also among the first investors to finance Zappos, a shoes  and apparel company that sold to Amazon for $1.2 billion.

Moore spent 15 years in investment banking at Merrill Lynch before pursuing  his entrepreneurship. In 2010, he co-founded FlickrLaunch, a digital streaming  platform on Facebook for feature-length movies.

9. Ty Ahmad-Taylor – Head of Smart TV Services, Samsung

9-ty-ahmad-taylorTy Ahmad-Taylor has a vast background in media and technology. In 2008,  Ahmad-Taylor founded real-time sports aggregator service FanFeedr. In 2012,  Samsung acquired FanFeedr and Ahmad-Taylor came on board with Samsung.

Before starting FanFeedr, Ahmad-Taylor was the senior vice president for  strategy and product development at MTV Networks’ Music & Logo Group. Prior  to MTV, Ahmad-Taylor a held executive roles at Comcast.

8. Ime Archibong – Manager of Strategic Partnerships, Facebook

8-ime-archibongIme Archibong is the guy in charge of Facebook’s music and video strategy.  Archibong manages Facebook’s relationships with companies like Spotify, Hulu,  and Netflix.

Archibong joined Facebook back in 2010. Before that, Archibong worked at IBM  in its business development department, where he handled the licensing of IBM’s  technology.

7. Malik Ducard – Director of content partnerships, YouTube

Ducard is responsible for developing partnerships between YouTube and 7-malik-ducardfilm,  TV, and new media companies. Under Ducard’s leadership, YouTube launched YouTube  Live, started offering movie rentals from Paramount Pictures, and partnered with  ABC News, Al Jazeera English, BuzzFeed, and other news organizations for  presidential election coverage back in 2012.

Before joining Google in 2010, Ducard served as the senior vice president of  digital distribution at Paramount.

6. Lisa Lambert – VP and Managing Director of Software and Services, Intel  Capital

Lambert joined Intel Capital back in 1999. Before that, Lambert held an  6-lisa-lambertexecutive role at Intel’s Desktop Products Group, where she was responsible for  the Pentium II and III processing systems.

She’s invested in and helped exit companies including VMWare, Financial  Engines, OpenFeint, and MySQL.

5. Kirk McDonald – President, PubMatic

McDonald joined digital media platform PubMatic in October 2011, 5-kirk-mcdonaldbringing  with him more than two decades of experience at media companies like Time and  CNET.

Last year, AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher reported that Yahoo was looking to buy  ad tech companies, including  Pubmatic.

4. Ken Coleman – Chairman, MIPS Technologies, Inc

Kenneth Coleman is a long-time tech veteran, having held numerous  4-ken-colemanexecutive positions at technical computing company SGI, video game company  Activision, and Hewlett Packard.

Today,  Coleman serves on the board of two public tech firms: MIPS Technologies and  scientific enterprise software company Accelrys.  Coleman also previously founded enterprise software company  ITM.

3. David Drummond – Senior Vice President — Corporate Development and Chief Legal  Officer, Google.

David Drummond has been involved with Google since the search giant’s 3-david-drummondearly  days. While working as a partner at law firm Wilson & Sonsini Goodrich and  Rosati, he served as Google’s first outside counsel. Drummond was right there  alongside Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin when the company was  raising its first fundraising rounds, and also helped them incorporate the  company.

Today, Drummond continues to lead Google’s teams for legal, government  relations, and corporate development. He’s played a huge role in defending  Google against antitrust regulators in Europe.

2. Shellye Archambeau – CEO, MetricStream

Shellye Archambeau came on board with enterprise software provider  2-shellye-archambeauMetricStream in 2002 as its chief executive officer. Archambeau also holds a  board position at media and marketing firm Arbitron.

In her career, Archambeau has held several executive roles at companies  including Arbitron, Loudcloud, NorthPoint Communications, and Inc. In 2000,  Internet World named her one of the top 25 “Click and Mortar” executives in the  country.

1. John Thompson – CEO, Virtual Instruments

During Thompson’s senior year at Florida  A&M University, he joined IBM 1-john-thompsonas a sales representative. He ended up staying  for 28 years, and eventually rose to become general manager of IBM  Americas.

In 1999, Thompson got an offer from Symantec that he couldn’t turn down: the  chance to be president and chief executive officer of the cloud security giant.  He eventually retired in 2009, but started investing in early-stage  startups.

Cloud computing startup Virtual Instruments was one of them. In 2009,  Thompson joined Virtual Instruments’ board of directors, and stepped in as CEO  in 2010. He only intended to stay for a few months, but investors would only  finance the company if Thompson stayed on board as CEO.