Note: This post was originally published on March 9, 2017. It was updated on July 23, 2019.
Keeping up with how companies build, deploy, and manage applications and the infrastructure that supports them increasingly means keeping up with the latest developments in cloud computing. And one of the best ways to stay informed about the cloud is to follow the field's top movers and shakers: the practitioners, pundits, visionaries, and deal-makers who continually advance the technology and push it even farther into the enterprise mainstream.
To get you started, we’ve rounded up a list of smart, cloud-focused folks worth keeping tabs on. Check back regularly for the latest updates and additions to our collection of cloud influencers.
Lee Atchison
Senior Director, Strategic Architecture at New Relic
Twitter: @leeatchison
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/leeatchison
Blog: www.leeatchison.com/atscale
Veteran IT practitioner and a respected voice in the cloud community; currently working at the bleeding edge of enterprise cloud computing and high-availability systems.
Jeff Barr
Vice President & Chief Evangelist at Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Twitter: @jeffbarr
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jeffbarr
Blog: aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws
Mastermind behind the AWS blog, where he has been a daily contributor since 2004.
Marc Benioff
CEO at Salesforce.com
Twitter: @Benioff
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/marcbenioff
One-time protege of Larry Ellison who walked away from Oracle to bet everything on a cloudy future for enterprise software.
Randy Bias
VP Technology, Open Source Software at Juniper Networks
Twitter: @randybias
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/randybias
Blog: cloudscaling.com/blog
Gifted cloud prognosticator (he predicted the growth rate for AWS long before that was an easy or safe thing to do); founding member and tireless advocate for the OpenStack project.
Jason Bloomberg
President at Intellyx
Twitter: @theebizwizard
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonbloomberg
Founder of digital transformation analyst firm Intellyx; key figure in the popularization of service-oriented architectures (SOAs) and other table-setting technologies for the cloud era.
Duncan Epping
Chief Technologist, Office of the CTO at VMware
Twitter: @duncanyb
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/depping
Blog: http://www.yellow-bricks.com/
Key figure in VMware's evolution into a top-tier cloud player; currently serves as a liaison between the firm's R&D team and customer communities. Also an active and well-known blogger.
James Governor
Principal Analyst and Co-Founder at RedMonk
Twitter: @monkchips
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jamesgovernor
Blog: redmonk.com/jgovernor
Tech-industry journalist turned research-firm guru; Redmonk's developer-centric focus and Governor's pull-no-punches style are a good fit with the cloud crowd.
Jocelyn DeGance Graham
CEO and Co-Founder at Cloud Network of Women (CloudNOW)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jocelyndg/
Also SVP of Market Development at supply chain technology provider 6Fusion and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Holberton School of Engineering.
Scott Guthrie
Executive VP, Cloud & AI Group at Microsoft
Twitter: @scottgu
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guthriescott/
Veteran Microsoft executive currently responsible for executing the company's billion-dollar bet on cloud AI.
James Hamilton
VP & Distinguished Engineer at AWS
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jameshamilton4
Blog: perspectives.mvdirona.com
A key player in AWS expansion plans that have consistently pushed the limits of innovation, both in hardware and software development.
Dr. Steve Herrod
Managing Director at General Catalyst
Twitter: @herrod
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveherrod/
Former CTO and R&D head at VMware. Currently leading a venture capital team and advising early-stage cloud firms.
Kelsey Hightower
Developer Advocate at Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Twitter: @kelseyhightower
GitHub: github.com/kelseyhightower
Medium: medium.com/@kelseyhightower
Hard-core cloud practitioner, Go code-slinger, and prolific technology educator; currently winning over developer hearts and minds for GCP.
Urs Hölzle
SVP at Google Cloud Infrastructure
Twitter: @uhoelzle
Blog: cloudplatform.googleblog.com
Research at Google: research.google.com/pubs/author79.html
Computer science professor and Java pioneer; later Google's first head of engineering and the chief architect of Google Cloud's emergence as a top-tier enterprise cloud player.
Mike Kavis
Managing Director at Deloitte Consulting
Twitter: @madgreek65
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mikekavis
Forbes: www.forbes.com/sites/mikekavis
Cloud architect extraordinaire; leader of the first team to build a high-speed transaction network in Amazon's public cloud.
Bridget Kromhout
Principal Program Manager, Microsoft
Twitter: @bridgetkromhout
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bridgetkromhout
GitHub: github.com/bridgetkromhout
Podcast: www.arresteddevops.com
Website: bridgetkromhout.com
One of the industry's most visible and talented developer advocates; operates across a number of platforms, including the well-regarded Arrested DevOps podcast.
Lydia Leong
VP & Distinguished Analyst covering cloud at Gartner
Twitter: @cloudpundit
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/lydialeong
Website: cloudpundit.com
Gartner’s Analyst of the Year in 2010. Currently maintains her tenure as the firm's resident cloud expert; among other duties, Leong maintains Gartner’s famous Magic Quadrant for Public Cloud IaaS.
David Linthicum
Chief Cloud Strategy Officer at Deloitte Consulting
Twitter: @DavidLinthicum
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/davidlinthicum
InfoWorld: www.infoworld.com/author/david-linthicum
Prolific author who has penned 13 books and more than 5,000 articles, many of which deal with the cloud and related topics.
Lori MacVittie
Principal Technical Evangelist, Office of the CTO at F5 Networks
Twitter: @lmacvittie
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/lmacvittie
Website: devcentral.f5.com/users/38
Slideshare: www.slideshare.net/lmacvittie
Tech evangelist, futurist and cloud technology advocate for one of the cloud's top infrastructure vendors.
JP Morgenthal
CTO at DXC Technology
Twitter: @jpmorgenthal
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jpmorgenthal
Website: jpmorgenthal.com
Key player in the cloud services and consulting space; currently leads DCX's cloud-focused DevOps and applications practices.
Lauren E. Nelson
Principal Analyst at Forrester Research
Twitter: @lauren_e_nelson
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-nelson-86420310/
Lead analyst in Forrester's private Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud practice; advisor to hundreds of firms on cloud strategy and economics.
Richard Seroter
Senior Director of Product at Pivotal & Microsoft MVP
Twitter: @rseroter
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/seroter
Blog: seroter.wordpress.com
InfoQ: www.infoq.com/profile/Richard-Seroter
A 12-time Microsoft MVP for cloud integration, and a sought-after instructor, trainer, and advisor for cloud technology initiatives.
James Staten
VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research
Twitter: @staten7
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jstaten
Blog: azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/author/jstaten
Serial advisor to scores of cloud computing firms, from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 enterprises.
Werner Vogels
CTO of Amazon.com
Twitter: @Werner
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/wernervogels
Blog: www.allthingsdistributed.com
Mastermind behind one of the world's most ambitions and innovative cloud technology players; prolific blogger, ubiquitous event keynote presence, and a world-class EDM DJ.
John Willis
Founder at Botchagalupe Technologies
Twitter: @botchagalupe
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/johnwillisatlanta
GitHub: github.com/botchagalupe
A low-key but highly regarded cloud computing authority who operates out of a small town outside of Atlanta, Ga.
More cloud resources:
- Cloudy With 100% Visibility: Monitoring Application Performance in Hybrid Clouds [white paper]
- Successful Cloud Migration In 3 Easy Steps [ebook]
- The Many Paths to the Hybrid Cloud [ebook]
- 4 Steps to Becoming a Cloud Leader in Your Company [blog post]
- Visibility into the Migration From Static to Dynamic Infrastructure [Video]
The views expressed on this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of New Relic. Any solutions offered by the author are environment-specific and not part of the commercial solutions or support offered by New Relic. Please join us exclusively at the Explorers Hub (discuss.newrelic.com) for questions and support related to this blog post. This blog may contain links to content on third-party sites. By providing such links, New Relic does not adopt, guarantee, approve or endorse the information, views or products available on such sites.
