Cloud Computing Leaders to Follow Online

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]