From Elon Musk to Satya Nadella: Here are the 29 top tech CEOs of 2018, according to employees

Best tech CEOs 2018
Stephen Brashear/Getty; Kevork Djansezian/Getty; Saurabh Das/AP; Skye Gould/Business Insider
  • This week, Comparably — a website that rates companies across a number of different areas — released its list of Best CEOs of 2018.
  • Of the 50 chief executives on that list, 29 were from tech companies.
  • Below, we've compiled the list of best tech CEOs of the year. 
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For tech, 2018 was a year full of scandal

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.

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Here are the 29 best large tech company CEOs of the year: 

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29. Bill McDermott, SAP

Bill McDermott
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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

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28. Scott Wagner, GoDaddy

Scott Wagner
Comparably

Headquarters: Scottsdale, Arizona

Year they became CEO: 2018

What their company does: Internet domain registry and website hosting 

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27. Daniel Schulman, PayPal

Daniel Schulman
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Headquarters: San Jose, California

Year they became CEO: 2014

What their company does: Online payments 

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26. Michael Sullivan, Acquia

Mike Sullivan Acquia CEO
Acquia

Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts

Year they became CEO: 2017

What their company does: Open source content management system for websites

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25. Colin Doherty, Fuze

Colin Doherty
Comparably

Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts

Year they became CEO: 2017

What their company does: Cloud-based communication systems

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24. Susan Wojcicki, YouTube

Susan Wojcicki, YouTube
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Headquarters: San Bruno, California

Year they became CEO: 2014

What their company does: Video-sharing platform

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23. Steven Berglund, Trimble

Steve Berglund, Trimble
Steven Berglund, president and CEO of 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

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22. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. AP

Headquarters: Menlo Park, California

Year they became CEO: 2004

What their company does: The world's largest social network

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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 

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20. Amy Zupon, Vertafore

Vertafore CEO Amy Zupon
Vertafore CEO Amy Zupon Vertafore

Headquarters: Denver, Colorado

Year they became CEO: 2016

What their company does: Insurance software

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19. Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber

Dara Khosrowshahi
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Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Year they became CEO: 2017

What their company does: Ride-sharing services, food delivery, and more 

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18. Michael Dell, Dell

Michael Dell
Michael Dell Oracle PR/Flickr

Headquarters: Round Rock, Texas

Year they became CEO: 1984

What their company does: Computer maker and more

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17. Ryan Smith, Qualtrics

ryan smith qualtrics CEO
Qualtrics CEO Ryan Smith at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2015. 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 

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16. Bryce Maddock, TaskUs

Bryce Maddock
Comparably

Headquarters: Santa Monica, California

Year they became CEO: 2008

What their company does: Outsourced customer support

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15. Michael Morhaime, Blizzard Entertainment

Mike Morhaime and Allen Adham
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. 

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14. Elon Musk, SpaceX/Tesla

Elon Musk
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Headquarters: Hawthorne, California

Year they became CEO: 2002/2003

What their company does: Space transportation/electric car and energy storage

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13. John Van Siclen, Dynatrace

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 

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12. Doug Mack, Fanatics

Doug Mack
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Headquarters: Jacksonville, Florida

Year they became CEO: 2014

What their company does: Online sporting goods retailer

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11. Carlos Rodriguez, ADP

Carlos Rodriquez
Comparably

Headquarters: Roseland, New Jersey

Year they became CEO: 2011

What their company does: Payroll solutions provider

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10. Tim Cook, Apple

Tim Cook
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Headquarters: Cupertino, California

Year they became CEO: 2011

What their company does: Computer hardware, software, and more

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9. Lynn Jurich, Sunrun

Lynn Jurich Sunrun
Lynn Jurich, the CEO of Sunrun. Sunrun

Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Year they became CEO: 2007

What their company does: Residential solar energy provider

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8. John Legere, T-Mobile

John Legere, T-Mobile
Comparably

Headquarters: Bellevue, Washington

Year they became CEO: 2012

What their company does: Wireless communications provider

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7. Marc Benioff, Salesforce

Marc Benioff
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Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Year they became CEO: 1999

What their company does: Customer-relationship management software

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6. Alex Shootman, Workfront

Workforce CEO Alan Shootman
YouTube/Workforce

Headquarters: Lehi, Utah

Year they became CEO: 2016

What their company does: Project management software

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5. Jeff Bezos, Amazon

Jeff Bezos
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Headquarters: Seattle, Washington

Year they became CEO: 1994

What their company does: Ecommerce, cloud computing, consumer electronics, and more

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4. Brian Halligan, Hubspot

Brian Halligan
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Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Year they became CEO: 2006

What their company does: Sales and marketing software

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3. Brad Smith, Intuit

Brad Smith
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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. 

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2. Sundar Pichai, Google

Sundar Pichai
Getty

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

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1. Satya Nadella, Microsoft

Satya Nadella
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Headquarters: Redmond, Washington

Year they became CEO: 2014

What their company does: Develops, licenses, and sells computer software and devices

On February 28, Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, joined 31 other media groups and filed a $2.3 billion suit against Google in Dutch court, alleging losses suffered due to the company's advertising practices.

Elon Musk Microsoft Google
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