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Top 25 Most Powerful People in U.S. Wireless 2009
| 1. |  Julius Genachowski |
| 2. |  Steve Jobs |
| 3. |  Lowell McAdam |
| 4. |  Eric Schmidt |
| 5. |  Ralph de la Vega |
| 6. |  Peter Chou |
| 7. |  Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie |
| 8. |  Robert Dotson |
| 9. |  Dan Hesse |
| 10. |  Bill Morrow |
| 11. |  Henri Moissinac |
| 12. |  Hans Vestberg |
| 13. |  Paul Jacobs |
| 14. |  Yoon-Woo Lee |
| 15. |  Brian Dunn |
| 16. |  Sanjay Jha |
| 17. |  Evan Williams |
| 18. |  Jon Rubinstein |
| 19. |  Ben Verwaayen |
| 20. |  Skott Ahn |
| 21. |  Lawrence Strickling |
| 22. |  Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo |
| 23. |  Carl Liu |
| 24. |  Andrew Lees |
| 25. |  Matt Carter |
What makes a person powerful? That's a tricky question and one that the Fierce editorial team has been carefully contemplating over the past few months as we culled together our second annual 25 Most Powerful People in U.S. Wireless list.
We think a person's "power" quotient is the right mix of influence, business savvy, leadership and technical innovation. But many of our selections this year have that something extra--a charismatic personality, a brilliant mind or a down-to-earth approachability that makes you want to work with them, for them, or just follow them in the news.
Interestingly, when we compared our 2008 Most Powerful People in Wireless list to this year's list, more than half of the 2008 candidates didn't make this year's cut. The reasons are numerous--some left their jobs, some retired, and some are just no longer powerful (in our opinion) because of their failure (or their company's failure) to make a mark in wireless this year.
This list is a compilation of who we think are the movers and shakers in the U.S. wireless industry. We realize that wireless is a global business, and many of our candidates oversee international companies, but we selected people based upon their influence here in the United States.
You may not agree with all our picks but I can assure you that this list was not compiled lightly. The Fierce editors scrutinized every person we selected to make sure we could justify their position on our list. Nevertheless, I encourage you to write or comment and let us know if you disagree with our picks or think we overlooked someone. --Sue
Comments
Posted by Anonymous | October 29, 2009 - 12:16pm
What a joke, do you guy's know anything about wireless? Why would you consider the losers as most powerful? I guess it's politics as usual. The real powerful ones are know by those of us in the industry....
Posted by Anonymous | October 29, 2009 - 12:33pm
Why make people click 25 times to see the 2009 list. Utterly ridiculous!
Posted by Anonymous | October 29, 2009 - 1:46pm
Very interesting. It seems like a very weird list, like a popularity contest. How can the CEO of Vodofone, Nokia, China Mobile, etc, etc, etc not be in the top 5?
Posted by Phil Goldstein | October 29, 2009 - 1:50pm
Actually, the CEO of Nokia, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, is on the list. Thanks for your comment though! --Phil Goldstein, associate editor, FierceWireless
Posted by Anonymous | October 29, 2009 - 4:58pm
It is hard to believe that there are no women with the "right mix of influence, business savvy, leadership and technical innovation" to be included in this list.
Posted by Clay San Diego | October 29, 2009 - 6:37pm
Click for 25 times to see the list of your opinion. Just making me FIERCELY mad.
I will not click anymore. I ignore you !!
Posted by Anonymous | October 29, 2009 - 10:55pm
The boys of wireless? What is wrong with this picture?
Posted by Anonymous | October 30, 2009 - 6:04am
Why do I have to click 25 times to see this stupid list? If I'm interested in knowing more about the listed people/company, I'll Google them by myself.
Just give me the list and the names, you moron.
Posted by Joseph | October 30, 2009 - 9:34am
It is idiotic to assume that your readers have time to click 25 times to see this list. Do you have that little respect for their time? Of course the result is that no one with a job is going to see the entire list. Really bad call.
Posted by Anonymous | October 30, 2009 - 11:22am
Great list. I could not agree more about 90% of the list. I look forward to seeing how these influencers shape the future of wireless.
Posted by Anonymous | October 30, 2009 - 4:34pm
i clicked twice, and I am leaving after this post. I trust that 25 clicks was a way to jack up advertising revenue. don't have the time to help you with that.
Posted by Anonymous | October 30, 2009 - 4:35pm
i clicked twice, and I am leaving after this post. I trust that 25 clicks was a way to jack up advertising revenue. don't have the time to help you with that.
Posted by Rhetoric | October 31, 2009 - 11:12am
Oh yeah... 2 soup cans, some string and I'm wireless buddy; where's my prize, my thumbs hurt and my cereal is soggy now! Thanks for nothing.
Posted by Krismet | November 2, 2009 - 3:47pm
The layout for this article is horrific. Hire a content strategist STAT!
Posted by Anonymous | November 3, 2009 - 12:02pm
So what this list implies is that there wasn't even ONE woman that can be found to weild any power in mobile? Typical myopic attitude.
Posted by Mike Dano | November 3, 2009 - 12:59pm
Hello! After a bit of discussion internally, we decided to revise the layout of our "Top 25 Most Powerful People in U.S. Wireless 2009" list to include an index, which will allow you to see all of our selections on one page. We appreciate all your comments, and hope that this addresses your concerns. As always, feel free to let us know what you think. Thanks much! --Mike Dano, managing editor.
Posted by bmenezes | November 3, 2009 - 1:35pm
OK, everyone who criticized the list for not including any women: Name specific women who should outrank some of the men on this list, and your reasons supporting your suggestions.
Posted by Anonymous | November 3, 2009 - 1:50pm
I agree that it's either a sad commentary on the industry or on what it takes to be considered powerful that no women are present in this list. What a turn off.
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