The 25 Most Influential Executives Of 2023

Hello, and welcome back. In this special edition, we take a look at CRN's list of the Top 100 Executives of 2023, including this year's 25 Most Influential Executives. Plus: A look at cybersecurity reporter Kyle Alspach's July interview with the No. 1 Most Influential Executive of the year, Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora.

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The Top 100 Executives Of 2023: The 25 Most Influential Executives

As part of CRN's annual list of the Top 100 Executives in IT, the Top 25 Most Influential Executives of 2023 have been making an outsized impact during this turbulent period through a combination of exceptional vision, know-how and execution.

Crucially, these leaders have all brought a focus to working closely with solution provider partners in order to help customers across industries navigate the global challenges they face.

This year's No. 1 Most Influential Executive, Palo Alto Networks' Nikesh Arora, is transforming the company into a complete unified platform for modern cybersecurity.

Learn about all 25 influential executives here.

In addition to influential executives, our Top 100 Executives list honors vendor and solution provider leaders in three other categories:

• The Top 25 IT Innovators

The No. 1 Innovator of 2023, Nutanix's Rajiv Ramaswami, is redefining how customers will need to use data in the multi-cloud era;

• The Top 25 Channel Sales Leaders

The No. 1 Channel Sales Leader of 2023, HP Inc.'s Kobi Elbaz, is driving crucial improvements around HP’s Amplify partner program;

• The Top 25 Technology Disrupters

The No. 1 Disrupter of 2023, OpenAI's Sam Altman, has become the human face of artificial intelligence as ChatGPT sparks a wave of interest in generative AI.

Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora On Why 'The Current Paradigm Is Broken' In Cybersecurity

Five years in as CEO of cybersecurity giant Palo Alto Networks, Nikesh Arora believes the industry transition he and his company have been pushing for—to a security platform approach rather than a reliance on stand-alone products—is now underway. Discussions about "tool sprawl" in cybersecurity are now ubiquitous, for one thing. But even more importantly, partners and customers are increasingly recognizing that there is an array of major benefits from adopting a unified platform of security products that are tightly integrated across numerous segments, according to Arora.

Ultimately, as the number of cyberattacks and breaches continues to surge, it should become more and more clear to customers and partners that "the current paradigm is broken" in cybersecurity, Arora said. "The best-of-breed, single-vendor strategy is not working."

When it comes to the cybersecurity platform debate, "hopefully, we're beginning to switch the perception," he said.

In this recent interview with CRN, Arora, named the No. 1 Most Influential Executive on CRN's 2023 Top 100 Executives list, also discussed how he dealt with his cybersecurity learning curve after joining Palo Alto Networks, his vision for making the vendor an "evergreen security company" and the revenue opportunities he sees around generative AI.

[Related: Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora: 'Disrupt Ourselves,' Transform The Industry (Read)]

Elsewhere In CRN

Check out some of CRN's other best-read stories on channel-related news and insights over the past week:

• Google Hires 5 Key Execs From AWS, Microsoft: Here’s Who (Read)
• Dell Co-COO Chuck Whitten’s Sudden Exit: 5 Big Things To Know (Read)
• AWS Easily Beats Microsoft In $120B IaaS Cloud Market: Gartner (Read)

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