TIME Names Inaugural List of Executives of the Year: Tech and Data - Time Magazine
Today, TIME announced the inaugural TIME Executives of the Year: Tech and Data list, recognizing 50 senior leaders whose decisions are defining how businesses adopt and use technology and data. The honorees—including CIOs, CTOs, CDOs, and chief product officers—are advancing AI, strengthening cybersecurity, modernizing digital infrastructure, and reshaping how some of the world’s largest organizations operate, compete, and grow.
The list launches TIME Executives of the Year, a new editorial platform recognizing and convening the influential leaders driving change across the most consequential functions in business. TIME plans to expand Executives of the Year into additional fields in the year ahead.
Of the 2026 Executives of the Year: Tech and Data list, TIME editors write: “At a moment when emerging technologies are driving both the global economy and the news cycle, business leaders must not only keep up with an industry moving at a breakneck pace—they must look around the corner at what’s next…These leaders and their fellow honorees are the catalysts of some of the most consequential transformations taking place across modern enterprise—translating innovation into meaning.” Read more here.
“Some of the most consequential decisions in business today are being made by the executives determining how companies adopt new technologies, protect their systems, use their data, and prepare for what comes next,” said Dan Macsai, TIME’s executive editor and chief strategy officer. “Executives of the Year gives TIME a new platform to recognize and bring together these influential leaders. In the year ahead, we look forward to expanding the franchise across more fields and welcoming more of the people shaping the future of business into the TIME community.”
Ogi Redzic, chief digital officer and senior vice president at Caterpillar Inc.
Ekta Chopra, chief technology and AI officer at E.l.f. Beauty
Sven Gerjets, executive vice president and chief technology officer at Gap Inc.
TIME will host the TIME Impact Dinner - Executives of the Year: Tech and Data, bringing together influential leaders from across business and technology for an evening of connection, conversation, and celebration. The evening will include honoree remarks and a featured discussion exploring how technology and data are reshaping the modern enterprise and defining what comes next. Featured speakers will include chief product and technology officer of the Wikimedia Foundation Selena Deckelmann, senior vice president and chief information officer of the NFL Gary Brantley, chief technology officer of Rokt, Sam Dozor, and more.
TIME Executives of the Year: Tech and Data is presented by premier sponsor Rokt, the global leader in ecommerce using AI to make every transaction more relevant and joyful.
