Know your role. Take our poll. Help our editors finish arguing which set of executives, inventors and luminaries will be among this year's inductees into the Light Reading Hall of Fame.

Phil Harvey, Editor-in-Chief

April 16, 2019

2 Min Read
Who Else Should Be in the Light Reading Hall of Fame?

It's time, once again, to honor some of the famous and infamous individuals that have made notable contributions to the global communications sector by nominating them to be inducted into the Light Reading Hall of Fame.

From its origination in 2010, our annual list celebrates individuals whose contributions have shaped the modern communications industry, or whose impact just cannot be ignored.

Our editors choose the inductees each year, but you can help influence their picks by voting in the Light Reading Hall of Fame 2019 Poll.

In our preliminary list, we have several seasoned execs with a wide range of backgrounds -- like perennial media favorite Meg Whitman, and telecom mover and shaker Hassan Ahmed. There are also a few pioneers in the poll -- Rouzbeh Yassini and Michael Joseph both shaped the way we communicate now, in remarkably different ways.

Our preliminary list of 15 Hall of Fame contenders also features another trailblazing cloud executive -- AWS CEO Andy Jassy -- and a blast from Light Reading's past, one of the most high-profile telecom vendor mascots in the history of the site, Ciena's own Lightworks Lou (ed. note: We couldn't find his LinkedIn page).

Please do take the poll and let us know if there's someone you'd rather see in the Hall of Fame this year that's not on our list.

And, if you're curious, here's a list of everyone who has made the Light Reading Hall of Fame to date:

Light Reading Hall of Fame 2018

  • Basil Alwan, President of IP/Optical Networks, Nokia

    • Diane Greene, CEO, Google Cloud

    • John Legere, CEO, T-Mobile USA

    • Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft

    • Mark Zuckerberg, Founder & CEO, Facebook

      Light Reading Hall of Fame 2017

    • Nick McKeown

    • Reed Hastings

    • Tony Werner

    • Mukesh Ambani

    • Cesar Alierta

    • John Donovan

    • Hedy Lamarr

    • Pankaj Patel

    • Maggie Wilderotter

    • John Chambers

    • James Crowe

    • Jonny Ive

    • Chris Pinkham

    • Tom Wheeler

    • Larissa Herda

    • Glen F Post III

    • Kris Rinne

    • Brian Roberts

    • Stephen Elop

    • Light Reading Hall of Fame 2013

    • Martin Casado

    • John D'Ambrosia

    • Philip Falcone

    • Edward Snowden

    • Niklas Zennström

    • Light Reading Hall of Fame 2012

    • Irwin Jacobs

    • Charles Kao

    • Jack Grubman

    • Mark Wegleitner

    • Ren Zhenghfei

    • Light Reading Hall of Fame 2011

    • Ed Whitacre

    • Joe Nacchio

    • Hatem Dowidar

    • Martin Cooper

    • Gary Smith

    • Steve Jobs

    • Kobi Alexander

    • John Cioffi

    • Bernie Ebbers

    • Craig McCaw

    • Bob Metcalfe

    • Phil Harvey, US Bureau Chief, Light Reading

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About the Author(s)

Phil Harvey

Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

Phil Harvey has been a Light Reading writer and editor for more than 18 years combined. He began his second tour as the site's chief editor in April 2020.

His interest in speed and scale means he often covers optical networking and the foundational technologies powering the modern Internet.

Harvey covered networking, Internet infrastructure and dot-com mania in the late 90s for Silicon Valley magazines like UPSIDE and Red Herring before joining Light Reading (for the first time) in late 2000.

After moving to the Republic of Texas, Harvey spent eight years as a contributing tech writer for D CEO magazine, producing columns about tech advances in everything from supercomputing to cellphone recycling.

Harvey is an avid photographer and camera collector – if you accept that compulsive shopping and "collecting" are the same.

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