The Most Influential People Across History
Find the most influential people in 24 academic disciplines and numerous subdisciplines
Find famous and important people related to your research. This is an excellent tool for research papers, topic papers, and building a bibliography. Using our influence-based algorithm, our rankings synthesize data from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef.
Students and researchers now have a fast and reliable way to find influential thinkers from 24 disciplines and 300 sub-disciplines (and growing). If you want to find history’s most influential philsosophers, or the world’s most influential mathematicians currently, now you can.
We also provide custom rankings of people by discipline as well as interviews with influential academics who are currently active.
To use this tool, select the discipline (and optional subdiscipline) relevant to your research, and specify influential academics by history, world, or US. Even results that are counterintuitive are often enlightening (our algorithm always picks up a signal).
Methodology: How and Why We Rank by Influence …
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List of the most influential people in Business,
#951
Mary Ann Glynn
#142483
Overall Influence
Mary Ann Glynn is an American academic. She is the Joseph F. Cotter Professor of Management and Organization at Boston College's Carroll School of Management, and the president of the Academy of Management.
Go to Profile#952
Jerold Lee. Zimmerman
#163600
Overall Influence
#953
Michael Bryan Beverland
#164141
Overall Influence
#954
Carlos Flavián
#164253
Overall Influence
#955
Majken Schultz
#164429
Overall Influence
#956
Tor D. Scd Tosteson
#164462
Overall Influence
#957
Kate Kearins
#118827
Overall Influence
Kate Kearins is a New Zealand business academic. As of 2018 she is a full professor at the Auckland University of Technology. Academic career Kearins has multiple degrees from the University of Waikato, including a 1997 PhD titled 'Local government power relations : a genealogical study' and an MA in French from Massey University. She co-authored 'Thesis Survivor Stories: Practical Advice on Getting Through Your PhD or Masters Thesis' with Marilyn Waring.
Go to Profile#958
Terence Aubrey Shimp
#164695
Overall Influence
#959
Philip L. Powell
#164723
Overall Influence
#960
Valerie Belton
#114874
Overall Influence
Valerie Belton, commonly known as Val Belton, is a retired professor of management science at University of Strathclyde. She is a researcher who has worked on the design and application of multi-criteria decision making approaches for over 30 years. She co-authored a book on this field Multicriteria Decision Analysis: An Integrated Approach, that was released in 2002. She has attempted to incorporate multi-criteria decision analysis with problem structuring techniques, system dynamics, and other analytical approaches. She has a number of scholarly articles to her name and served as the editor...
Go to Profile#961
Joseph I. Castro
#80343
Overall Influence
Joseph I. Castro is an American academic and was the eighth chancellor of the California State University. Before that, Castro was the eighth president of California State University, Fresno, and the first California native and first Mexican-American to hold the position. In 2016, he received the Ohtli Award from the Mexican government. He resigned in 2022 as CSU chancellor after accusations of mishandling sexual harassment claims against a fellow administrator.
Go to Profile#962
Harvey S. Gellman
#113516
Overall Influence
1924 - 2003 (79 years)
Harvey S. Gellman was born in Poland and emigrated to Canada when he was very young. After getting a Ph.D., he launched a successful career as a consultant in Toronto. He was remembered as being "one of Canada's computer pioneers and most distinguished consultants".
Go to Profile#963
Wim Schoutens
#165472
Overall Influence
#964
Franklin Warren Mcfarlan
#165473
Overall Influence
#965
Bernard Burnes
#165483
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (71 years)
#966
Sankaran Venkataraman
#165588
Overall Influence
#967
Elliot Bendoly
#136920
Overall Influence
1974 - Present (50 years)
Elliot Bendoly is an American Professor of Management Science at the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University notable for his work in Operations Management and collaborations with scholars in Management and Psychology with economics expert Rachel Croson, Susan Helper and David Levine, as well as System Dynamics expert John Sterman. He has served as Associate Dean for Fisher’s Undergraduate program and Co-Academic Director of its Specialized Master in Business Analytics.
Go to Profile#968
Mark A. Huselid
#165777
Overall Influence
#969
Ivo Iavicoli
#165827
Overall Influence
#970
Milton Harris
#165845
Overall Influence
#971
Harold Jr. Bierman
#165948
Overall Influence
#972
William Andrews Sahlman
#165950
Overall Influence
#973
Bahaudin G. Mujtaba
#165987
Overall Influence
#974
Elliott R. Jacobson
#166085
Overall Influence
#975
Thomas Noel Garavan
#166291
Overall Influence
#976
Robert Eugene Hoyt
#166381
Overall Influence
#977
Martin Loosemore
#166481
Overall Influence
#978
Timothy M. Devinney
#114526
Overall Influence
Timothy M. Devinney is an Australian-American-British management scholar. He holds the position of Chair and Professor of International Business and Strategy at Alliance Manchester Business School. Born in the Lawrenceville district of Pittsburgh PA, he attended Central Catholic High School and subsequently graduated from Carnegie Mellon University . He attended the University of Chicago and received three degrees – MA , MBA , PhD in Economics. His dissertation was entitled "A General Equilibrium Analysis of the Borrower-Lender Relationship: An Examination of the Credit Rationing Hypothesis".
Go to Profile#979
Roger G. Ibbotson
#166496
Overall Influence
#980
Ronald Mitchell
#166569
Overall Influence
#981
Scott Burton
#166632
Overall Influence
#982
Gerald Goodhardt
#97066
Overall Influence
1930 - 2020 (90 years)
Gerald Goodhardt was a marketing scientist. Career Professor Goodhardt began his career working as a statistician for Attwood Panels, and later Aske Research with Andrew Ehrenberg. From 1981-95 he was Sir John E Cohen Professor of Consumer Studies at The City University Business School.
Go to Profile#983
Michael Hobday
#166689
Overall Influence
#984
Carol Alison. Adams
#167200
Overall Influence
#985
Lawrence R. Glosten
#167330
Overall Influence
#986
Vincent Vadez
#167396
Overall Influence
#987
Steven Mark Donn
#167509
Overall Influence
#988
Ming Chen
#167563
Overall Influence
#989
Ravi Vernon Raymond Ramamurti
#167569
Overall Influence
#990
Rosemary Colangelo Stewart
#167666
Overall Influence
#991
Torsten Müller
#71284
Overall Influence
1962 - Present (62 years)
Torsten Müller is an agricultural scientist at the University of Hohenheim. He is chairman of the examination and admissions board of the European master's degree Course "Organic Agriculture and Food Systems" and Dean of Education of the Agricultural Science Faculty in Hohenheim.
Go to Profile#992
Paul Hardin III
#75888
Overall Influence
1931 - 2017 (86 years)
Paul Hardin III was an American academic administrator who spent 27 years as a leader in higher education. He was the chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1988 to 1995, president of Wofford College from 1968 to 1972, of Southern Methodist University from 1972 to 1974, and of Drew University from 1974 to 1988. He was trained as a lawyer at Duke University and at the Duke University Law School.
Go to Profile#993
Robert McNamara
#106029
Overall Influence
1916 - 2009 (93 years)
Robert Strange McNamara was an American business executive and the eighth United States secretary of defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He remains the longest-serving secretary of defense, having remained in office over seven years. He played a major role in promoting the U.S.'s involvement in the Vietnam War. McNamara was responsible for the institution of systems analysis in public policy, which developed into the discipline known today as policy analysis.
Go to Profile#994
Barbara Bechler Flynn
#168671
Overall Influence
#995
Karen Beauchemin
#72617
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (68 years)
Karen Beauchemin is a federal scientist in Canada who is recognized as an international authority on methane emissions and ruminant nutrition. Her research helps develop farming techniques that improve how we raise cattle for meat and milk, while reducing the environmental impacts of livestock production.
Go to Profile#996
David F. Ford
#168790
Overall Influence
#997
Linus Dahlander
#146495
Overall Influence
1979 - Present (45 years)
Linus Dahlander is an innovation researcher specializing in crowdsourcing, open innovation, and online communities. He is a professor at the European School of Management and Technology and holds the Lufthansa Group Chair in Innovation. He also served as Associate Editor of the Academy of Management Journal.
Go to Profile#998
Gábor Rekettye
#143641
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (80 years)
Gábor Rekettye is a Hungarian marketing author and professor. At present he is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Pécs and Honorary Professor at the University of Szeged. Early life and career Until the age of 10 he lived in Villány, then he moved with his parents to Pécs. He finished the first cohort of German language at the Klára Leöwey High School in Pécs, then he went to Karl Marx University of Economic Sciences in Budapest where he received an MSc diploma in economics. He was the first in his family who attended any form of higher education, his parents also urged him to study foreign languages.
Go to Profile#999
Linda V. Green
#153861
Overall Influence
Linda Vogel Green is an American management scientist and operations researcher. She specializes in the mathematical modeling of health care services, and has also made important contributions to systems for the deployment of emergency vehicles. She is the Cain Brothers and Company Professor of Healthcare Management at the Columbia Business School of Columbia University.
Go to Profile#1000
Lisa Mainiero
#111881
Overall Influence
1957 - Present (67 years)
Lisa Adeline Mainiero is an American writer and academic in the field of management. Her career focuses on the careers of women and men, and workplace romance. Mainiero is one of the first researchers to investigate romance in the workplace, and crafted the Kaleidoscope Career Model with her co-author Sherry E. Sullivan.
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