A near-careerist with Microsoft, Neupert’s ‘sabbatical’ as CEO of Drugstore.com from 1998 to 2001, was also his entrée to healthcare. He later served two years on President Bush’s IT Advisory Committee, co-chairing the Health IT Subcommittee. By Neupert’s own description, he returned to Microsoft with a mission in 2005, and began lobbying CEO Steve Ballmer on the vast opportunities in healthcare. “It’s not like I had to twist his arm. I just had to persuade him,” he has said. Of the alien companies to enter healthcare (especially tech companies), Microsoft has made the biggest impact. Against market-specific odds and the usual audience of Microsoft doubters, in five years Neupert has pieced together the components for HealthVault and Amalga. As David Harlow blogged recently, “we’ll see how long it takes to realize that potential.” A secondary benefit of Neupert’s agenda: investors and entrepreneurs are emboldened by a perception of Microsoft as a potential buyer of their startups. As in previous decades, Microsoft has not disappointed: since 2006 Neupert has reportedly spent $1 billion on his portfolio, including purchases of Azyxxi (“air traffic control system for hospitals”), Medstory (search), and Global Care Solutions (general IT). This catalyzing function could earn Neupert a spot on our list all on its own, as it encourages risk-taking by smaller innovators who might otherwise sit on the sidelines. 

Writing in Forbes: “Many equate investing in electronic medical records to the paving of the interstate highway. They miss the key attribute. The interstate highway enabled the movement of goods and people. It accelerated new forms of commerce and markets because of the lower cost and speed of transportation. What is sorely needed in health care is a connected health ecosystem that enables the dynamic movement of existing digital data that connects all the points of care—hospitals, physicians, pharmacies and the home. Paying doctors and hospitals to implement electronic medical records is more like repaving selected streets."