Kim Polese, 43
In 1997, Time named her one of America's most influential people. But as the boom-boom '90s fizzled out, so did her celebrity. Today the founder and ex-CEO of software company Marimba and former public face of Java is still busy in Silicon Valley. She's CEO of SpikeSource, which tests and certifies open-source software for corporate clients. And just as in the early days of the Web, Polese says she's at the forefront of something big: "We got ahead of ourselves back in the bubble days. But innovation hasn't stopped around here."
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