This year, the top spot on three of the lists has changed hands – for the first time since 2010 for the "North America" and "World" lists, with Elliott Masie now slipping one place to second. Each list sees movement in positional terms, but last year’s leaders in Europe and the UK retain their positions.

Those whose influence in this field appears to have grown most during 2014 include

• Craig Weiss, who has taken over top spot in the World and North America lists
• Christopher Pappas, rising to number three in both the World and Europe lists
• Laura Overton, who not only consolidated her position at the top of the UK list but also makes her debut in the Europe and World lists

All the lists have three new entries this year, reflecting changing attitudes among the lists’ judges – drawn from around the world - towards what now constitutes an "influencer". The current key determining factors for being an influencer in the corporate eLearning field are said to be

• willingness to share knowledge (peer-to-peer learning) - not just opinions or selling products - typically via social media, especially LinkedIn and Twitter
• publishing case studies and research on how to achieve improved outcomes
• innovation

According to the judges focusing on the Asia-Pacific sector, talking about “typical eLearning“ is no longer good enough. Practitioners are looking for information on innovation and new ways and new technologies in considered, cost-effective, meaningful implementations.

This could manifest itself, throughout 2015 and beyond, via increasingly closer relationships between HR / Learning & Development, and Internal Communications departments, as more organisations make greater use of enterprise social networks (ESNs) for informal learning.

These "movers and shakers" lists are compiled from a corporate online learning perspective on the basis of a person’s perceived current influence on the online learning industry – as a practitioner, commentator, facilitator, and thought leader. In such a subjective area, opinions will always differ – and it’s guaranteed that the judges’ decisions will not meet with universal acclaim - but these lists represent the views of a number of key people about the personalities who lead the corporate online-learning world.

The 2015 lists are

World List

1.     Craig Weiss - an eLearning analyst, expert, author, speaker, and thought leader who is CEO of E-Learning 24/7. (Position last year: 2)

2.     Elliott Masie - head of The MASIE Center, a New York think-tank focused on how organisations can support learning and knowledge within the workforce. (Position last year: 1)

3.     Christopher Pappas – Greek-based founder and CEO of the eLearning Industry's Network elearningindustry.com (Position last year: 8)

4.     Tom Kuhlmann - one of the world’s best-known eLearning designers. (Position last year: 3)

5.     Laura Overton – a speaker, member of ELIG, and managing director of Towards Maturity, a not-for-profit company that provides research and online resources to help organisations deliver effective learning interventions at work.

6.     Harold Jarche - the Canadian-based ‘thought catalyst’, writer, and blogger who is also chairman of the Internet Time Alliance. (Position last year: 5)

7.     Patti Shank - founder of Learning Peaks and an internationally recognised expert on, and advocate for, the pragmatics of the design of information and instruction to help people do what they need to do. (Position last year: 6)

8.     Rebecca Stromeyer - owner of ICWE, which runs Online Educa as well as eLearning Africa (Position last year: 7)

9.     Sahan Chattopadhyay - enterprise community manager at Thoughtworks and writer of the ID and Other Reflections blog.

10.  Sunder Ramachandran – blogger and head of sales training at Pfizer in Mumbai, with over eleven years’ enterprise learning space experience.

"Bubbling under"

Others who just missed out on making this year’s list included

• Jay Cross - a writer, commentator and speaker. (Position last year: 10)
• Clark Quinn - learning technology consultant, writer and blogger based in California.
• Donald H Taylor - speaker and online technologies pundit.
• Ryan Tracey - eLearning Manager at AMP and writer of the eLearning Provocateur blog.
• Nicolas Hellers – the Latin American-based author of books on eLearning, editor and publisher of America Learning Media.
• Charles Jennings - a speaker, thought leader and "70-20-10" proponent.

North America list

1.     Craig Weiss - an eLearning analyst, expert, author, speaker and thought leader who is CEO of E-Learning 24/7. (Position last year: 2)

2.     Elliott Masie - head of The MASIE Center, a New York think-tank focused on how organisations can support learning and knowledge within the workforce. (Position last year: 1)

3.     Tom Kuhlmann - one of the world’s best-known eLearning designers. (Position last year: 3)

4.     Harold Jarche - the Canadian-based “thought catalyst“, writer, and blogger. (Position last year: 5)

5.     Patti Shank - founder of Learning Peaks, and an internationally recognised expert on, and advocate for, the pragmatics of the design of information and instruction to help people do what they need to do. (Position last year: 6)

6.     Aaron Silvers, a designer, technologist and strategist responsible for helping to bring learning technologies into being – notably SCORM and Experience API (otherwise known as "Tin Can"). He leads the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee charged with the international industry standardisation of Tin Can.

7.     Debbie Richards – Texas-based President of Creative Interactive Ideas, designing, developing, and delivering adult-learning programs with measureable impact.

8.     Cathy Moore - eLearning blogger. (Position last year: 4)

9.     Tony Karrer – CEO and consulting CTO of TechEmpower, based in California, USA.

10.  Jay Cross - a writer, commentator and speaker. (Position last year: 7)

"Bubbling under"

Others who just missed out on making this year’s list included

• Connie Malamed - consultant, writer, and speaker in the fields of online learning, visual communication, and information design. She publishes The eLearning Coach website. (Position last year: 8)
• Cammy Bean – an eLearning instructional designer and vice president of learning design for Kineo US. (Position last year: 9)
• Roger Schank - president and CEO of Socratic Arts and a long-established thought leader in this sector.
• Clark Quinn - learning-technology consultant, writer, and blogger based in California.
• Jane Bozarth – a speaker and author.
• John Leh, the CEO and lead analyst at Talented Learning, a Pennsylvania-based news, research, and consulting firm specialising in extended enterprise learning technology.
• Jerry Roche - editorial director, Elearning! and Government Elearning! magazines.

Europe List

1.     Rebecca Stromeyer - owner of ICWE, which runs Online Educa as well as eLearning Africa (Position last year: 1)

2.     Richard Straub - the secretary general of the European Learning Industry Group (ELIG), an advisor to the EU on all things to do with eLearning. (Position last year: 2)

3.     Christopher Pappas – Greek-based founder and CEO of the eLearning Industry Network

4.     Helge Scherlund - the Danish-based writer and blogger on eLearning topics. (Position last year: 3)

5.     Armin Hopp - founder and president of Speexx and a member of ELIG. (Position last year: 4)

6.    Laura Overton – a speaker; member of ELIG, and managing director of Towards Maturity

7.    Thea Payome - editor of the Germany-based CheckPoint eLearning ezine and website. (Position last year: 5)

8.     Iva Matasić - CEO at Consulio, Inc – a Croatian-based consultancy specialising in online learning technologies and connecting EU experts with EU research funds. (Position last year: 9)

9.     Dr Ladislava (‘Vlad’ka’) Knihova - a key champion, user, and publisher of eLearning applications within the corporate and academic sectors in the Czech Republic. (Position last year: 8)

10.  Donald H Taylor – speaker, blogger, and online-technologies pundit.

"Bubbling under"

Others who just missed out on making this year’s list included: 

• Sally Ann Moore - an events-management and online-learning-consultancy specialist, based in Switzerland, who organises a number of online learning events around Europe and the rest of the world. (Position last year: 7)
• Elmar Husmann – deputy secretary general of, and public policy advisor to, ELIG
• Serge Ravet – of the French-based ePortfolio and Open Badges specialist, ADPIOS.
• Jane Hart - a workplace-learning and collaboration advisor, writer, and international speaker. Founder of C4LPT, which shares information on new learning trends, technologies, and tools.  
• Petros Roumeliotis – of E.VI.A, an Athens-based eLearning company supplying the Greek corporate sector.
• Charles Jennings - writer, speaker, and “70-20-10“ proponent.

UK List

1.     Laura Overton – a speaker; member of ELIG, and managing director of Towards Maturity, a not-for-profit company that provides research and online resources to help organisations deliver effective learning interventions at work. (Position last year: 1)

2.     Jane Hart – a workplace-learning and collaboration advisor, writer, and international speaker who’s active on social media. Founder of C4LPT, which shares information on new learning trends, technologies, and tools. (Position last year: 5)

3.     Donald H Taylor - chairman of the annual Learning Technologies conference and chairman of the Learning and Performance Institute. (Position last year: 2)

4.      Gillian Broadhead – social-media activist and a director of market analysts Learning Light and the E-Learning Centre.

5.    Martin Baker - CEO of the Charity Learning Consortium (CLC). (Position last year: 6)

6.     Clive Shepherd - a writer and commentator on the online-learning scene. (Position last year: 3)

7.     David Wilson – managing director of elearnity and a longtime commentator on the learning- technologies sector.

8.     Ben Betts - CEO of HT2 and a specialist in collaborative and game-based learning principles, focusing on engaging learners in online collaborative learning.

9.     Charles Jennings - a speaker and thought leader. (Position last year: 8)

10.  Julie Wedgwood – director of Productive Ltd, which provides consultancy on the use of learning technology. (Position last year: 9)

"Bubbling under"

Others who just missed out on making this year’s list included

• Piers Lea - a member of the ELIG board and chief strategy officer at Leo and Learning Technologies Group. (Position last year: 7)
• Donald Clark - a long-established speaker and commentator on eLearning.
• Vaughan Waller, a writer and commentator who is also senior learning architect for Deloitte Learning Technologies.
• Nick Shackleton-Jones - group head of online and informal learning at BP, as well as a writer and speaker.
• Rob Clarke – owner of Training Press Releases.
• David Patterson - a director of market analysts Learning Light and the E-Learning Centre
• Asi DeGani – the head of digital learning at Telefónica UK.
• Colin Steed - a writer, editor and long-time chief executive at the Learning & Performance Institute.
• Graeme Coomber – CEO of EdTrIn, the publicly listed delivery and marketing platform for demand-side education, training, and innovation development.

Asia-Pacific list

1.     Sahan Chattopadhyay - enterprise community manager at Thoughtworks and writer of the ID and Other Reflections blog. (Position last year: 7)

2.     Sunder Ramachandran – blogger and head of sales training at Pfizer in Mumbai, with over eleven years’ enterprise learning-space experience.

3.     Ryan Tracey - eLearning manager at AMP, Advisory Board member at eLearn Magazine, reviewer at the Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, author of magazine articles, and writer of the eLearning Provocateur blog. (Position last year: 6)

4.     Anne Bartlett-Bragg - managing director Asia-Pacific of the Ripple Effect Group, executive director of the Learning Technologies User Group and contributor to the Ripple Effect Group blog. (Position last year: 5)

5.     Abhijit Bhaduri - author and also chief learning officer of Wipro. Based in Bangalore, India.

6.     Amit Garg – co-founder of Upside Learning, m-learning evangelist, international speaker, and contributor to the Upside Learning Blog. (Position last year: 1)

7.     Manish Gupta - CEO of G-Cube Solutions, an eLearning products and services company, director of Vivo Collaboration, and speaker on performance support, experiential learning, gamification, and just-in-time learning. (Position last year: 8)

8.     Joyce Seitzinger - author of the Moodle Tool Guide for Teachers, an international speaker and writer of the Cat’s Pyjamas blog. (Position last year: 4)

9.     Manish Mohan - senior vice president at NIIT, a mentor at e3cube, and writer of the Learn and Lead blog. (Position last year: 2)

10.  Michelle Ockers – Sydney-based organisational learning practitioner, currently working for Coca-Cola Amatil.

"Bubbling under"

Others who just missed out on making this year’s list included

• Zaid Ali Alsagoff - eLearning manager at the International Medical University, avid tweeter and writer of several blogs including ZaidLearn and eLearning In Malaysia. (Position last year: 10)
• Rob Wilkins – head of learning & development at Aussie Home Loans; tweeter, and writer of the Ruminations of a Learning and Development Professional blog. (Position last year: 8)
• Abtar Kaur - professor of education and languages at Open University Malaysia; an international speaker and consultant. (Position last year: 3)
• Sumeet Moghe - training manager at Thoughtworks; tweeter and writer of The Learning Generalist blog. (Position last year: 9)
• Jeevan Joshi - principal consultant and founder of KnowledgeWorking; speaker; author of the KnowledgeWorking blog, and co-author of The Learning Cafe blog.
• Kavi Arasu – Mumbai-based blogger and member of the corporate learning and development team at Asian Paints.
• Matt Guyan – Newcastle, New South Wales-based instructional designer, writer, and blogger.

• Tanya Lau – a blogger and eLearning instructional designer from Sydney, working with Transport for New South Wales.