It’s been a year, huh? When we set out in late 2019 to identify the TCB100, we saw a 2020 defined by an election and a booming economy. And for 10 weeks, that’s what we got. Then Covid hit, then George Floyd, then an election week that revealed how polarized we all are.

So when our editorial team met in a driveway just before Labor Day, the question was how to identify 100 people who will shape 2021 when 2020 threw us nothing but curveballs.

So this TCB100 is a little different. The people we’re suggesting you keep an eye on are the usual array of movers and shakers, emerging and vets, but with extra emphasis on those who will blaze our trail out of a pandemic and into a business universe increasingly defined by its commitment to equity in deeds rather than verbiage.

Here’s to a year of healing and prosperity for us all. —Adam Platt

By Tess Allen, Kait Ecker, Liz Fedor, Burl Gilyard, Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, Allison Kaplan, Sarah Lutman, Stephanie March, Dan Niepow, Adam Platt, Gene Rebeck, and Rajiv Tandon