64. Ed Richards

Job: chief executive, Ofcom Age: 45 Industry: regulation 2011 ranking: 55 Chief executive of media regulator Ofcom since 2006, it has been a difficult 12 months for Ed Richards. He missed out on the BBC director general job and an appeal tribunal overturned Ofcom's ruling that Sky had to cut the amount of money it charges for its sports channels. Two years ago we said the regulator's Sky Sports investigation was a "big win" for Richards. Now the (football) boot is on the other foot. Nevertheless, his Ofcom role remains "incredibly important" said our panel, even if it was created by New Labour and is much less loved by the Tory-led coalition. Richards is running the 4G mobile spectrum auction , something which our panel said would dictate "how we consume media for a long time to come". But how long will he stay after failing to get the director general job for which some people considered him a favourite? "Once you do that, you lose momentum," said one of our panellists. Hence his slip down this year's MediaGuardian 100.