As the calendar closes in on 2010, MarketWatch is looking back on eight of the most influential people who made a name for themselves in the world of finance and investing over the past decade. MarketWatch's list focuses on those who have managed to stay afloat through the tumultuous times, which thus rules out most of the decade's scoundrels. (Sorry, Ghost of Ken Lay.)

The nominees are:

  • Larry Page and Sergey Brin, for whom Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has risen from obscurity to become a synonym for "Web search."
  • Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, and Isaac "Biz" Stone. Would this bullet point fit inside a single Twitter post?
  • Jeffrey Immelt, perhaps one of the more controversial picks. His challenging rein at General Electric (NYSE:GE) began just before 9/11, and he's seen the company's stock drop along with the rest of the market. Will Immelt's decision to transfer a controlling interest in NBC Universal to Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) help right the ship?
  • Meredith Whitney, the trend-bucking financial analyst who correctly called Citigroup's (NYSE:C) demise before most people were paying attention to the impending meltdown.
  • Ben Bernanke. We all have our opinions on Helicopter Ben's approach to economic triage.

Who's missing from this list? Whom would you nominate, either for the positive splash they made or the headaches they caused? Sound off in the comments box below.