Vitalik Buterin is the mainstay for Ethereum. His contributions to the project have been very important so far. Thanks to his actions, Ethereum is at a much better level now. It is being developed more and more to reach upper levels. And the price is also effected in a good way. Ethereum has a bright future and it might even compete with Bitcoin in the future.
It will compete with bitcoin in the future if not now, I mean the fact that there's a face for Ethereum is enough evidence to that although they're supply isn't as small as bitcoin, I think that they can compete regardless. Also, just because no one talks about Vitalik in this forum doesn't mean that he didn't made an impact.