I would like to nominate Daniel "bytemaster" Larimer.

Among other things, Larimer worked out how to create bitAssets, that is, assets (like bitUSD) that exist on a blockchain but are pegged to the value their real world counterpart, Larimer pioneered the notion of a Distributed Autonomous Company (DAC), Larimer built Delegated Proof of Stake (DPOS) and Transfer Invisibly To a Name (TITAN) to serve as the underlying BitShares blockchain-technology, Larimer outlined the relation between decentralization, economies of scale and cost.

Larimer also started the bounty for the most watched Bitcoin video ever back in 2010.

Larimer also deserves special mention for being exceptionally generous and honest with his projects, outlining them in detail on the forums long before developing them, sharing all his insights and solutions immediately as he thinks of them, encouraging people to challenge them, and having all code and written content available openly with free access.

http://bitshares.org/
https://bitsharestalk.org/
https://github.com/bytemaster