Mike Hearn is the man for me this year. He brought up the discussion about block size and released a solution that he believes to be the correct one. It wasn't just talk, he really wants to improve and change Bitcoin in a way he believes to be correct and future proof and he is pushing his philosophy ahead. It doesn't matter if his change is pushed through/is accepted... What matters is that he showed that there are people caring about Bitcoin. This is the kind of people we need.
Hearn and Andresen are the most popular this year but not the man of the year as there proposal are being on debate. To become the man of the year, one must really contribute and develop a success proposal. Anyways about influential, I see no people who will fit that but rather most popular person this year.
It's great to contribute and make a goal happen, but starting a discussion on a topic that was a bit disregarded so far is quite important too, in my opinion. It's good to see all these developments around Bitcoin and services supporting it, but that's not thinking in the future sustainability of the network itself, it's more of a short term goal. Devs are discussing the currency's future and all those services being developed depend on this
