A bit late to the party but this is in my area of expertise.

The first thing to note about your question is that in the case of the VOC, the company is very much bigger than the man. One of the remarkable aspects of the VOC, was the way it treated even it's high-ranking employees. No one could hold dictatorial power over the company, and everyone, even the highest leaders, were essentially replaceable bureaucrats.

Now, with that said, there were some characters who stood out above and beyond. First some notes about the leadership of the VOC. The company was ultimately beholden to it's shareholders in Europe, who could, and did file complaints against it. The central leadership of the Company was the Heeren XVII, the Lords Seventeen, who directed the Company from it's headquarters in Amsterdam. The seats of the Heeren XVII were distributed between the different VOC chambers in Amsterdam, Zeeland, Delft, Rotterdam, Enkhuizen and Hoorn. Amsterdam was the most powerful, but could not have full majority in and of itself.

These Heeren XVII was the highest authority in the VOC, but their actual leadership over the organization was limited. This mostly owed to the geographical difficulties of effectively ruling something happening a year of travel away in East Asia.

Most important decisions were made in Asia, and therefore the big historical figures of the VOC are in Asia. They are namely the Governor-Generals, who held absolute authority over the VOC activities in Asia. They were named by the Heeren XVII and could also be replaced by them, but beyond the yearly report to them, they had pretty much free-reign.

The traditional big name of the VOC, who is also most famous (and notorious) in the Netherlands today is Jan Pieterszoon Coen. During his two reigns as Governor-General he accomplished a series of important actions. First, he conquered the native city of Jayakarta on Java, and founded Batavia in 1619, which would be the Dutch capital of the Indies for the three following centuries. He conquered the Banda Islands, and committed a well documented genocide against the native inhabitants, securing Dutch dominion of the trade in the valuable nutmeg spices of the Banda. He also set in motion the events causing the Amboina Massacre of 1623, and the eventual expulsion of the English from Indonesia, to secure Dutch hegemony. His attempts to attack Manila and Macau were less successful, although the failed attack on Macau in 1622 did lead to the colonization of Taiwan two years later.

Coen is regarded as probably the biggest VOC leader, although his image has later been tarnished by the genocide he committed. I want to mention some other key characters I consider important.

Antonio van Diemen was the Governor-General of the VOC from 1636-1645. His era saw the Dutch reaching perhaps the height of their power. By 1639 they had the monopoly on European trade with Japan, as the Portuguese were expelled. In 1641, they conquered Malacca from the Portuguese, giving them control of the Straits of Malacca, a key trade route. In 1642 they conquered the Spanish trading post on Taiwan, securing them the full control of Taiwan. The rule of van Diemen also saw the dispatch of the most spectacular VOC explorations. Maarten Gerritsz Vries in 1643 sailed to Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, and most famously, Abel Tasman sailed south of Australia and discovered Tasmania and New Zealand in 1642. Like Coen, van Diemen was never fired, but died in office.

Finally, what is arguably the true Golden Age of the VOC, was under Joan Maetsuycker. he was Governor-General for an incredible period of 25 years, from 1653-1678. During this period, Dutch trade flourished, and even more important territories were acquired. They got contorl of Ternate and Tidore, and conquered Makassar in 1667. They got a presence on Sumatra, and sent expeditions to the interior of Java. They conquered the Malabar and Coromandel coast, as well as Ceylon from the Portuguese. Only real setback was the failure to open trade with China, and the loss of Taiwan to the Chinese in 1662.

After Maetsuycker, the VOC had arguably peaked, and it's slow decline in the face of English and French competition gradually began. So I'd argue that these three leaders are those to whom you can attribute a big part of their success.

There is at least one honorable mention I want to make. He did not attain the title of Governor-General, possibly because he was not Dutch, but he did tremendously valuable work for the Company.

Francois Caron, a French Protestant. He spent 22 years in Japan from 1619-1641, and was a key factor in securing the Dutch their trade monopoly with Japan, which was one of their most significant economic victories (the Japan trade was a large part of their mid-17th century revenues). After Japan, Caron became Governor of Formosa (Taiwan) and reformed the Dutch economy on the island, to make it another very prosperous colony. Caron never rose to Governor-General, but had to travel back to the Netherlands in disgrace, accused of private trade. He later helped found the French East India Company, and was regarded as a traitor by the Dutch.

I hope this replu has been meaningful. For general information on the VOC I recommend In Search of Pepper and Tea by Jacob Els. For more specifics, go for works like The Company and the Shogun by Jacob Clulow, and How Taiwan became Chinese by Tonio Andrade.