Ann Fudge

By Barbara Kiviat/New York

Ann Fudge stays ahead of the pack. The chairman and CEO of advertising giant Young & Rubicam Brands was married with a child before she graduated from college, and retired from running a Kraft Foods business with $5 billion in sales annually before she hit 50. She left her hiatus last year to take over Y&R--and step into an unfamiliar industry in flux. Time was, a 30-second TV spot trumped all. But in today's world of fragmented media, commercial cutters like TiVo, and exponentially more goods and services vying for consumer attention, the old rules don't apply. Fudge's plan: to remake Y&R into a client-centric operation that acts as much like a business partner as it does a creative hired gun. "I ask every question I would ask if I were the client," says Fudge. "It's being able to say, 'This is a great idea, and it's going to help drive their business.'" --By Barbara Kiviat/New York