(TIME) -- 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

FULL NAME
Ann Marie Fudge

BORN
April 23, 1951, in Washington, D.C.

EDUCATION
Bachelor's degree in retail management from Simmons College, 1973; master's degree in business administration from Harvard Business School, 1977.

CAREER
Fudge started a marketing assistant at General Mills in 1977, right after graduating from Harvard Business School. In quick succession she became an assistant product manager, project manager and marketing director in charge of four brands at once. She led the team that developed and introduced Honey Nut Cheerios. When Fudge joined Kraft, she reinvigorated older brands such as Log Cabin Syrup, Minute Rice and Stove Top Stuffing. A director of General Electric, Fudge serves on the board of governors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

AWARDS
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York lists Fudge's awards as: Leadership Award, Minneapolis YWCA; Leadership Award, New York City YWCA; Candace Award, National Coalition of 100 Black Women; Achievement Award, Corporate Women's Network; Top 50 Women Executives, Executive Female Magazine; 1995 Advertising Woman of The Year, Advertising Women of New York; 50 Most Powerful Women, Fortune Magazine 1998, 2003.