The New Breed

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While Spain's new government is trying to end its patriarchal traditions by allowing women to head the monarchy, the private sector is ahead of the curve. Ana Patricia Botín, 43, a financial veteran, is executive chairwoman of Banco Español de Credito (Banesto), and when her father Emilio retires as chairman, she may take over the parent firm, family-controlled Grupo Santander, which is Spain's biggest banking empire. Botín, who speaks five languages, has learned how to face those who charge nepotism. "I started at the bottom," she says. "Nobody has given me anything." Indeed, Botín has had setbacks. She overexpanded Santander's operations in Latin America during the 1990s, then left to form Internet and investment companies. Since Botín joined Banesto two years ago, the bank has gained some 150,000 new customers, and in the first three quarters of 2004, profits rose 12%, to $532 million. At Santander, which just took over British bank Abbey National, Botín is giving Spain's macho banking world a run for its money. --By Samuel Loewenberg/ Madrid

Ann Fudge
YOUNG & RUBICAM

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

Michael Lynton
SONY PICTURES

Michael Lynton doesn't fear challenges — he embraces them. That's a good thing, because he is leading Sony Pictures Entertainment through a period of tectonic shifts in the movie industry. At Sony, the former Disney executive who then headed Penguin Group and later AOL Europe will have to slash costs, find new opportunities in video-on-demand and combat file-sharing piracy. But Lynton believes there's a future for DVDs; he helped bring in a major financing partner for Sony's purchase of MGM and its valuable library of movies. "With new technologies," Lynton says, "the DVD becomes even better." --By Jeffrey Ressner/Los Angeles

Dietrich Mateschitz
RED BULL

Few people can say they created an industry. But Dietrich Mateschitz founded a company in his native Austria that has changed the way young people party around the world. Red Bull, the champion of hypercaffeinated energy drinks, posted sales of $1.5 billion last year, 70% of the global market. He credits a thirst for "antiauthoritarian" products. His sponsorship of ultrasports like street luge and winter surfing has tapped a vein of young male consumers. Mateschitz, a climber and snowboarder, wants to promote a product and a lifestyle. "Extreme sports are more than a marketing tool," he says. At this month's Red Bull Giants of Rio Challenge in Rio de Janeiro, competitors will swim through pounding surf and run 20 km. No wonder Mateschitz is into extreme sports: he says he downs 10 cans of Red Bull a day. By Andrew Purvis/Vienna