World Beaters

DAVID ZUCKER Gamer

Midway Games makes Mortal Kombat and other popular video amusements yet hasn't turned a profit since 1999. Enter Zucker, 40, who knows something about turnarounds. He spent last year as COO of Playboy Enterprises and helped deliver its first profitable quarter in more than four years. At Midway, Zucker plans to focus operations on the company's best brands and genres and expand export sales from about 15% of revenue to the 40% to 45% achieved by its competitors.

JASON CHUN SHEN CHEN Sales Star

As head of sales in Asia for computer-chip maker Intel, Chen, 41, tapped emerging markets from China to Pakistan and turned the region into the company's top revenue producer. As Chen settles into his new post as head of sales worldwide, he will continue to work to develop nascent markets, adding Latin America and Russia to his plate. The Tai Chi devotee will also play a big role in Intel's push to place its chips in communications devices, from cell phones that send pictures to computers that access the Internet wirelessly.

CARRIE COX Medicine Marketer

To help revive growth at battered Schering-Plough, Cox, 45, has been hired to head its global pharmaceutical group. She held a similar position at Pharmacia, where she built global sales, boosting Celebrex to a $3 billion brand. A trained pharmacist, Cox joins another recent Pharmacia recruit, CEO Fred Hassan, with whom she worked to revive that firm before it was bought by Pfizer earlier this year. Hassan and Cox face big challenges, which include declining profits, lost patents and a federal investigation into sales and marketing practices.

CHARLES PHILLIPS Analyst Turned Executive

Ever since he was a computer major at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Phillips, 44, has been using and studying applications and systems software. As Oracle's new executive vice president, he will draw on that customer perspective — and on 17 years as an industry analyst, most recently at Morgan Stanley. Phillips has been more bullish on Oracle's stock than most, but he was heralded by Institutional Investor as the sector's top analyst nine years in a row. At Oracle, he will keep up his industry contacts (read: customers and competitors) and help shape strategy.