Ms. Ann Fudge is Retired Chairman and CEO of Young & Rubicam Brands, a global group of advertising, communications, public relations, branding, and marketing companies. In 2003, she became chair and CEO of Young & Rubicam Advertising, making her the first black woman to head a major American advertising firm.
As one of the most successful branding and marketing forces in history, Young & Rubicam’s client list includes AT&T, Jim Beam, Land Rover, Miller, NFL, Accenture, Colgate-Palmolive, Toys ‘R’ Us, Kraft Foods, Mattel, Virgin, Sony, Ford, and Microsoft. If you hear “Campbell’s” and think “Soup is good food,” you’re one of the millions who have been affected by the work of Young & Rubicam.
Prior to joining Young & Rubicam Brands, Ms. Fudge served as President, Beverages, Desserts and Post Division – a $5 billion unit of Kraft Foods. She served on Kraft’s Management Committee and has managed many businesses including Maxwell House Coffee, Gevalia Kaffe, Kool Aid, Crystal Light, Post cereals, Jell-O desserts and Altoids. Before joining General Foods, she spent nine years at General Mills, where she began as a Marketing Assistant and rose to the level of Marketing Director.
As a child growing up in Washington, D.C. Fudge witnessed the urban riots after Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination. “They made me incredibly determined,” Fudge said of the riots. She told the New York Times that “I wanted to do something that black people hadn’t done before. When I hit roadblocks, that was what kept me going.”
In addition to her groundbreaking achievements in the corporate world, she is known for her commitment to her family and personal life. Fudge’s management style is also marked by her philosophy of service to others, within and outside of a corporation. In a leadership profile a few years ago on Fudge in True North, a bestseller on the lives of 125 authentic leaders, Fudge stated,
“Any of us can figure out ways to drive a business for two years and make a boatload of money and move on. That’s not leadership. That’s playing a game. Leadership is leaving something lasting, whether it is how you treat people or how you deal with a problem.”
Ms. Fudge has received the Matrix Award for Advertising from New York Women in Communication and was a recipient of the NY Executive Council’s Ten Awards for leadership and innovation in business. She was named one of Time Magazine’s Global Business Influentials. Among her other honors are Leadership Awards from the Minneapolis and New York City YWCA, an Alumni Achievement Award from Harvard Business School, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Ebony magazine, and a Legacy Award in Business from Black Enterprise magazine.
She has been profiled in Black Enterprise, Business Week and The New York Times, among others, and named by Fortune magazine as one of the 50 most powerful women in American business.
Ms. Fudge received a bachelor’s degree from Simmons College and her MBA from Harvard University Graduate School of Business.