Management Board and has full functional and profits and loss responsibility for operations, quality assurance, sales, marketing, communications, R&D, finance, and human resources. She also oversees the company’s operations in Central and South America. Her strategic planning helped to make Splenda one of the company’s top-selling sweeteners three years after it was launched. Sandler spent 13 years at Pepsico where she held a variety of marketing positions on several brands that included Mountain Dew, Slice, and Mug Root Beer.
Bertram L. Scott, Executive Vice President, Product Management, TIAA-CREF, Age: 53, Operating on a $211 million budget, Scott heads the New York division that develops a wide range of financial services products, generating about $15 billion in premiums and net flows in 2004. Scott oversees the Project Management Group, which includes pensions, institutional asset management, individual wealth management, college savings plans, and business development. The DePaul University graduate joined TIAA-CREF in 2000 as president of TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Co. Scott is a 32-year insurance and healthcare veteran with prior executive posts at Prudential Healthcare and Horizon Mercy, a managed care program, where he served as president and CEO. He is an adjunct professor at Meharry Medical School, and in 2000, the New Jersey chapter of the NAACP named him CEO of the Year. Scott is also a board member for the American Heart Association.
Bradley T. Sheares, President, U.S. Human Health Division, Merck, Age: 47, Pharmaceuticals company Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, made news last year when its best-selling arthritis drug Vioxx was recalled after studies revealed that it increased the risk of heart attack and stroke. Still, the $22.5 billion drug company, one of the 100 largest publicly traded companies in the United States, does brisk business in its other remedies, including those for hypertension and high cholesterol. Sheares plays a major role in their development. In his current position, Sheares is responsible for the sales and marketing of the company’s portfolio of medicines and treatments for chronic diseases. He also oversees the U.S. sales force that calls on office-based physicians, sales services, and medical and scientific affairs. Holding a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Purdue University, Sheares was part of Merck’s research team from 1987 to 1990.
Paula Sneed, Senior Vice President, Marketing Resources, Kraft Foods Inc., Age: 57, Sneed is responsible for the company’s global marketing services and e-commerce initiatives. Previously, as president of e-commerce and marketing services, she managed a $1.5 billion-a-year budget, marketing more than 100 brands at the nation’s biggest food company. Kraft Foods, which has $31 billion in annual sales, is currently changing its organizational structure to position itself better in the global economy. Sneed helps align the company’s five global consumer sectors of beverages, snacks, cheese and dairy, convenient meals, and groceries. Kraft Foods markets several leading brands, including Kraft, Maxwell House, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Post, and Milka, in more than 150 countries.
Glenn C. Taylor, Group President, Government & Key Accounts, Medco Health Solutions, Age: 52, Medco Health Solutions, formerly Merck-Medco Managed Care, is