The Adweek 50

40. Robin Steinberg
Company: MediaVest USA
Title: EVP, Director, Publishing Investment and Activation
Age: 44
Oversees: $500 million
Location: New York
When Steinberg takes a stand, publishers listen. This year she demanded magazines provide readership data on their nascent tablet editions. Through her roles at MediaVest, where she oversees blue-chip accounts like Walmart, Microsoft and Coca-Cola, and in industry groups like the 4As, Steinberg is a force to be reckoned with. Known for pushing innovative ad solutions, she’s also a key advocate for evolving metrics as the definition of publishing has grown to encompass Web and mobile platforms. —L.M.

39. Lou LaTorre
Company: Fox Cable Networks
Title: President, Ad Sales
Age: 58
Revenue: $8.8 billion
Location: New York
LaTorre directs sales strategy and ops for a roster of properties including FX, National Geographic Channel and Big Ten Network. Together, the lineup brings in more than $1.3 billion in annual ad sales, dollars that target a cohort of males in their late 30s, making other nets green with envy. (FX alone bristles with more male energy than The Expendables.) With some 30 years of TV sales under his belt, LaTorre remains a true innovator, and he’s as at home selling emerging properties like the UFC as he is repping popcorn movies. —A.C.

38. Andy  Donchin
Company: Carat, North America
Title: EVP, Director, National Broadcast and Media Investments
Age: 53
Media Spend: $6.3 billion
Location: New York
While Donchin believes TV is the most accountable medium, he’s not satisfied with good enough. A spirited advocate of enhancing Nielsen data with intel on social media performance and purchasing behavior, Carat’s TV guru remains dedicated to furthering the development of precision-targeted ads. In January, the highly regarded Donchin was awarded General Motors’ plum $3 billion media account, adding to existing clients including Pfizer, Nokia, Disney Parks and Viacom. —A.C.

37. Dave & Matt Stopera
Company: BuzzFeed
Title: Editors
Age: Dave, 21; Matt, 25
V.C. Funding: $27 million
Location: New York
The Stopera brothers are the impresarios behind BuzzFeed’s irresistible content. While much has been written about editor in chief Ben Smith’s hire, many of the site’s most iconic—and viral—posts come from the minds of the Stoperas, who penned “The 21 Absolute Worst Things in the World” (5.7 million views, 355,000 Facebook likes) and “The 45 Most Powerful Images of 2011” (the top BuzzFeed post, with 11.6 million views, 884,000 Facebook likes). If any two people understand how to engage an audience for the social Web, it’s these guys. —C.W.

36. Geri Wang
Company: ABC
Title: President, Sales and Marketing
Age: 52
Revenue: $4.9 billion
Location: New York
Despite finishing last in the 18-to-49 demo, Wang was able to maintain ABC’s position as the No. 2 draw for advertising dollars. In the 2012-13 upfront, she booked $2.5 billion in early commitments on 7 percent CPM hikes, as female-targeted brands flocked to tent-pole series like Grey’s Anatomy and Modern Family and newbies 666 Park Avenue and Nashville. And as a cherry on top of the sundae, a new initiative designed to steer clients to on-demand viewers has fostered a significant ancillary revenue stream. —A.C.

35. David Perry
Company: Saatchi & Saatchi
Title: Director, TV Production
Age: 68
Revenue: $200 million
Location: New York
In an industry rife with turnover, Perry is a paradigm of stability, having worked at the same agency for 23 years—a period during which Saatchi has had six different creative chiefs. Calm, adaptable and supportive, he’s like the rhythm guitar player in a rock band, keeping his head down, lining up shoots for the likes of Procter & Gamble, General Mills and Miller, and leaving the spotlight to others. Yet, his is a crucial job at an office that generates an estimated $200 million in revenue annually. Perry is also highly respected by his agency peers, as evidenced by his 15-year run as head of the 4A’s broadcast production committee. —A.M.

34. Sal Candela
Company: PHD
Title: Mobile Director
Age: 28
Media Spend: $3.3 billion (U.S.)
Location: New York
Five years since the first iPhone made every year look like it was going to be the year of mobile marketing, mobile today still snags just 1 percent of ad budgets. Candela is in the trenches. His responsibilities include briefing the agency’s clients on their place in the mobile landscape and convincing them of the medium’s value. Over the past year, he’s persuaded some 20 clients to up their mobile spending—and pushed conservative brands like GlaxoSmithKline’s Tums to forge partnerships with tech startups like Shopkick, which gives consumers rewards for scanning barcodes. —G.B.

33. Doug Fallon  & Steven Fogel
Company: Grey
Title: Creative Directors
Age: Fallon, 40; Fogel, 37
Revenue: $10 million (DirecTV)
Location: New York
These guys know funny and, more importantly, how to present it. Whether facing their boss or hundreds of franchisee owners, their timing, delivery and perfectly off-color lines elicit howls of laughter. The joke inside Grey is that they can sell anything to creative chief Tor Myhren, who sometimes cracks up at just the title of a prospective ad. With “Get Rid of Cable” for DirecTV, a brand with an annual media budget of $360 million, the funny men take real cable frustrations to absurdist lengths, earning awards, business growth and even a shoutout from Bill Clinton at this year’s Cannes festival. —A.M.

32. Sona Chawla
Company: Walgreens
Title: President, E-Commerce
Age: 45
Revenue: $72.5 billion
Location: Deerfield, Ill.
Walgreens has been leveraging digital since 1998 when it launched walgreens.com, and Chawla, who joined the company 10 years later, is moving the retail giant even more aggressively into the digital age. With mobile, Walgreens was the first to market features like prescription “refill by scan” in under 30 seconds. In digital, it’s used innovative couponing on Foursquare and Facebook. Formerly with Dell, Chawla is living up to the challenge of making digital central to nearly everything that happens at Walgreens while driving store traffic and increasing online profitability. —N.O.

31. Paul Caine
Company: Time Inc.
Title: EVP, Chief Revenue Officer
Age: 47
Revenue: $3.7 billion
Location: New York
Caine’s job is a mammoth one. He’s responsible for all ad sales and marketing revenue at the venerated magazine publisher as it transforms itself for a digital world. Caine’s influence bridges four key groups—Style & Entertainment, Lifestyle, Sports, and News. He has oversight for units including Branded Solutions, Research and Insights, and Targeted Media. He also serves as president and group publisher of the Style & Entertainment Group, where he oversees titles such as InStyle and Entertainment Weekly, and serves on the boards of the Interactive Advertising Bureau and MPA. —T.C.