Fudge, Ann

Source:

 Black Women in America, Second Edition

Fudge, Ann

(b. 23 April 1951),
marketing executive.

At the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first, the marketing executive Ann Fudge gained a reputation as a highly capable leader in the mostly white, male business world. She demonstrated a talent for reinventing and reinvigorating standard products threatened by trendy competitors. Through creative and thoughtful leadership in managing products such as Shake 'N Bake, Minute Rice, and Maxwell House Coffee, Fudge shattered the glass ceiling and demonstrated that there is room for both women and African Americans in the upper echelons of big business.

Ann Fudge was born in Washington, DC. Her father, Malcolm R. Brown, was a U.S. Postal Service administrator, and her mother, Bettye Lewis Brown, was a National Security Agency manager. Fudge attended Catholic schools in her hometown and secured a job while still in high school as an advisor on teen fashion to a local department store.

As a student during the late 1960s, Fudge witnessed and drew inspiration from the race riots that swept the nation in the aftermath of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. Fudge said the riots made her “incredibly determined.” She “wanted to do something black people hadn't done before. When I hit roadblocks, that was what kept me going.” She took her determination to Simmons College, a small, predominantly women's school in Boston, Massachusetts. While an undergraduate at Simmons, Fudge met and married her husband, Rich Fudge, and gave birth to the first of two sons. She graduated with honors in 1973 with a BA in Retail Management.

Ann Fudge, of Young and Rubicam, has risen to the top ranks of corporate America.

(Austin/Thompson Collection

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After graduation, Fudge worked in the Human Resources Department at General Electric for two years before returning to school to pursue an MBA from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business. After completing her MBA in 1977, Fudge began her rapid ascent up the ranks at the General Mills Company. Between 1977 and 1983, she was promoted four times, starting as a marketing assistant and finally securing a position as marketing director. After only six years with the company, Fudge was put in charge of marketing campaigns for four major General Mills brands. She flourished under the added responsibility, heading the team that introduced the highly popular Honey Nut Cheerios.

Instead of continuing up the ladder at General Mills, Fudge decided to take a position as associate director of Strategic Planning with Kraft General Foods in order to be closer to her ailing mother. She wasted no time in proving her worth to her new employer. Fudge quickly became known as a successful rehabilitator of sagging products. In 1987, she was successful in expanding the sales of Kool-Aid. Two years later, she redefined the way people thought about Shake 'N Bake chicken with her “Why Fry?” ad campaign, which gave consumers a new reason to give an old product a second look.

Fudge's success in redefining old products paid great professional dividends. In 1994, she became the head of the Maxwell House division within Kraft foods. During the next seven years, Fudge continued a successful career in this prestigious position until she left Kraft in 2001 after a corporate shake-up. Despite the rumor that she may have been overlooked for a higher level position due to internal corporate politics, she left Kraft on good terms.

Fudge received many awards for her outstanding business savvy and leadership prowess, including the 1998 Alumni Achievement Award from Harvard Business School, the 2000 Achievement Award from the Executive Leadership Council, and the 1995 Advertising Woman of the Year. Fudge was also included on prestigious lists such as Executive Female Magazine's “Top Fifty Woman Executives” and Fortune's “Fifty Most Powerful Women.”

In addition to her work with Kraft, Fudge served on the board of directors for General Electric, the New York Philharmonic, and Marriott Hotels. She also served on the board of governors of the Boys and Girls Club of America, and was a member of the Committee of 200 and the Council on Foreign Relations.

In May 2003, Fudge became the CEO of the Young and Rubicam's Inc. Advertising Agency. The agency, which employed over eleven thousand people, had seen more profitable days, and Fudge was being called upon to stimulate growth. While one advertising executive stated that Fudge is “in over her head,” her record in turning poor performers into profit-makers should not be underestimated. Fudge proved herself as a force to be reckoned with in the marketing world, and if her past is any indication of her future, Young and Rubicam will flourish under her leadership.

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