Renetta McCann Chief executive officer Starcom North America Center Advisory Board

As chief executive officer of Starcom North America, Renetta McCann leads U.S. and Canadian operations for one of the world's top five media agencies. Her creative approaches to providing clients with business-building media solutions and willingness to help co-workers develop professionally are hallmarks of McCann's prolific 22-year media career.

As CEO, McCann is responsible for the successful operation of the largest office in the Starcom MediaVest Group network which requires her to oversee all annual business plan development and finance issues, maintain strong client relationships as well as driving a broad scope of the agency's strategic media planning functions. She is an empowering leader who encourages her staff to perform at peak levels of excellence, which is evidenced by Starcom North America's two consecutive years of 20 percent growth.

In 2000, Starcom North America won more than $700 million in new billings from existing and new clients such as Hallmark, Polaroid, McDonald's, Sara Lee, and Showtime Networks, among others. The fact that McCann's team of 600-plus employees maintains the lowest turnover rate in the industry speaks volumes about her ability to successfully nurture and grow talent.

McCann is highly respected outside the agency as well. A member of the 4A's media policy committee, she is a frequent speaker at industry conferences like the Newsweek and MSNBC "Race Relations in Business" 2000. She was the only professional in the media/advertising category to be honored with the Black Expo President's Award in 2000. Other accolades she has won during her career include the Business Week Media Strategies Award, the Chicago Magazine Association's Vanguard Award, and the agency's coveted Black Pencil for outstanding creative thinking.

Of all the honors, an internal Trailblazer Award is most special to McCann because it was given to her by young minority media professionals for efforts on their behalf. A dedicated supporter of The Off The Street Club, Chicago's oldest boys and girls club, she served as a co-chair of its Bozo Buckets Fundraiser in 2000 and will continue to serve in that role in 2001.

McCann, 44, joined the agency in 1978 as a client service trainee and was promoted to a media supervisor the following year. In 1986, she was promoted to an assistant media director and was named a vice president in 1988. Early in 1989, she became a media director. She was elected a senior vice president in 1995 and has served as chief executive of Starcom North America since 1999.

McCann earned a Bachelor of Science degree in speech from Northwestern University in 1978. She and her husband live in Chicago with their two children.