43. Mary McLaren

When not overseeing 26 offices and nearly 1,000 employees worldwide, McLaren can be found in the kitchen, digging into her collection of cookbooks. "I feel like I'm (at work) a lot, but when I'm not, I can shut it off," she says. "Cooking is relaxing for me." When she is working, she's often found stirring a different mix and making sure that her company is getting a piece of the ever-expanding global markets. In 2008, she partnered with India's StarTV to launch a local production arm. After 24 years, McLaren says she's spent "more than half my life" at Fox, a loyalty she chalks up to the studio's "inclusive and collaborative" culture. In the future, McLaren is looking to expand Fox's production deals beyond India to the rest of Southeast Asia, and help global exhibitors prepare for the coming wave of 3-D titles like James Cameron's "Avatar."