President and CEO, Yahoo
The Google veteran (she was its 20th employee and first female engineer) received a call from Spencer Stuart über-recruiter Jim Citrin in June, dangling the top job at Yahoo. The move was risky; Yahoo's notoriously fickle board has named four CEOs in five years. But after 13 years at Google, most recently steering its local and map business, Mayer jumped at the promotion, ) notwithstanding the expected October arrival of her first baby (a son, born Sept. 30). Mayer's product development chops -- Google's iconic search page design is said to be her brainchild -- provide hope for the struggling Yahoo, which needs serious help growing revenue -- and its stock price.
First move: Free lunch for everyone at Yahoo's Silicon Valley office.
--Colleen Leahey
Organizations headed by some of these top young minds in business have grown this past year, many of them hiring at an impressive rate. Here are seven examples.
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