Moore: a success story worth of People. Photo courtesy Time, Inc.

In 1991, Ann Moore (MBA '78) saw an opportunity where others saw no chance — building a national magazine out of people's interest in celebrities and human-interest stories.

After graduating from HBS, Moore had started out in Time's finance department before moving to Sports Illustrated, where she spent ten years before accepting the top spot at People. At the time, the magazine was just a black-and-white “grocery store” publication. “Nobody else wanted the People job,” recalled Moore, who reinvented the magazine as a “women's newsmagazine,” made it more upscale, and built it into “a powerhouse brand,” according to the Los Angeles Times (July 20, 2002).

Moore's success at People has resulted in her elevation to chairwoman and CEO of Time Inc. The world's largest publishing company, with 140 magazines and nearly 300 million readers worldwide, Time Inc. has posted ten consecutive years of earnings growth and accounts for almost 10 percent of corporate profits for AOL Time Warner, where Moore is now the highest-ranking woman. “My goal is to continue to grow Time Inc.,” Moore said. “My only hard problem is finding and maintaining the best people in the magazine business.”

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