Karen Hunt, President, West Coast Region, UM

Karen Hunt doesn’t miss the good old days of gut-instinct movie marketing, but she’s glad she saw it firsthand so she can fully appreciate today’s near-scientific approach.

“The biggest difference between then and now is data—and it’s informing every part of the planning and marketing process,” says Hunt, president of UM’s West Coast region, who launched her career as an assistant media buyer more than 20 years ago at DDB Needham. “We have better data, and that feeds better art, which leads to better outcomes.”