MAUREEN O’CONNELL Consulting Queen Fresh out of high school, O’Connell, 42, developed her finance talents at a New York City company that sold plants. Her career has since sprouted: she’s had CFO stints at Bertelsmann’s BMG Direct, Publishers Clearing House and Barnes & Noble. Now Gartner, the world’s top IT research and consulting company, has named the Bronx, N.Y., native its president and COO. O’Connell plans to add important new voices to Gartner’s analyst reports: clients who actually use the technology being covered. PEGGY YU Beijing Bookseller Whenever the co-president of Dangdang.com China’s largest online bookseller, travels to the U.S., friends pile on requests for American tomes. “I’m tired of being a camel,” says Yu, 38, a native of Sichuan province, in southwestern China. So she is negotiating with American publishers to sell their books on Dangdang. Yu says Chinese readers are particularly fond of architecture and design books. The four-year-old company has continued its triple-digit sales growth and this year produced positive cash flow. KELLY CONLIN Magazine Maven In October Primedia, publisher of more than 250 specialty magazines like Motor Trend and Soap Opera Digest, named Conlin, 43, its CEO, ending a seven-month search. He had previously headed technology publisher International Data Group, where he helped launch the popular For Dummies book series. Conlin hopes to leverage Primedia’s enthusiast titles in a new way, through toys. Gamemaker THQ will release a PC game under Primedia’s Hot Rod name, while Radio Shack is selling a Super Street remote-controlled car. NISH KANKIWALA Worldwide Whopper Man How does a guy who has never worked in a restaurant spend his first days as a fast-food honcho? Flipping burgers. Since being named president of Burger King International last month, Kankiwala, 45, has been working at Burger Kings around the globe. The Indian-born exec had been running European business for Pepsi, where he presided over eight straight quarters of market-share growth. He hopes to sate Burger King’s hunger for growth by increasing its presence in new markets.
