The producers: whether creating groundbreaking movies, developing original TV programs, or making soulful music, these 50 power brokers call the shots in America's most dynamic industries - Business Of Entertainment - Cover Story

Black Enterprise, Dec, 2002 by Derek T. Dingle, Christina Morgan, Shani Smothers, Hyacinth Carbon, Tykisha Lundy, Sophia Rose, Siobhan Benet, Sonja Brown, Chana Garcia

Big Break: Landing his first A&R job at TVT Records.

DEBRA MARTIN CHASE

Title: CEO, Martin Chase Productions

Education: B.A., Mount Holyoke College; J.D., Harvard Law School

Why She's Powerful: Manages her own Disney-based company, Martin Chase Productions, which has produced such successful films as The Princess Diaries. In addition Chase is the producing partner in BrownHouse Productions, singer Whitney Houston's production company. Chase has a long-standing interest in politics and the arts. In the 1988 presidential campaign she served on the National and New York finance committees for Michael Dukakis. She was a founding member of the Contemporary Friends of the Studio Museum in Harlem, and was recently elected to the Board of Trustees for Columbia College of Chicago.

Career Track: Chase began in Hollywood when she joined the Motion Pictures Legal Department of Columbia Pictures in 1989, eventually becoming the Director of Creative Affairs. She also headed Mundy Lane Entertainment, Denzel Washington's Tri-Star Pictures-based production company, and served as producer for such films as Courage Under Fire and The Preacher's Wife.

Big Break: Chase began her career as an attorney working with several major law firms and Fortune 500 companies in Houston and Manhattan.

KEDAR MASSENBURG

Title: President and CEO, Motown Records

Age: 39

Education: B.A., Central State University; J.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Why He's Powerful: Massenburg runs a division of Universal Music Group (UMG) and is responsible for signing an award-winning state of "neo-classic soul" artists. The roster includes Brian McKnight, India.Arie, Damian Marley, and Erykah Badu, who were among the artists responsible for Motown's 15 Grammy nominations. In recent years, Massenburg has also structured innovative deals such as a partnership with ClickRadio, a free Internet radio service, to launch a station solely dedicated to Motown artists.

Career Track: Massenburg gained a reputation as a master of the "set-up," an industry term for generating heat among media, retailers, and fans for a new release. Through a joint venture with UMG, Massenburg founded Kedar Entertainment and helped establish the careers of urban music trailblazers such as Badu and D'Angelo. In 1999, he was tapped by UMG to run Motown, where he reorganized the label to reflect founder Berry Gordy's original model--a small boutique label focused on long-term artist development.

Big Break: In the late '80s, he was manager of Stetsasonic, one of hip-hop's pioneering bands.

JOHN MCCLAIN

Title: Senior Vice President, Dreamworks Records

Age: 45

Why He's Powerful: McClain is on the management team of Dreamworks Records, the music arm of the multimedia empire created by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen. Soon after joining Dreamworks in 2000, McClain took the Isley Brothers CD, Eternal platinum. He is also responsible for signing Floetry, whose CD Floetic, recently debuted at No. 19 on the Billboard Top 200. McClain is currently working with rapper-producer Swizz Beatz on his new CD, Ghetto Stories. The CD, which will be released in 2003, features Ron Isley, Busta Rhymes, LL Cool J, Mary J. Blige, and Eve.