36. Jo Gilley

Overture Promotions (asi/288473)

2020 Rank: 45

Title: CEO

Industry Experience: 4 years

In only her fourth year as head of Overture (though with a long and diverse work history that includes time as an analyst for the CIA), Gilley soars nine spots, and it’s easy to see why. Overture emerged as a big winner in 2020, notching 55% annual growth as the distributor’s sales team went to where the money is: high-spend clients in delivery services, cannabis, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and banking. The CEO of the Illinois-based Top 40 distributor also commanded major headlines at the beginning of the year by forging a deal with a private equity-backed investment group led by Lou Weisbach, the founder of what is now HALO and a long-time power player who had left the industry two decades ago. Together Gilley and Weisbach have big ambitions on becoming “a premier international branding agency” with both organic and strategically aggressive future acquisitions.