Linda Srere.

• Author: Harrison, Joan

TheStreet.com, a pioneer Internet news service and one of this year's high-profile IPO's, signs up a brand-building, business-getting heavyweight for its board.

LINDA SRERE'S first boss knew it right away. After graduating from college, Srere aspired to be a teacher or a psychologist, but she needed to earn some money before she went off "to save the world." She interviewed for a job in advertising and recalls that she was honest about telling her prospective boss that she intended to stay only a couple of years. He took one look at her resume, noticed that she had bartended her way through college, and told her, "I think you're going to like advertising." After sizing her up a bit more, he added, "You're never going to leave this business."

How right he was. Once she experienced the energy, creativity, and passion of the advertising environment, she was hooked. "It's like an addiction," she says. "You either love this business or you hate it, and I happen to love it." Twenty-some years later, Srere is now vice chairman and chief client officer of Young & Rubicam Inc. (Y&R), the third-largest ad agency in the U.S. and fifth-largest worldwide.

That energy and creativity she thrives on lured her into accepting her first corporate board appointment, at TheStreet.com Inc., a provider of financial and investment news and provocative views via the Internet. It's a young, lively company, she remarks, where she feels she can learn more about the Web, indulge her fascination with financial services, and at the same time put her marketing and advertising expertise to work in helping to develop what she thinks is a terrific brand.

In 1994, Srere joined Y&R as executive vice president and director of business development. Under her leadership, the firm took on an enormous amount of new business from clients such as United Airlines, Showtime, Sony, and SevenUp. In mid-1996 she was promoted to group managing director, responsible for overseeing Y&R Advertising's global new business development efforts. With her appointment as president and CEO of Y&R New York in 1997, she became the first female chief executive in the agency's 75-year history. In September 1998, she assumed her current position.

Before joining Y&R, Srere was chairman of Earle Palmer Brown New York, where she managed accounts including Ciba and Chase Manhattan Bank. Before that she was president of Rosenfeld, Sirowitz, Humphrey & Strauss, where she led winning sales pitches for Royal...