(FORTUNE Magazine) – Carlos M. Garcia, 42 HORN & HARDART

''Not too bad for a Cuban immigrant,'' jokes Garcia about his job as president of Horn & Hardart's restaurant division. Garcia arrived in Florida when he was 14 and immediately took a job washing dishes full time. Teaching himself English along the way, he went on to become head of operations at four small restaurant companies. His domain at Horn & Hardart includes 25 Arby's franchises, 11 Burger Kings, and the one remaining New York automat, which together with the company's other restaurants produce annual revenues of $130 million. In his first year as president, Garcia quadrupled the division's profits. Says the naturalized American: ''I never dreamed any of this when I was cleaning plates in the kitchen.''

Anne A. Robinson, 39 WINDHAM HILL PRODUCTIONS

Those desirable customers known in some circles as DINKs (double income, no kids) have mellowed out, abandoning rock-and-roll for so-called New Age music, Robinson's specialty. Windham Hill's soothing instrumental recordings, a bit reminiscent of quietish West Coast jazz, serve as background music in many a yuppie home. For all this, Robinson, co-founder and CEO of the company, insists: ''I don't want my record company to be known as trendy.'' The Stanford graduate started Windham Hill in 1976 to record the guitar music of her partner, Will Ackerman. The label has produced 100 albums, which are distributed by A&M Records. DINKs contemplating a change in status may be encouraged to learn that Robinson's label has recently brought out a line of children's records.

Ron J. Ponder, 44 FEDERAL EXPRESS

It's ten o'clock; do you know where your overnight express package is? Ron Ponder does, at least if you sent it Federal Express. As head of the company's computer operations and telecommunications, he can locate any one of the 800,000 packages handled by Federal Express each day. ''We can track any package within 30 minutes,'' Ponder boasts. Twelve years ago he left a job as a professor of computer science at Memphis State to help plan Federal's computer operation. ''This is one company where we rely on technology almost as much as people,'' Ponder says. The numbers suggest as much: Federal Express has 50,000 employees, and over 30,000 computers.