(FORTUNE Magazine) – Sheila Mulrennan, 38 IAG LTD.

--Mulrennan knows how to dig up money for her clients. Since founding Insurance Archeology Group (IAG) in 1985, she has tracked down over $1 billion of long-expired policies for companies facing product liability or environmental litigation. Companies that can trace a claim back to when an old policy was in effect can often collect the insurance money. ''We're able to spot clues to past coverage in such sources as old accounting records and workers' compensation files,'' says Mulrennan, who works out of New York City. She discovered her interest in insurance sleuthing while representing a client involved in asbestos litigation. Says the Memphis State psychology major: ''Past insurance is a valuable asset, but too many companies wait until they get sued to figure out what they have.''

Irwin Joffe, 45 DAWSON INTERNATIONAL USA

--''Cashmere clothing is seasonless; it doesn't have to be packed away when winter is over,'' says Joffe, president of Dawson International USA, a subsidiary of the big British textile and knitwear company. After several years of lackluster sales in the U.S., Dawson is making a big push to convince Americans of the versatility of cashmere. Joffe has targeted five separate markets for Dawson's 100% cashmere clothing -- everything from weekend sportswear to designer originals. He expects sales of the new lines to be $20 million in 1988. ''Americans don't understand cashmere the way Europeans do,'' says the former advertising executive, who helped introduce the British to McDonald's in 1974. ''That's because they have been overwhelmed with imitation cashmere.''

Diane Graham, 33 STRATCO INC.

--Graham joined this Kansas City, Missouri, chemical engineering firm as a 25- year-old receptionist when her father, the owner of the company, died. ''After his death, there was never any question that I would learn everything I could about this company,'' Graham says. Nine years later she is president and chairman, and sales have grown from $1 million to $11 million. How did she do it? ''I asked a lot of questions and let good people make decisions they hadn't been able to make before,'' says the liberal arts college graduate. Mobil, Exxon, and Chevron are among the clients who purchase Stratco's grease manufacturing equipment.