ON THE RISE
By - Laurie Kretchmar

(FORTUNE Magazine) – THOMAS E. CLARKE, 39 NIKE INC. Here's a marketer who puts himself in the customer's shoes -- literally. Clarke runs in his Nikes twice a day and has completed 30 marathons. His personal best: an impressive two-hour-and-26-minute finish in Boston in 1978. This former track coach and scientist (a Ph.D. in biomechanics from Penn State) in 1980 helped open Nike's sports research lab, which he later headed. Since Clarke took charge of marketing in 1988, Nike's sales have nearly tripled to $3 billion. In 1987 a team he led launched Nike's cushiony ''air'' brand of shoes with innovative TV ads featuring sports stars Michael Jordan and John McEnroe. This category now accounts for half of Nike's sales by volume. Says Clarke: ''We think of our shoes as sports equipment, not just a commodity.''

STEPHEN B. BURKE, 32 WALT DISNEY CO. As head of business development, Burke five years ago ran a contest asking employees to identify new opportunities. The most suggested idea: a chain of retail outlets, loosely modeled on its theme park shops, that would hawk Disney merchandise. Since Burke wrote the business plan, Disney Stores has expanded into 100 locations and will soon move into Japan and Europe. Sales aren't Mickey Mouse. They average $600 per square foot, vs. $300 for the typical shop in a mall. Named an executive vice president a year ago, Burke likes to check quality by dropping in on Disney Stores unannounced, triggering a ''Burke alert'' as managers rush to tip off the next shop targeted.

A. JACQUELINE DOUT, 36 IMCERA GROUP Corporate treasurers don't do retail. But this one acts as if she's at Dreyfus. In investing the short-term cash of this fast-growing health care products company, her goal is to match the performance of America's top three money market managers. Dout was recruited from Koppers in 1988 to help set up a new treasury after Imcera decided to abandon the commodity fertilizer business and focus on health care. She created a far more decentralized system, though her finance colleagues in the company's three operating units must still report back to headquarters in Northbrook, Illinois. Says she: ''If we can't add value, we don't belong here.'' To fuel future expansion, Dout in April helped complete a $190 million equity offering.