(FORTUNE Magazine) – ROGER AILES He made Richard Nixon telegenic (as much as anyone could). He made CNBC the official channel of the stock market boom. Then Ailes, 63, built Fox News Channel into an inescapable political and societal force.

CHRIS ALBRECHT Eight years, 82 Sex and the City and 52 Sopranos episodes after Albrecht, 50, was put in charge of programming at HBO, the cable channel is TV's gold standard.

TOM FORD No designer on earth has more influence than Gucci Group's preposterously talented 41-year-old creative director.

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS It's not just that this sweet-tempered cartoon sponge's show airs 26 times a week on Viacom's Nickelodeon. It's that at this very moment your kid has a SpongeBob Band-Aid on his elbow and is scarfing SpongeBob-shaped macaroni and cheese. And wait--is that a SpongeBob tie you're wearing?