A longtime fashion insider, Fern Mallis spent years as the executive director of 7th on Sixth and senior VP of IMG Fashion before stepping down in early 2010. She's since launched her own consulting and advisory firm, Fern Mallis LLC.

A Brooklyn native, Mallis grew up in the garment business—her father traded in scarves, and her uncle in textiles. After stints at Mademoiselle and several retail companies, Mallis joined the CFDA as executive director in 1991 when it was just a tiny and unorganized fledgling of an organization. Two years later, after watching the ceiling nearly collapse during a show, Mallis set about reinventing Fashion Week. Pre-Mallis, Fashion Week wasn't anything like it is today: designers showed in random, unregulated (and occasionally dangerous) venues. She changed that with 7th on Sixth, which took responsibility for organizing shows in tents at Bryant Park and Lincoln Center, obtaining sponsorship dollars, inviting press, and sorting out the all-important seat assignments. In 2001, the CFDA sold 7th on Sixth to the entertainment and media powerhouse IMG. Mallis followed along and spent nine years as senior VP of IMG Fashion before stepping down in 2010. Soon after she created a consultancy company, at which IMG quickly became a client

During her time at 7th on Sixth and IMG Fashion, Mallis made Fashion Week into a major institution which Fashion Week events internationally. But the legendary toughie—"Fern is a fighter who will punch your lights out to get her point across," a friend once told a reporter—also has a softer side. A tireless fundraiser, Mallis has helped raise more than $30 million for Fashion Targets Breast Cancer and $15 million for AIDS research since the early 1990s. [Image via Getty]