Founder of New York advertising agency Wells Rich Greene in 1966, Mary Wells Lawrence was the first woman to found, own and run a major agency, as well as the first female Ceo of a company traded on the Big Board of the New York Stock Exchange. Within its first year, Wells Rich Greene had 100 employees and $39 million in billings. By 1976 it had billings of $187 million and a client roster that included Procter & Gamble Co., Trans World Airlines, Miles Laboratories, Philip Morris, Bic Pen Corp., Ralston Purina Co., Midas Inc., White-Westinghouse Electric Co. and Sun Oil Co. The New York Observer said that the agency were responsible for creating ads that ‘etched indelible phrases into the public’s imaginations’.
In 1971 Lawrence was named Advertising Woman of the Year by the American Advertising Federation, and in 1999 she was inducted into the American Advertising Hall of Fame. Her autobiography, A Big Life (in Advertising), was published in 2002.
