Lou Hammond

Clients really came to appreciate Lou Hammond’s lifelong work in travel, hospitality and economic development this year. “We have long tenures and heavy experience and they both came into play,” said Hammond, who opened her firm in 1984. “There’s stability there.” So, even through budget cuts and plummeting visitor numbers, clients from Bristol, R.I., to Geneva, Switzerland, to Paducah, Ky., stuck with the firm. Hammond herself became a powerful voice for the enduring shine of Fifth Avenue—her firm represents the 113-year-old Fifth Avenue Association—and for the future of domestic travel. In addition to this place of honor on our list, a columnist for the Charleston Post and Courier, Hammond’s hometown newspaper, named her one of the most significant women in the city’s 350-year history.