National: Dec. 15, 2000

Among the companies that made Working Woman magazine’s annual ranking of the top 25 companies for executive women are Avon (at #1), Liz Claiborne (#7), Target (#14) and Gap (#18); the list ranks publicly held Fortune 1000 companies with at least two women on the board of directors and a significant percentage of women in senior management...Designer Gene Meyer and Miami menswear executive Adolfo Skrande, a principal of Dino di Milano Inc., have formed Gruppo di Disegno, a company that will license Meyer products; additionally, Miami-based Milano will manufacture and market Meyer’s flagship line of men’s sportwear...Ford Models, the agency founded in 1946 by Eileen and Jerry Ford, is being acquired by Magnum Sports & Entertainment, which represents professional athletes and until recently was known as Worldwide Entertainment and Sports, in a cash and stock deal for an undisclosed price; the acquisition of the agency that represents Jerry Hall, Christie Brinkley, Vendela and others is another harbinger of the ongoing convergence among fashion, entertainment and sports; as part of the deal, Katie Ford, daughter of the founders and current agency head, will join the Magnum board...In more seasonal supermodel news, last week’s “Once Upon a Christmas,” the Pax Television holiday movie starring 1980s supermodel Kathy Ireland as Santa Claus’ daughter, marked another milestone in the placement of brand-name apparel inside Hollywood entertainment programs; in the movie, Ireland wore fashions that are part of the signature lines she designs for Kmart Corp.; “If a woman sees an outfit she likes,” she told Reuters wire service, “she can go to Kmart and buy it.”