Fate has a way of taking you places you might not expect to go. When Ken Yagoda left the University of Wisconsin in 1970 armed with a degree in English literature, a 16mm Bolex camera and the urge to tell stories, commercials were the farthest thing from his mind. But an interview at NY prodco Cooper Dennis Hirsch led to a referral to Young & Rubicam, NY's then-head of production Carl Sturges. Two weeks later Ken Yagoda was in advertising.

It didn't take long to get hooked. On his way out the door the first day, Yagoda was dispatched to meet with the editor of a Metropolitan Life project directed by Steve Horn. "It was a fantastic piece of filmmaking," he recalls. "So elegant and graceful and beautiful. I had the bug by the end of [that] day."

Yagoda has maintained his passion for more than 30 years, passing it on to a host of young producers, directors and creatives. John Partilla, CEO of Brand Buzz (the Y&R offshoot responsible for the Sony Dreams project), notes that Yagoda's old-fashioned work ethic and drive to educate both himself and those around him are an example for an entire industry in flux.

"He creates a very open, healthy, collaborative atmosphere," says Partilla. "The advertising industry is evolving into a place in which everyone has to be open to creativity and ideas, regardless of where they're sourced. Ken has been on the vanguard of that."

Yagoda, who's just added director of creative services to his title behind director of broadcast at Y&R, says those ideals were instilled in him when he arrived at the veteran agency in 1970 and began learning the craft from producers such as Roger Vaughn and Susan Smitman, as well as directors like Ed Bianchi and Bob Giraldi.

It was a steep learning curve that, in 1972, took him to Y&R's new Tokyo office as head of production. Japan didn't really fire his sensibilities, though, and shortly after his homecoming in 1973, Yagoda's hunt for new experiences saw him accept an offer to head production at Scali, McCabe, Sloves, NY.

Beyond its reputation for great work, Scali offered Yagoda the chance to experience a creative environment as foreign as Japan had been. "There was much more emphasis on the writing than at Y&R," he notes. "Y&R was: 'How much can you do to grow a production?' At Scali it was the opposite: 'What's the minimum you need?'"

It was at Scali that Yagoda, a jazz fanatic, experienced the highlight of his career, producing a commercial with musician Sonny Rollins on the Brooklyn Bridge one cold February day in 1977. Rollins had just dropped out of music at the height of his career. "Freezing my ass off on that bridge with Sonny Rollins! Nothing has been more poignant - having a guy at the top of his game drop out because he needed to learn more - that's powerful stuff."

Yagoda's own career choices reflect a similar need. When an offer to head up production for Foote, Cone & Belding came up in 1978, just as Scali was being sold to Ogilvy & Mather, Yagoda took it, but only remained until 1983 when he felt the next step in his evolution should lead to the director's chair. It isn't a decision he recalls with much fondness.