Christie Hefner
Christie is a seasoned professional with more than thirty years’ experience at executive levels in both public and private companies, as well as multiple company directorships. Today, she is a director of ScentBeauty, a multi-brand fragrance and beauty company; R.D. Offutt Company, an international, family-owned multi-billion dollar agricultural conglomerate; Metro Edge Development Partners, a commercial real estate firm focused on high-impact, technology-driven developments; and Public Good, an AI driven digital platform that allows brands to sponsor social impact units. She also works directly with CEOs on strategy and innovation, including Air Carbon, a rapidly growing technology company that has patented a method of extracting methane from the atmosphere and converting it into a new material that’s ocean biodegradable.
From 2009-2013, Christie directed a new entity, Canyon Ranch Enterprises, to leverage the Canyon Ranch brand and content via multi-media and business partnerships in the healthy eating, personal care and employee wellness areas.
From 1988-2008, Hefner was Chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises, Inc. making her the longest serving female Chairman and CEO of a U.S. public company at the time. During her tenure, she oversaw policy, management and strategy in all areas of the company. When she retired more than 40% of Playboy executives were women – a first for a NYSE Company. For three years she was named to FORTUNE’s list of “The 100 Most Powerful Women in the World.”
At Playboy Enterprises, she led the recapitalization of the Company, making it the first NYSE corporation allowed to issue a second class of stock with disparate voting rights, expanded research analyst coverage and broadened institutional ownership.
She restructured operations and initiated the Company’s highly successful electronic and international expansion. She extended its magazine franchise overseas and also developed the company’s profitable pay television business — the first time a magazine successfully leveraged its brand into a television network. Continuing the Company’s electronic expansion, in 1994 Christie led the Company onto the Internet with the launch of Playboy.com, the first national magazine to launch a web site, and built an international, profitable, multi-revenue stream business including premium content, e-commerce, advertising and gaming, both online and mobile. She greatly expanded the leveraging of the Playboy brand via licensing. In her last year as CEO, Playboy generated close to $1 billion in global retail sales.
She was a founding member of The Chicago Network, The Committee of 200, and the Chicago Chapter of Women Corporate Directors, and she was the first woman elected into the Chicago Chapter of the Young Presidents’ Organization. She’s a member of the Economic Club, the Executives’ Club, the Commercial Club, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the National Association of Corporate Directors.
Elected to Phi Beta Kappa in her junior year of college, she graduated from Brandeis University summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and American literature.