Nayla Hayek (born 1951) is a Swiss heiress, businesswoman and horse breeder.
She is the chair of
The Swatch Group
The Swatch Group Ltd is a Swiss manufacturer of watches and jewellery. The company was founded in 1983 by the merger of ASUAG
Allgemeine Schweizerische Uhrenindustrie AG (ASUAG; French: ''Société Générale de l'Horlogerie Suisse SA'') was t ...
and CEO of its subsidiary, the jeweler Harry Winston.
Early life
Hayek is the daughter of Lebanese-born Swiss businessman
Nicolas Hayek
Nicolas George Hayek (19 February 1928 – 28 June 2010), was a Swiss businessman of Lebanese descent, and the co-founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of The Swatch Group.
Early life and education
Hayek was born the second of three children, ...
, the late founder of The Swatch Group. She has a younger brother,
Nick Hayek Jr.
The Swatch Group
Hayek joined the board of The Swatch Group in 1995 and became its chair in 2010, after her father's death.
Hayek became the CEO of
Harry Winston, Inc. in May 2013, a few months after The Swatch Group acquired the company. The company bought the world's largest flawless blue diamond
The Winston Blue
The Winston Blue is the name given to what was the largest flawless vivid blue diamond bought by Harry Winston, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of The Swatch Group from January 2013) on May 15, 2014, from an anonymous person for $23.8 million at C ...
in May 2014.
Horse breeding
Hayek stated that her passion for horses started when she was a child and worked to buy a
pony
A pony is a type of small horse ('' Equus ferus caballus''). Depending on the context, a pony may be a horse that is under an approximate or exact height at the withers, or a small horse with a specific conformation and temperament. Compared ...
. Since then, she became an international
Arabian horse
The Arabian or Arab horse ( ar, الحصان العربي , DIN 31635, DMG ''ḥiṣān ʿarabī'') is a horse breed, breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is ...
judge and owns over 60 purebred Arabian horses.
Hayek's activity as a horse breeder and expert in Egyptian horses helps the group build and maintain contacts with the Middle East.
Personal
She was married to
Alemannic Swiss industrialist Roland Weber and eventually divorced. She and her ex-husband have a son, Dr. Marc Alexander Hayek, who is now on the executive group management board of the Swatch Group, taking charge of
Blancpain
Blancpain SA () is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer, headquartered in Paudex/Le Brassus, Switzerland. It designs, manufactures, distributes, and sells prestige and luxury mechanical watches. Founded by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain in Villeret, Switze ...
,
Breguet,
Glashutte,
Jaquet Droz, and Swatch Group Central and South America.
Marc Alexander Hayek
/ref>
References
Living people
1951 births
20th-century Swiss businesswomen
21st-century Swiss businesswomen
Horse breeders
Swiss people of Lebanese descent
{{Switzerland-business-bio-stub