Christie Hefner
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Christie Ann Hefner (born November 8, 1952) is an American businesswoman. She was chairman and CEO of
Playboy Enterprises PLBY Group, Inc. is an American global media and lifestyle company founded by Hugh Hefner as Playboy Enterprises, Inc. to oversee the ''Playboy'' magazine and related assets. Its headquarters are in Los Angeles, California. The company is focus ...
from 1988 to 2009, and is the daughter of ''
Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...
'' magazine founder
Hugh Hefner Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles which provoked charges of obsc ...
.


Early life

Hefner was born in
Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
. She is the daughter of Mildred (Williams) and
Hugh Hefner Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles which provoked charges of obsc ...
. Her parents had separated by the time she was five. When her mother remarried, she moved to
Wilmette, Illinois Wilmette is a village in New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Bordering Lake Michigan and Evanston, Illinois, it is located north of Chicago's downtown district. Wilmette had a population of 27,087 at the 2010 census. The ...
. There she graduated from
New Trier High School New Trier High School (, also known as New Trier Township High School or NTHS) is a public four-year high school, with its main campus for sophomores through seniors located in Winnetka, Illinois, United States, and a campus in Northfield, Illinoi ...
. She attended the
National Music Camp Interlochen Center for the Arts is a non-profit corporation which operates arts education institutions and performance venues in northwest Michigan. It is situated on a campus in Interlochen, Michigan, roughly southwest of Traverse City. In ...
at
Interlochen, Michigan Interlochen ( ') is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Grand Traverse County, Michigan, Grand Traverse County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the pop ...
, during the summers from 1964 to 1969. She graduated ''
summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
'' from
Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...
with a bachelor's degree in English and American literature in 1974. She was elected to
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
in her junior year.


Career

After college, she free-lanced for the ''
Boston Phoenix ''The Phoenix'' (stylized as ''The Phœnix'') was the name of several alternative weekly periodicals published in the United States of America by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts, including the ''Portland Phoenix'' and ...
'' for a year, writing movie reviews. Thereafter, she moved back to Chicago and started working at ''
Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...
''. In 1982, she became president of
Playboy Enterprises PLBY Group, Inc. is an American global media and lifestyle company founded by Hugh Hefner as Playboy Enterprises, Inc. to oversee the ''Playboy'' magazine and related assets. Its headquarters are in Los Angeles, California. The company is focus ...
, and was made chairman of the board and CEO in 1988. She was the longest serving female CEO of a
publicly traded company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (l ...
. She extended its magazine franchise overseas, to 25 localized foreign editions and also developed the company's profitable pay television business — the first time a magazine successfully leveraged its brand into a television network. The company also acquired adult-oriented businesses such as
Spice Network The Spice Networks are a group of television channels operated on a pay-per-view basis that broadcast adult and pornographic content. The channels are owned by MindGeek, but they were originally launched by Playboy Enterprises in March 1994. The ...
and
ClubJenna Jenna Marie Massoli (born April 9, 1974), known professionally as Jenna Jameson (), is an American model, former pornographic film actress, businesswoman, and television personality. She has been named the world's most famous adult entertainme ...
. 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 also built a highly profitable
direct marketing Direct marketing is a form of communicating an offer, where organizations communicate directly to a pre-selected customer and supply a method for a direct response. Among practitioners, it is also known as ''direct response marketing''. B ...
, catalog and e-commerce business in film and music through both acquisition and organic growth. And, 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, 80% of the sales to women. When she left over 40% of her executives were women. For three years, she was named to ''
Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
'' list of "Most Powerful Women". In 2008, she released a memo to employees about her efforts to streamline the company's operations, including eliminating its
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
division and laying off staff. On December 8, 2008, she announced her plans to step down as CEO of Playboy. Hefner said that the election of
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
as the next
U.S. president The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
had inspired her to give more time to charitable work, and that the decision to step down was her own. "Just as this country is embracing change in the form of new leadership, I have decided that now is the time to make changes in my own life as well", she said. She stepped down from her position at Playboy on January 30, 2009. In May 2011, Hefner was named executive chairman of Canyon Ranch Enterprises, a resort company that operates six premier spa destinations and an online website providing health and wellness advice. As of 2015, Hefner was chairman of the board of Hatchbeauty Brands and served on the board of the D.C. based
Center for American Progress The Center for American Progress (CAP) is a public policy research and advocacy organization which presents a liberal viewpoint on economic and social issues. It has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. The president and chief executive officer ...
Action Fund, a progressive public policy think tank. Christie also serves on the advisory boards of the R.D. Offutt company, an international, multi-billion dollar family owned agricultural conglomerate and Edge Beauty, the world's leading direct-to-consumer company in creating, designing, manufacturing and marketing unique, culturally relevant niche fragrance brands.


Philanthropy

Hefner created the
Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award The Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award is an award created in honor of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. The Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards were established in 1979 to honor individuals who have made significant contributions in the vital effort ...
in honor of her father, and has helped to raise $30 million to build the CORE Center in Chicago, the first
outpatient A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health care ...
facility in the
Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
for people with
AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
.


Personal life

Hefner married former
Illinois state senator The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the I ...
William A. Marovitz William A. Marovitz (born September 29, 1944) is an American lawyer and politician who was involved in real estate in Chicago and was married to Christie Hefner from 1995 to 2013. Career Marovitz is the son of Sydney Marovitz, the former longtime ...
, a
real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
developer and attorney in 1995. They divorced in 2013 and have no children. Marovitz was sued by the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
for allegedly using
inside information Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider information ...
to trade illegally in
shares In financial markets, a share is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation, and can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Share capital refers to all of the shares of an ...
of Playboy. In 2011, he settled
out of court In law, a settlement is a resolution between disputing parties about a lawsuit, legal case, reached either before or after court action begins. A collective settlement is a settlement of multiple similar legal cases. The term also has other mean ...
for $168,352.Yue, Lorene (August 3, 2011)
"Marovitz career spans politics, real estate, restaurants, even baseball"
''
Crain's Chicago Business ''Crain's Chicago Business'' is a weekly business newspaper in Chicago, IL. It is owned by Detroit-based Crain Communications, a privately held publishing company with more than 30 magazines, including ''Advertising Age'', ''Modern Healthcare'' ...
''.
She lives in Chicago and has one brother, David, a computer systems analyst. She also has two half-brothers,
Cooper Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * Cooper (video game character), in ...
and Marston, from her father's marriage to Kimberley Conrad.


References


Bibliography

* Reed, Cheryl, L. (2004)
"Career built on guts, family ties -- and skin"
''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
''. Archived fro
the original
on May 11, 2004. * Watts, Steven (2008). ''Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream''. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.


External links

* * *https://web.archive.org/web/20110904061834/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-08-04/business/ct-biz-0804-marovitz-playboy-20110804_1_playboy-stock-hefner-and-playboy-playboy-enterprises
Christie Hefner Honored with 2018 Daniel L. Goodwin Watchdog Award
on
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Business Strategist, Political Activist
on
The Chicago Network ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

Former Playboy CEO Christie Hefner on Fake News
on
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hefner, Christie 1952 births Living people Adult magazine publishers (people) American socialites Brandeis University alumni New Trier High School alumni Businesspeople from Chicago People from Wilmette, Illinois Playboy people Free speech activists HIV/AIDS activists American women chief executives American publishing chief executives Hefner family