Christie Hefner

While Hugh Hefner made adult entertainment mainstream with his No. 1-selling men’s magazine, it’s been his daughter, Christie, who has overseen the expansion of the Playboy empire beyond print.

Faced with sliding sales and mounting competition, Christie made the innovative decision to steer the company onto the Internet in 1994, making it the first national magazine on the Web. Following the successful online venture, Hefner continued to build the brand, exporting it overseas and growing it at home with the creation of videogames, concept stores and plans for new entertainment venues in Las Vegas and Shanghai. Christie took the reins as chief executive and chair in 1988 after 13 years in the family business, and since then she has overseen a recapitalization of the company and has watched global retail sales grow to over $500 million.

A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Hefner graduated from Brandeis University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and American Literature in 1974. She tried her hand at journalism for a year before joining the family publication.