CHRISTIE HEFNER

Internationally Known; Locally Involved

hen you talk to Christie Hefner, who's backed by unwavering confidence that you'd think someone would have to train for in order to display so cooly, you start to understand that some things just are what they are. You see that confidence when you examine her decision to take on the position of Playboy Enterprises' president at the age of 29. She talks as if her successful efforts to move said company into a digital expansion where no other publication had gone before, was no different from picking between the steak or the chicken at dinner.

In 1982, Christie took the reins and stepped into the role of president of Playboy. With that new title came additional weight as the company had run into financial issues, but with fearless ambition (and with lack of an MBA she reminds us), Christie greeted the business that she would spend a good chunk of her career navigating and growing into an immensely successful legacy.

Taking over as CEO in 1988 and simultaneously becoming one of the youngest female CEOs of a major public company at the time, Christie oversaw Playboy's expansion from print into cable TV, video production, online accessibility and e-commerce, international publishing, and licensing of the Playboy brand. The company's revenues grew from $76 million in 1988 to over $500 million by the late 1990s under her leadership.

During Christie's tenure, Playboy's international presence expanded by launching over 20 foreign editions of Playboy magazine and taking the company public on international stock exchanges. She modernized Playboy with investments in digital media and entertainment. As a supporter of women's empowerment, she pushed for Playboy to feature more substantive articles and accomplished women in addition to the infamous pictorials.

When Christie was in the role of CEO at Playboy, she took on another role as project director to aid the opening of a healthcare facility called the CORE Center. The CORE Center would go on to be the first comprehensive outpatient facility in the Midwest for people living with AIDS. The project surpassed its goal of $25 million and raised more than $30 million by 1998 and opened its doors in October of that year. The Center has remained one of the largest HIV/ AIDS clinics in the United States. In an interview with TimeOut Chicago in 2005 Christie said this:

In her last year as CEO, Playboy generated close to $1 billion in global retail sales, with 80% of the sales to women. When she left the company in 2009, over 40% of her executives were women.

In her years after stepping down as Playboy CEO, Christie has served on numerous corporate and philanthropic boards and was named one of America's most influential women executives by Fortune magazine. And, believe it or not, one of those boards is one that locals of the FM area may be quite familiar with—R.D. Offutt Company (more on that from the board member herself later).

Beyond her corporate achievements, Christie is known for her enduring commitment to social change and advocacy work, particularly in the areas of social justice, civil liberties, and women's empowerment. She is an avid supporter of free speech and speaks highly in her support of the First Amendment.

When you look over Christie Hefner's resume, you can understand why many look at her in awe—she accomplished so much during her 25+ years of leadership at Playboy and in the years after. You could describe her as an unparalleled entrepreneurial spirit, but you should know there's more to her than that—Christie Hefner waivers not in decision-making for a billion-dollar company, but at naming her favorite movie—a reminder that she is human after all. When she visited the FM area to speak at the annual TEDxFargo event in July, we had the chance to pick her brain on leadership, courage, and everything in between while reliving some of the critical moments in Playboy's history.