The Graduate Programs Office in the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University will host an invitation-only breakfast with Christie Hefner, former chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises, on Nov. 5 at 8 a.m. in the Milton Room. The event will include a guest lecture by Hefner, titled “A Man’s World, A Woman’s Nation.” The event is sponsored by the Whitman Women in Business student club.
Hefner served as chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises from 1988 to 2008, overseeing the global expansion of the Playboy brand to a wide array of new platforms and markets and transforming a domestic publishing-based business into a global multi-media and lifestyle company. During her tenure, she restructured operations and initiated the company’s highly successful electronic and international expansion.
Since leaving Playboy, Hefner has been working with the Center for American Progress, the leading progressive think tank started and run by John Podesta, and appearing regularly on cable news to talk about business and public policy. She is working with the Columbia Journalism Review to increase its influence and effectiveness both as a media watchdog and as an ally in the effort to find new business models for journalism. She is also developing a new brand-licensing business for Canyon Ranch Health Resorts.
The first woman elected to the Chicago chapter of the Young Presidents' Organization, Hefner helped to found the Committee of 200, an international organization of preeminent women business owners and executives. She currently sits on the Council of National Advisors for Springboard Enterprises, which supports women-led growth ventures, and has long been involved in working to elect progressive candidates, advance women, first amendment issues and advancing treatment for people with HIV/AIDS.
Hefner graduated from Brandeis University in 1974. After graduation, she worked a s a journalist for a year for The Boston Phoenix. For more information, contact Pam Suzadail, assistant director of external programs in the Whitman School, at (315) 443-8384 or pjsuzada@syr.edu. Media queries can be directed to Amy Schmitz, director of communications in the Whitman School, at (315) 443-3834 or aemehrin@syr.edu.
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