She is the Global President and General Manager of the Estée Lauder Companies that also happens to be her family business, one founded and named after her grandmother. The daughter of Jo Carole Lauder and Ronald Lauder is the granddaughter of Estée Lauder and Joseph Lauder, the co-founders of the cosmetics giant. The firm that is over 70-years strong is the second-largest cosmetics company in the world after L’Oréal. The Stanford graduate is now the eight richest woman in New York and boasts a net worth of $3.2 billion. She is married to a Stanford grad and the youngest-ever appointee to the Federal Reserve Board, Kevin Warsh.
Early life and education:
Born into a wealthy business family, Jane Lauder went to the upscale Chapin School, an illustrious, all-girls independent day school in New York City’s Upper East Side neighborhood. The Manhattan school was attended by noteworthy women like Tonya Bolde, Allison Applebaum, Ivanka Trump, designer Vera Wang, Lake Bell, and many more. Jane followed it with a B.A. in History from Stanford University. Today, the pioneering billionairess is a member of the Council of the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of the New York Public Library, the Board of Directors of the Friends of the High Line in New York City, and the Board of Directors of Silicon Valley-based Eventbrite.
Career at Estee Lauder Cosmetics:
One might imagine Jane to be a real-life princess considering her grandmother created one of the biggest beauty empires worldwide. Seventy years since its creation in 1946, Estée Lauder Cosmetics is going strong with third-generation members of the Lauder family successfully leading the long-standing empire. Jane’s journey began in the field of advertising before joining Estée Lauder in 1996. Her tryst with the family business, as she correctly pointed out, turned out to be a job for life.
She went from being Estée Lauder’s global president and general manager of company satellite brands including Origins, Darphin, and Ojon to becoming ELC’s first-ever Executive Vice President, Enterprise Marketing and Chief Data Officer, responsible for developing company-wide strategies. Jane shaped Clinique as its Global Brand President For over two decades with successful brand strategies, product innovation and consumer reach. The brains behind Clinique, shifted the brand from relying on low-growth distribution channels, which previously generated nearly one-third of its revenue, to high-growth channels, and tripled Clinique’s online business. Fans of Clinique products like the Moisture Surge 72-Hour Auto-Replenishing Hydrator and Clinique iD have Jane to thank.
Beyond her business pursuits, the New Yorker is passionate about giving back. She actively supports charitable initiatives, including breast cancer awareness and research. She is the force behind the “Women in Business” initiative that mentors women entrepreneurs and creates opportunities for female leaders in the beauty industry, per Facts.
Net Worth:
This avid reader (The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett, is one of her all-time favorite books) has enjoyed billionaire status for over a decade. Jane and her sister Aerin controlled more than 17 million company shares each in 2013, which catapulted each to a net worth of an estimated $2.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Jane has served on Estée Lauder’s board of directors since 2009 and is a billionairess with a whopping $3.2 billion in her kitty. Compared to her socialite sister Aerin, Jane keeps a very low profile. The mother-of-two also keeps her children away from the media spotlight, allowing them to live a relatively normal life. The Lauder sisters joined hands recently to release a coffee table book, Estée Lauder: A Beautiful Life, to mark the Estée Lauder brand’s 75th anniversary.
Her extravagant houses:
If it’s not business-related, chances are you won’t have much to discuss about Jane Lauder. Still, the cosmetics heiress has owned some terrific homes over the years. From a prewar penthouse apartment in New York’s Upper East Side. The three-bedroom, four-bathroom penthouse was outfitted with private elevator access and a separate one-bedroom guest apartment. The 50-year-old put the apartment on the market for $8.9 million in 2012. The wealthy granddaughter of Estée Lauder, once owned a spectacular Hampton’s beachside cottage that fell victim to Hurricane Sandy in 2013. According to Daily Mail, the billionairess also owned a $12.63 million triplex in Nolita.
