Who

The grandson of Estée Lauder and son of Leonard Lauder, William was appointed president and CEO of the Estée Lauder Companies in 2004. He's expected to step down as the company's chief executive later this year.

Backstory

Born into cosmetics royalty—his grandmother was Estée Lauder, the Queens native who started the beauty company in 1946—William grew up on Park Avenue and, following in the footsteps of his father and his uncle Ronald, spent his college years at Wharton. He didn't join the family business immediately: He started out at Macy's as a management trainee and merchandising manager, before arriving at Estée Lauder's Clinique division as a marketing manager. Several years later he moved over to Origins, eventually becoming president of the division. He was named CEO of the company in 2004.

Of note

As the head of the largest cosmetics company in the U.S., William has expanded Estée Lauder's presence in emerging markets like China, India and South Africa and spearheaded deals with P. Diddy, Beyoncé, and Tom Ford, part of a mission to make the company's brands relevant to a new generation of consumers, women who may not want to use the same cream that their grandmas were using half a century ago. Unfortunately, his efforts have yet to bear fruit: Sales have been flat in recent years and actually took a dip in 2007, much to the dismay of shareholders. There's also been mounting unhappiness with Estée Lauder's corporate structure: members of the Lauder family hold a majority of the company's voting stock and William reports to his father, Leonard Lauder, who's company chairman. (William's mother, Evelyn Lauder, is a senior vice president.)

With shareholders demanding more accountability, William announced in November 2007 that former Procter & Gamble exec Fabrizio Freda had signed on as president and chief operating officer and will succeed him as CEO within the next two years. At that point, it's expected William will assume the title of chairman.

Family ties

William's first cousins, Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer and Jane Lauder, are also involved with the family biz. Aerin heads up marketing and branding and Jane is a senior vice president at Clinique. The only sibling who doesn't work for the company: William's younger brother Gary, a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley.

Board game

Like his dad, Lauder is a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, along with heavyweights like Ron Perelman, Henry Silverman, and Christopher Browne, among others. He's also on the board of the 92nd Street Y and Jenny Morgenthau's Fresh Air Fund.

Personal

Lauder is married to Karen Lauder, an occasional film producer. The couple has two daughters. Over the summer of 2007, though, Lauder ended up in the gossip columns after it was revealed that he'd had a baby with his longtime girlfriend, Taylor Stein, the daughter of nightlife impresario (and former Xenon and Au Bar owner) Howard Stein. Lauder has promised to support the baby girl, Djuna; he continues to live with Karen and their kids for the time being.

Habitat

The Lauders lived at 730 Park Avenue until July of 2007, when they moved to a 5-bedroom, 7.5-bath apartment at 778 Park, which they purchased for $27.5 million. They have a weekend home in the Westchester County hamlet of Waccabuc.