Leslie Wexner

Leslie H. Wexner, the founder of L Brands, started the company in Columbus, Ohio, in 1963 with one store and first-year sales of $160,000. Today, total sales for L Brands businesses exceed $12 billion. When he retired in 2020, he was the longest-tenured CEO of any Fortune 500 company at the time, with almost 60 years.

Wexner served as Chairman and CEO of L Brands, a global leader in lingerie, fragrance, and beauty, which includes Victoria’s Secret, PINK, Bath & Body Works, White Barn Candle Co., La Senza and Henri Bendel. The company’s products are available in nearly 4,000 stores in more than 60 countries around the world.

Wexner has a profound interest in the development of tomorrow’s leaders through the works of Harvard University’s Center for Public Leadership; the Wexner Foundation; and The Ohio State University. His areas of community interest include the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University; and the Wexner Institute for Pediatric Research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus.

Wexner has received the Alexis de Tocqueville Society Award of the United Way of America, Woodrow Wilson Award for Citizenship, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Knight of the Italian Republic and the American Jewish Committee Herbert H. Lehman Centennial Leadership Award.

Wexner is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; chairman, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Board; chairman of the advisory council for the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University; member of the Royal Shakespeare Company International Council; and chairman of the Columbus Partnership. He is also a founding member and the first chair of The Ohio State University Foundation.

Wexner holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration from The Ohio State University and honorary degrees from Brandeis University; Hebrew Union College; Hofstra University; Marietta College; the Jewish Theological Seminary of America; the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; University of Tel Aviv; and Yeshiva University. Wexner was inaugurated by Harvard University into the Society of John Harvard Fellows, and serves as a visiting lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.