Lynsi Snyder

Lynsi Snyder
Born	Lynsi Lavelle Snyder (1982-05-05) May 5, 1982 Glendora, California, U.S.
Residence	Bradbury, California
Occupation	President and owner of In-N-Out Burger
Net worth	US$1.1 billion[1]
Religion	Protestant
Spouse(s)	Jeremiah Seawell (2000-2003; divorced) Richard Martinez (2004-2011; divorced) Val Torres Jr. (2011-2014; divorced) Sean Ellingson (2014-present)
Children	4

Lynsi Lavelle Snyder-Ellingson^[2][3] (previously Seawell, then Martinez and then Torres, born May 5, 1982) is an American businesswoman, the owner and heiress of the In-N-Out Burger company. She is the only child of Lynda and H. Guy Snyder^[4] and the only grandchild of Harry and Esther Snyder, who founded In-N-Out in 1948.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Snyder is currently the second youngest American female billionaire: only Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos is younger.^[1] As the sole beneficiary of family trusts, she is currently In-N-Out's majority owner and will ultimately receive control of the company's stock in its entirety on her 35th birthday, becoming the sole owner.^[5]

Early life

Snyder was born in Glendora, California to Lynda Lou (née Perkins) and Harry Guy Snyder. She is of Dutch descent on her father's side.^[6] When she was 12, her parents separated and she moved with her mother to the small town of Shingletown, California, where she lived on a ranch and graduated from Redding Christian School, a private high school in Palo Cedro, California that her parents helped found.^[7] Her parents eventually divorced in January 1997.^[8] She has two older half-sisters (Traci and Teri) through her mother. Traci is married to former In-N-Out President and current COO Mark Taylor.^[9] Snyder's uncle Rich died in 1993 in a plane crash, and her father died in 1999 from an accidental drug overdose.^[10]

Career

Beginning on January 1, 2010, Snyder became In-N-Out's 6th President, succeeding her brother-in-law, Mark Taylor, who was appointed the company's Chief Operating Officer. She currently retains the same position that her grandfather Harry (1948–1976), uncle Rich (1976–1993), father Guy (1993–1999), and grandmother Esther (1999–2006) previously retained. She currently does not completely "own" her company but rather is guiding it until she receives her final shares on her 35th birthday. Before Snyder stepped in as President of In-N-Out Burger, she sent out a taped message that was broadcast to all the company associates letting them know about the transition and the future of the company. Also, Esther Snyder's signature was finally removed from associates' checks in 2009 (three years after her death) and replaced with Snyder's.

During 2006, Snyder and In-N-Out were embroiled in a bitter lawsuit with an ex-company executive, Rich Boyd.^[11] Boyd was fired for allegedly misusing company funds, but claimed that Snyder, and then Vice-President Mark Taylor, were trying to oust the elderly Esther Snyder from the company. Both denied the claims and the lawsuit was settled out of court in May 2006.^[12]

Snyder was to take ownership of her father's share of In-N-Out on her 30th birthday, but inherited the balance of the company that was not already in trust for her when her grandmother Esther died.^[13][14][15] Snyder gained control of 50% of the company in 2012 when she turned 30, and will gain full control when she turns 35.^[16]

In February 2013, Snyder was ranked a billionaire for the first time by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, based on an In-N-Out valuation of $1.1 billion.^[1] That same year, she ranked #93 on Maxim's annual Hot 100 list.^[17]

Philanthropy

Snyder funds Healing Hearts & Nations (HHN), a non-profit corporation that builds training centers in Africa and India and trains local community leaders for the purpose of providing different forms of counseling to the underprivileged local population.^[18] She is also actively involved with the In-N-Out Burger Foundation, which supports abused and neglected children.^[19]

Personal life

Marriages and children

Snyder has been married four times and has four children. Her husbands have been:

1. Jeremiah Seawell (2000 - 2003): Seawell was a local boy from Redding, California who was Snyder's high school sweetheart. They married shortly after her 18th birthday, in summer 2000, and moved back to her hometown of Glendora.^[20] The couple separated within two years and eventually divorced in 2003.^[21]
2. Richard Martinez (2004 - 2011): Snyder then married former In-N-Out employee Richard Martinez. In November 2006, Snyder gave birth to fraternal twins (one boy, one girl), named Ella Jade and Silas Diego.. Snyder filed for divorce in September 2010, and the split was finalized in late 2011.^[22]
3. Val Torres, Jr. (2011 - 2014): In 2010, while still married to Martinez, Snyder began dating Torres, a race car driver. On July 15, 2011, Snyder gave birth to Torres's child, a son named Valentino Guy.^[7] Her divorce from Martinez was finalized later in 2011. Shortly after, she married Torres in a small ceremony.^[6] Snyder filed for divorce from Torres in 2013; the marriage officially ended the following year.^[23]
4. Sean Ellingson (July 5, 2014 – present): In May 2014, Snyder became engaged to another ex-In-N-Out employee, Sean Ellingson, a native of La Verne, California. They married on July 5th of that year in Malibu, California. They also held a small ceremony in her hometown of Glendora.^[24] She gave birth to their son Layne, her fourth child, in late 2014. Ellingson is the older brother of actor Evan Ellingson.

Religion

Snyder is a devout Christian, and has spoken several times about her faith.^[25] In 2015, her testimonial was featured on I Am Second. In it, she spoke about the many deaths within her family and her previous failed marriages and how her faith helped her cope through both.^[26]

Drag racing and residence

Like her father, Snyder is an avid drag racing fan and member of the NHRA.^[27] She regularly competes in drag racing events.^[6] In 2015, she was featured on an episode of Jay Leno's Garage, where she showed off a modified '41 Willys that was previously owned by her late father.^[28]

In August 2012, Snyder reportedly purchased a 7-bedroom, 16-bathroom mansion with 16,600 square feet (1,540 m²) of interior space in Bradbury, California from Texas Rangers third baseman Adrián Beltré for a sum in excess of US$17 million.^[29] Snyder has stated that she works primarily out of the Baldwin Park office, home of In-N-Out University and formerly company headquarters, rather than the Irvine corporate headquarters because it is closer to her Bradbury home.^[30]

Reclusivity and kidnapping attempts

Snyder has frequently been been called reclusive and media-shy, due to her long-time penchant for declining nearly all interview requests and rarely appearing at public events.^[31][32] However, in recent years she has become more open to the media, participating in profiles with the Orange County Register, Orange Coast, and CBS News.^[30][33][34]

During her January 2014 interview with Orange Coast, Snyder described how she has been the target of at least two kidnapping attempts. Following these attempts, she stated that she had deliberately maintained an almost non-existent public profile for the safety of her family. The first purported attempt occurred when she was still a high school student in Shingletown; the second took place several years later in Baldwin Park, near the local In-N-Out distribution center.^[35]

References

Further reading

External links

• Healing Hearts & Nations website