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Lynsi Torres: Youngest American Female Billionaire
 Lynsi
Torres as per Bloomberg Billionaires Index is currently the youngest American
female billionaire. Lynsi Lavelle Torres (n�e Snyder, previously Martinez was
born on 5th May 1982. She 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
and the only grandchild of Harry and Esther Snyder, who founded In-N-Out in
1948. She is featured in the Maxim 2013 Top 100 hottest women in the world.
Torres was born in Glendora, California to Lynda Lou (n�e Perkins) and Harry Guy
Snyder. She is of Dutch descent on her father's side. At age 12, she moved with
her parents to the small CDP of Shingletown, California, where she graduated
from a private Christian high school and lived on a ranch. Her parents divorced
in January 1997, when she was fourteen. 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.
Beginning on January 1, 2010, Torres 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 Torres 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 Torres's.
During 2006, Torres and In-N-Out were embroiled in a bitter lawsuit with an
ex-company executive, Rich Boyd. Boyd was fired for allegedly misusing company
funds, but claimed that Torres, 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. In February 2013, Torres was
ranked a billionaire for the first time by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index,
based on an In-N-Out valuation of $1.1 billion.
Torres 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. She is also actively involved with the
In-N-Out Burger Foundation, which supports abused and neglected children.
 In late 1999, when Torres was seventeen, her father H. Guy Snyder died from a
drug overdose. Shortly after, in summer 2000, Torres wed Jeremiah Seawell, her
high school sweetheart. The marriage ended within two years. She then married
former In-N-Out employee Richard Martinez in 2004. In late 2006, Torres gave
birth to fraternal twins (one boy, one girl), named Ella Jade and Silas Diego.
She and Martinez divorced in 2011. That same year, she married for a third time
to Val Torres Jr., a contractor and race car driver. The couple had one child
together before divorcing in 2013.
Torres 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. Torres gained control of 50% of the
company in 2012 when she turned 30, and will gain full control when she turns
35.
Torres is media-shy, although she recently participated in a profile in the
Orange County Register. Like her father, she is an avid drag racing fan and
member of the NHRA. She regularly competes in drag racing events. In August
2012, Torres 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 Adri�n Beltr� for a sum in excess of US$17 million. Torres
works out of the Baldwin Park office, home of In-N-Out University and formerly
company headquarters.
Torres does not have a college degree or much formal management training,
Bloomberg reports. Thanks to In-N-Out's large fan base at its nearly 280
restaurants in five states, the chain is now worth roughly $1.1 billion,
according to estimates -- 19,298 times more than the median U.S. household in
2010.
Dated 28 October 2013
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