Valerie Anne Mars (born 20 January 1959) is an American billionaire heiress and businesswoman. As of June 2021, ''

Bloomberg Billionaires Index The ''Bloomberg Billionaires Index'', launched in March 2012, is a daily ranking of the world's 500 richest people based on their net worth. It features a profile of each billionaire, and includes a tool that allows users to compare the fortunes o ...

'' estimated her wealth to be $11.5 billion. Valerie Mars is a fourth generation member of the

Mars family The Mars family is an American family that owns the confectionery company Mars Inc. In 1988, the family was ranked as the richest family in the United States of America by ''Fortune'' magazine. It has since been surpassed by the Walton family ...

. Her father was late Forrest Mars Jr. (1931–2016). She has three sisters:

Marijke Mars Marijke Elizabeth Mars (born 1965) is an American billionaire heiress and businesswoman. In March 2018 ''Forbes'' estimated her wealth to be $5.9 billion. She was ranked as the 30th-richest woman in the world, a position shared with her three si ...

Pamela Mars-Wright Pamela Diane Mars-Wright (née Mars; born 1960) is an American businesswoman and billionaire heiress. Previously, she was the chairman of the board of Mars Inc. She is a supervisory board member of Dutch brewing company Heineken International. ...

and Victoria B. Mars. She inherited about 8 percent stake of Mars Inc. in 2016, which made her a

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. It is a sub-category of the concept of the ultr ...

. She earned a bachelor's degree from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

and an MBA from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. She is married to Philip Michael White (since 1984), and has two sons. She is a senior vice president and head of corporate development for Mars, Inc. Since 2014 she has served as a board member of

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCA), now part of Stellantis, was an Italian-American multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of Car, automobiles, commercial vehicles, List of auto parts, auto parts and production systems. ...

. She serves also as a board member of Ahlstrom-Munksjö, a Finnish-Swedish stock company (paper industry). She is member of the advisory board of Rabobank North America. Her participation in

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

s include board membership in

Conservation International Conservation International (CI) is an American nonprofit environmental organization headquartered in Crystal City, Virginia, in Arlington County, Virginia. CI's work focuses on science, policy and partnership with businesses, governments and co ...

(nature protection) and the

Open Space Institute The Open Space Institute (OSI) is a conservation organization that protects land for clean drinking water, public recreation, healthy communities, wildlife habitat, and climate protection. Established in 1974, OSI achieves its goals through land acq ...

(landscape protection, honorary trustee).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mars, Valerie Living people 1959 births Yale University alumni Columbia Business School alumni Mars family American billionaires Female billionaires