Lebenthal works at her grandmother’s former desk

 
  Alexandra Lebenthal
 
  From presidents to pop culture icons, photographs of Lebenthal’s friends deck out her desk
 
  Mementoes small and large

CEO, author, society insider, wife, and mother of three, Alexandra Lebenthal has a family history on Wall Street that goes back to 1925, when her grandmother, Sayra Fisher Lebenthal, founded Lebenthal & Co., the municipal bond company that she worked at until she was 93. “As a little girl, I would go down to the office on a vacation day with my dad, and there was my grandmother sitting at this desk with a view of the Statue of Liberty behind her,” says Alexandra. “My grandmother is my inspiration and I sit at her desk everyday.”

Lebenthal, a Princeton graduate, became the president and CEO of Lebenthal & Co. at age 31. After the family sold the firm, she and her father formed Alexandra & James in 2006, specializing in financial services and wealth management. The company, which employs 50 people, has an interesting mix of clients including celebrities, sports figures, models, designers, and investors with $2 million to $40 million in assets. “We do everything for people,” she says. “We oversee money, we pay bills, we do taxes, and we invest money. We like to say we do anything that has a dollar sign in front of it. We are their personal CFOs.”

A Charitable Spirit
Another family legacy Lebenthal works hard to maintain is a commitment to New York charities. “I inherited a great sense of philanthropy from my dad,” says Lebenthal, who is working on the New York Botanical Garden Winter Wonderland Ball, set for December 9. She is also on the Business Council of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has cochaired the Museum of Natural History’s Family Day, and is on the acquisitions committee for the Couture Council at FIT. “Not just writing a check, but really being passionate, involved, and giving of yourself.”

Her deepest connection is with the Hale House, a Harlem-based organization that supports children and families in need. “Last year I was a Secret Santa to one of the children who lives in assisted living,” she says. “I was so taken by [her letter] that I went and bought everything she wanted on her list, from a pink bicycle to a gift card for her mom to buy clothes and shoes. That’s the kind of thing that you feel so lucky to be able to do for others.”

Named one of New York’s 100 most influential women by Crain’s in 1999, Lebenthal often starts her day with breakfast at the Regency, a tradition she began in her early 20s. “Back in those days I was getting seated in the side room, and I really had to work my way up,” says Lebenthal, whose table today is much more front and center.

Art Imitates Life
Between the breakfasts and the galas, Lebenthal found a bounty of inspiration for her 2010 book, The Recessionistas, a fictionalized account of the city’s power players during the 2008 financial crisis, which was recently optioned by Sony Pictures Television. “Drew Barrymore would be my favorite to play the main character, who is based on me,” says Lebenthal. “Drew says what she thinks and has a forceful personality, but she is not aggressive or tough. She’s beautiful but still cute.”

Lebenthal is currently working on her second novel, about a slick Southern couple, Wall Street, and New York society. “In New York you will meet the most sophisticated and intelligent people, but they’re also the most gullible,” says Lebenthal, who was in part inspired the recent John Edwards scandal. “I have this idea that by virtue of being in the right restaurant, at the right gala, or at the right party in the Hamptons, that somehow people assume you’ve been vetted. There is an opportunity for somebody who is smart enough to actually take advantage of quite a number of people; the story has a sort of Madoffian aspect to it.”