This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken's heir should take up the reigns of Heineken, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

It was Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken's father, Alfred "Freddie" Heineken, who built the family business from a small Dutch brewer into Europe's largest brewing empire. A well-known bon vivant, he was friendly with the Dutch royal family, and his sense of humor didn't abandon him even after a three-week kidnapping ordeal in 1983: he claimed that his kidnappers tortured him by making him drink Carlsburg.

On Freddie's death in 2003, his heir apparent and only child, Charlene, became the wealthiest woman in the Netherlands, now worth more than $7 billion. She lives a more low-key life in London with her five children and stock broker, and former Olympic skier, husband. She continues to hold the controlling stake in Heineken, though she hasn't been as involved in the company day-to-day as her father was. She told a family biographer that she intends to keep the business together until her heir apparent, her eldest son, is old enough to take on the mantle.

This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think Abigail Johnson should take up the reigns of Fidelity, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

I covered the mutual fund business for about six years in the 1990s, when Fidelity Investments was all the rage. It had the most star managers, the best performing funds and by far the most assets. It had the awe-inspiring Fidelity Magellan! And that was nothing to sneer at back then.

So it was with great interest when I learned that Abigail Johnson, the daughter of CEO 'Ned' Johnson (himself an heir to Fidelity), and a woman near my age (she's 46), was being primed to take over the company. I have been cheering for her ever since. (Even as I wonder if the only way a woman can get to the top of a major financial services firm is by having her father run the place).

This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think Colin Hanks can live up his father's legacy, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

I wonder if Tom Hanks ever stops to reflect on how lucky his career has been. I mean, I know this has been said before, but I still can't get over the fact that one of the biggest celebrity thespians of our era first came to prominence on a goofy sitcom called Bosom Buddies. If it wasn't for some species of divine intervention, Tom Hanks would have been just another deep footnote of the '80s. Although some might consider Bachelor Party a classic -- I'm not sure who that would be -- Tom Hanks' actual breakthrough role came in Disney's (NYSE: DIS) Splash (here's a bit of trivia for you: Splash was the first film released by Touchstone Pictures). Years later, he would go on to star in some of the most memorable movies of our time -- Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, and The Green Mile. Yep, we all know Mr. Tom Hanks.

But have you ever heard of his son, Colin? He was the product of Tom's first marriage to a lady named Samantha Lewes (she unfortunately passed away in 2002). Colin Hanks may not be as famous as his dad, but, according to his page at IMDB, he is an actor in his own right, and has done a lot of television work -- he's worked on Numb3rs, The O.C., and he's been on many episodes of the sci-fi show Roswell. And he's not doing too shabby in the movie business. He's appeared in King Kong, two other movies starring the one and only Jack Black, Orange County and Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, and the recent internet thriller Untraceable.

This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer should take up the reigns of Estee Lauder, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

A cosmetics empire might seem the ultimate in puffery, the very materialization of vanity. But the venerable empire built by Estee Lauder and her powerhouse son, Leonard, has turned makeup into a very real financial juggernaut. And Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer, Leonard's niece, is not only the public face of the company but also the considerable creative brain of its marketing soul.

As granddaughter of the company's founder, Aerin is surely far-removed from the hardscrabble life that was The Estee Lauder Companies Inc (NYSE: EL) beginnings. She is a child of great wealth and, as such, is the inheritor not just of money and corporate responsibility but also of appearances. Aerin is not just the face of the company, but of a certain sense of style; her choices, from her cutlery to the clothing her two boys wear to (of course) her lip gloss, are signals to a certain subset of the fashion world. Aerin is not just the harbinger of styles, she is a style.

Can one go from being the face of a company to its head? If anyone is positioned to do so, it's Aerin. She didn't just grow up in the center of the fashion world, but in the center of the "old American money" world; her best friends are Lauren duPont and Renee Rockefeller, and they've been teaching her the ways of the powerful since she was a child.

This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think Ingvar Kamprad's sons should take up the reigns of IKEA, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

A frugal lifestyle and an eye for what's trendy have allowed Ingvar Kamprad to amass the world's fourth-largest fortune by selling $15 chairs and $450 sofas. The 81-year-old Swedish citizen launched the privately-held IKEA in 1947 and has built it into the world's largest furniture retailer, with stores in 34 countries. The notoriously frugal billionaire (worth about $33 billion) drives a decade-old car, flies coach, and furnishes his own home with the affordable products found in his stores.

While "Ingvar Kamprad" may not roll off the tongue with ease, the household brand name of IKEA is an acronym derived from his initials, the farm where he grew up (Elmtaryd) and his home county of Agynnaryd.

Into his 80s, Kamprad serves as senior adviser for the governing Ingka Foundation, but is not allowed to hold an official position on the five-person board due to his advanced years. Still it seems as though he pulls many of the strings. In fact, according to a 2006 Economist article, "[Kamprad's] control is so tight that not even [his] heirs can loosen it after his death."

This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think Jeffrey Jordan live up to the legacy of his father, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

By Mike Brewster, guest blogger.

Since legendary hoopster Michael Jordan retired for good in 2003, none of the "next Michael Jordans"-- from Tracy McGrady to Jerry Stackhouse to Vince Carter -- have come close to matching Jordan's gaudy stats, six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls, or impact on the game (not to mention his poker losses, but that's another story). Perhaps we have to look closer to home to find the real heir to Air Jordan?

Son Jeff Jordan is a freshman at the University of Illinois, and the first thing that strikes you about the younger Jordan is that he earned an academic scholarship to Illinois, certainly impressive but not exactly predictive of a Hall of Fame NBA career. Jeff's stats -- he's averaging five minutes and under one point per game this season for one of the worst Illinois squads in memory -- suggest that he might have been better off playing at one of the schools where he was offered a basketball scholarship, such as Loyola University of Chicago or Valparaiso.

This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think Aditya Mittal should take up the reigns of Arcelor Mittal, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

The cliché for an heir apparent is typified by the movie Tommy Boy: a dim-witted, irresponsible child pissing away the business and money the parent spent a lifetime accumulating. That cliché couldn't be more wrong in the case of Aditya Mittal, heir to the Arcelor Mittal Steel (NYSE: MT) business.

Even the term apparent is a bit misleading, since London resident Aditya, at 31, is already more of a partner to his father Lakshmi Mittal. As CFO, the Wharton-trained Aditya was the guiding force behind Mittal's most audacious move, the purchase of European steel giant Acelor for $38 billion, and has continued to push for the promised production increases and operational savings that justified the deal.

This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think Allegra Versace should take up the reigns of Versace, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

Allegra Versace was eleven years old when her uncle Gianni was murdered at his Florida villa. The fashion industry icon and founder of the Versace empire left half of his fortune to Allegra, with whom he had been especially close. "My children were his children," said Allegra's mother, Donatella Versace. "He was always with Allegra. Since she was nine years old she would go to museums with him. ... She would sit with him and go through art books. ... It was adorable. She was such an amazing, special little girl."

On her 18th birthday, Gianni's "little princess" came into her inheritance, worth $700 million and including real estate holdings worldwide. Donatella had protected Allegra from the media, but even all grown up Allegra has had little to say publicly about how she felt about the loss of her beloved uncle or about what she planned to do with the family firm. The Versace Group made it clear, however, that Donatella and Allegra Versace would bring a new face to the Versace label, which had struggled since the loss of its founder.

This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think Shari Redstone should take up the reigns of National Amusements, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

In no family-led company is the heir more apparent -- and, ironically, so far from being handed the reins -- as in Viacom, Inc. (NYSE: VIA). Sumner Redstone, chairtyrant and controlling shareholder, is so vastly old that he has become his own caricature. At the age of 84, Redstone is only that much more isolated and authoritative than he was at 83; since then, he's reportedly trying to force his daughter, Shari Redstone, off Viacom's board (as well as having divorced his wife of 55 years in 1999 and become embroiled in a lawsuit with his son, Brent). Lately, even his May-December marriage to Paula Fortunato has been rumored to be in trouble.

Though the trust documents are private, it seems to be general knowledge that Sumner's estate names his daughter as the company's chairman-to-be when he dies. He's certainly not making his twilight years pleasant for her. Not only is he irascible and uncommunicative, but he's given her a very difficult task -- running the worst bits of the business. As head of National Amusements, Shari oversees the movie theaters that were the source of the family's fortune, but which her father believes are relics of the past. (National Amusements, owned privately by Sumner and Shari Redstone, is not a division of Viacom, but holds a controlling voting interest in both Viacom and CBS.)

This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think Delphine Arnault should take up the reigns of LVMH, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

Delphine Arnault is a London School of Economics grad as well as being the daughter of Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world's largest luxury conglomerate -- a company with an astonishing 30 billion Euros (about $47 billion) in assets. She was just 28 when in 2003 her father had her installed on the board of LVMH, where she was the youngest board member and the only woman. Having joined the company in 2000, she came to head Dior's shoe and bag division. Colleagues say she can seem shy, but that she's a careful observer and she appears to have inherited her father's determination. That may be why she's been called the "wolf in the cashmere coat."

She can often be found by her father's side, or even in his place, at fashion shows such as last September's Paris Fashion Week, where she and her husband Alessandro Gancia were "swarmed by paparazzi as though they were film stars." Even though she flew under the radar for a few years, she is reportedly becoming increasingly a public face of the company.

This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think Roger Penske, Jr., should take up the reigns of Penske, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

Roger Penske is as much a fixture of the auto racing world as any person could claim to be. At 70 years old, he's still an effective if not brilliant leader, with his hands on the wheel of a carefully built, racing world success. You have to wonder though, if Roger Penske is getting ready to step aside and let some new talent slip into the driver's seat. If a change in leadership fits into his immediate or mid-range plans, who might his replacement be?

With four sons and one daughter, Roger has no shortage of Penske offspring who might be considered for stepping into the racing patriarch's formidable shoes. The question is, are any of them fit for the job? We may have gotten just a glimmer of what's to be expected by the recent stepping down of Roger Penske, Jr., from his position as president of Penske Automotive Group Inc. (NYSE: PAG). Roger, Jr., is reported by Crain's Detroit Business to be retiring from Penske Automotive and purchasing four California auto dealerships from Penske Corp. Is this change to facilitate his being groomed to step into his dad's position? No source I've seen appears to be sure if that is the case.

This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think James Murdoch should take up the reigns of News Corp., and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

James Murdoch seems the opposite of his father, media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

The younger Murdoch is described in media reports as a low-key family man who isn't much of a schmoozer. Rupert Murdoch loves to court politicians, something that doesn't seem to interest James. The fourth Murdoch child, though, did sow his wild oats when he was younger, dropping out of Harvard and founding a hip-hop music label that was later acquired by News Corp. (NYSE: NWS).

But James Murdoch got rid of the eyebrow stud and got serious about business. Sure, Rupert Murdoch's many detractors screamed "nepotism" when the old man named him to run the News Corp's British Sky Broadcasting business. Eventually, though, James Murdoch won them over by doing a bang-up job.

"He won over his critics in the city by hitting ambitious targets, increasing the number of Sky subscribers by more than one million, but he also eschewed his father's abrasive approach, saying early on that the company would be 'a partner not a pariah' to its rivals," according to The U.K,'s Observer newspaper.

This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think David Lauren should take up the reigns of Polo Ralph Lauren, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

David Lauren is unusual among his two siblings and father, Ralph: he is not an entrepreneur. Ralph Lauren is, after all, the very definition of a self-made man, having brought himself up from his humble beginnings as Ralph Lipshitz (it was his brother who suggested the name change) and forged a company worth several billion dollars today. But as the only Lauren sibling to work for Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) -- as the SVP of Advertising, Marketing, and Corporate Communications -- he has been called the "heir apparent" to his father by more than one fashionable pundit.

As a junior investment banker, I analyzed Ralph Lauren's balance sheet more than once, seeking to show how well it might fit with another fashion house. The numbers were convincing, and it's probable that many a quiet chat was held between high-powered apparel executives based on these balance sheet combinations. The fact that nothing has ever materialized from this Wall Street cajolery is testament to the thing we all talked about but never appeared on our PowerPoint pitch slides: Ralph Lauren likes control. (I remember a story about a major photo shoot held up for hours because Ralph didn't approve of the shade of beige used in some thread, or something similarly outrageous.)

Many a sensible succession has been held up because the aging founder was unwilling to give up the corner office, in corporations and in kingdoms alike. For all his patrician good looks and endless charms, Ralph is rather unyielding in his patriarchy and certainly has not made David's path to the CEO spot a hop, skip and a jump.

This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think Galen or Alannah Weston should take up the reigns of Weston, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

W. Galen Weston was once an heir apparent himself, taking the bakery founded by his grandfather George Weston in 1882 and expanding it into one of the largest food conglomerates in North America, George Weston Ltd. (TSX: WN), which includes such brands as President's Choice, Entenmann's, Brownberry, Thomas', Boboli, Ovaltine, and Twinings. A fixture on the Forbes billionaire list, Galen Weston also holds a controlling stake in the Loblaws supermarket chain, and took the Selfridges department store private a few years ago. His heirs apparent are his children, son Galen G. and daughter Alannah.

Galen G. Weston was installed as executive chairman of Loblaw Companies (TSX: L) in 2006, and faces something of a challenge if he is to prove his mettle. Since his arrival, the company has experienced its first annual loss in decades, share prices have slumped to a ten-year low, and opening superstores to fend off competition from the likes of Wal-Mart Canada hasn't worked out so well. The company is now focusing on its supply chain and supporting infrastructure, as well as limiting the types of merchandise the stores sell. Such efforts have helped the company swing back into the black.

This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think Bindi Irwin should take up the reigns of her father's conservation/entertainment empire, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

Most dads don't need a reason to be proud of their little girls. Just the fact that our daughters are our own little princesses can produce pride enough for even the roughest dudes. The proposition is rendered even sweeter when you're out in public and your little girl acts like a perfect lady beside you. But perhaps the greatest pride producer of all is when your daughter conducts herself like a lady in your absence. Such is the priceless tribute paid to the the legacy of the late Steve Irwin, by his daughter Bindi Irwin, each and every day.

Blessed with her father's innate connection to wildlife and a quick, cute wit that is her own, Bindi Irwin has forged ahead in her father's absence to carry the messages of nature conservation. With the caring guidance of Terri Irwin, her stout-hearted and intelligent mother, Bindi has traveled extensively, including promotional visits to New York and Los Angeles. Additionally, when she's not globe trotting, Bindi makes regular entertainment appearances at the Animal Planet Crocoseum, in conjunction with Australia Zoo.