Friday, October 18 | 2019

12:15pm–6:00pm

NYU Stern School of Business

Paulson Auditorium

44 West 4th Street

New York, NY

For the past 12 years, the Luxury & Retail Club at New York University's Leonard Stern School of Business has hosted our annual conference bringing together top graduate students with leading industry professionals in Luxury, Retail, Hospitality & Spirits, and Consulting.

Our goal is to create a forum where current topics in luxury and retail can be discussed by industry leaders in an academic environment. This year’s conference theme is Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Incubation. The retail space is constantly evolving—we hope to highlight how top companies are viewing the future of retail to remain relevant within a competitive global landscape. 

After the closing keynote, we invite you to join us for casual conversations & cocktails in Patrons' Lobby.

Nicolas Hieronimus

Deputy CEO at L’Oréal

Nicolas Hieronimus is a visionary and inspiring leader who has spent his entire 32-year career at L’Oréal. He is recognized for his expertise in product development, brand equity management and team empowerment. His global knowledge of customer shifts has been at the heart of driving the world’s leading beauty company. Nicolas graduated from one of France's top Business Schools (ESSEC) in 1985, and joined L'Oréal in 1987 as a Product Manager. In 1993, as Marketing Director for ‘Laboratoires Garnier’, he was responsible for creating the highly successful Fructis haircare range. In 1998, he became General Manager of the Garnier Maybelline Division in the UK.  In 2000, he was named General Manager, L'Oréal Paris France, and subsequently Global President of the L’Oréal Paris brand, which he repositioned as the "accessible luxury" brand. In 2005, he was appointed CEO of L’Oréal Mexico. In 2008, he became President of the Professional products Division, increasing its global leadership; driven in particular by the launch of Inoa hair color. In January 2011, he was appointed President L’Oréal Luxe, a role that he held until the end of 2018. In addition to this role, he took up a new position as President of the Group’s Selective Divisions (Luxury, Active Cosmetics, Professional Products) on 1 July 2013. He was most recently named Deputy CEO L’Oréal, in charge of Divisions on May 1, 2017.

Allison Collins

Beauty Financial Editor at WWD

Allison Collins is the beauty financial editor at WWD, covering beauty trends and financial news. Before that, she was with Mergers & Acquisitions magazine, writing about middle-market deals, corporate turnarounds and lending. Prior to that she worked for The Deal, covering corporate and municipal bankruptcy. She has a degree in communications from Roger Williams University and currently resides in New York City.

David Meir Sasson

COO and CFO at Bonobos

David Meir Sasson is the Chief Operating and Financial Officer of Bonobos. Prior to Bonobos, David worked primarily in the luxury and fashion space serving as the Chief Operating Officer of Derek Lam International, the Corporate Vice President of Financial Strategies at Kenneth Cole Production, and Vice President of Finance and Business Development at Elie Tahari. David started his career in his native Italy as a consultant. David graduated summa cum laude in Economics from LUISS Guido Carli University of Rome and was awarded the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor when he received his MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business.

Chau Banks

CTO at Revlon

Chau Banks is Chief Technology Officer at Revlon, responsible for the strategic direction for all aspects of the Company’s global technology organization. Prior to joining Revlon, she served as EVP, CIO and Channel Integration at New York & Company, a leading specialty manufacturer and retailer of women’s fashion apparel and accessories. Chau was responsible for providing strategic direction for the technology organization and also the integration of business channels that reach all customer touch points. Chau has also held leadership positions at leading global retailers including COACH, Abercrombie & Fitch, and L Brands. She also worked at Capgemini and Ernst & Young as a Management Consultant, providing clients the ability to link technology with business goals in order to accelerate operational efficiencies and achieve growth.

Barbara Torasso

Head of Americas, Basic Properties Inc. (Kappa, Superga, K-Way, Sebago)

Born and raised in Torino, Italy, Barbara got her Masters in Business and Administration for Fashion Companies at Bocconi Business School in Milan in 2007. She started her early career in 2004 in fashion companies like Vivienne Westwood in London and Alexander McQueen in Paris, and working at sport events like Winter Olympics 2006 in Turin. Barbara took later a leadership role in adidas Group Italy till 2012 when she moved to the US to take the position of Global Marketing Manager for Reebok Ltd. After a few years heading up Buyers Relations for Capsule Trade Show in NYC, Barbara is now leading the Americas business development at Basic Properties Inc., a subsidiary of Basic Net (publicly traded at Milan Stock Exchange), and owner of worldwide famous brands like Kappa, K-Way, Superga and Sebago.

Estee Goldschmidt

Co-Founder of ShopDrop and Venture Operations at Spotlyte

Estee Goldschmidt is the co-founder of ShopDrop app, a virtual GPS to sample sales. When working at Estée Lauder, Estee struggled to dress in designer clothes while on an Associate salary. After discovering her first sample sale, where $2,000 items were selling for $200, she got involved with ShopDrop – a single easy-to-use app to answer every sample sale need. ShopDrop is a proud graduate of NYU's Leslie Elab SLP program. Estee currently works as a Venture Operations Manager at Spotlyte and has an MBA from NYU Stern.

veronica katz

VP of Large Enterprise at PayPal

Veronica is a strategic advisor to many top retail leaders and their organizations. Veronica has held numerous senior executive roles leading PayPal’s large enterprise business, initially responsible for the large enterprise business in North America and now as a Vice President of Global Accounts. She joined eBay in 2011 to lead marketing and business development across the fashion vertical. Before joining eBay Inc., Veronica was the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Business Development at David’s Bridal. Her experiences as a retail executive include running e-commerce, digital and marketing. Prior to joining David’s Bridal, Veronica was an operations leader for the Polo Ralph Lauren Luggage Company. For the past four consecutive years, Remodista has named Veronica as one of their 80 Women2Watch in Business Disruption. In September 2019, Veronica won the Women2Watch Innovation Award.

ruthie davis

Luxury Shoe Designer

As a CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) member and an AAFA’s (American Apparel & Footwear Association) Designer of the Year, Davis designs footwear that is far from conventional. Every shoe is a piece of architectural art, all while staying true to the chic, modern and sporty designs that women worldwide have fallen for. Her custom designs have grown to be the top choice of celebrities, ranging from A-listers like Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Zendaya, Ariana Grande, and Demi Lovato, top-tier supermodels and actresses like Naomi Campbell, Halle Berry, Kendall Jenner, Laverne Cox and Sofia Vergara, and world class athletes including Lindsey Vonn and recent Women’s World Cup Soccer winner Alex Morgan. Residing in New York City and President of her eponymous brand, Davis has the advantage of being a woman who designs for women. In addition to overseeing the operation of her company, Davis serves as a television fashion expert with regular spots on Bravo, E!, Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox News, CBS News, Yahoo Finance and NBC among others.

Nick Graham

Founder of Joe Boxer Brand

As founder and Chief Underpants Officer of Joe Boxer, Nick Graham changed the face of fashion when he turned his underwear company into one of America’s most popular lifestyle brands. Sensing an opportunity that American men are increasingly frustrated with the choices they have in menswear, Graham launched his first eponymous brand in 2014 to address what he defines as the "Perennial Millennial" consumer. By offering a style that he calls Post-Prep, the brand is quickly becoming known for offering modern solutions to men’s fashion. 

Rinat Brodach

American Fashion Designer

Rinat Brodach creates fashion-forward clothing that is comfortable, versatile, and luxurious for all genders who experiment and want to enhance the art of the human body and be their true selves. In the first 5 years of the brand, the collection has been highlighted in numerous fashion publications including Elle, Forbes, WWD, Vogue Italia, ID Magazine, Ynet, and many more. The collection was carried in NYC, Tokyo, London, San Francisco, and online. Brodach attend the Academy of Art University in San Francisco where she earned a BFA in Fashion Design. During her senior year at the Academy of Art University, Brodach’s thesis collection gained special recognition, which granted her a year-long scholarship to attend The Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne in Paris.  In the summer of 2012, she left Paris to settle in New York City, where she founded the brand in 2014.

DOUGLAS HAND

Fashion Lawyer, Partner at Hand Baldachin and Associates LLP

Douglas Hand is one of the pre-eminent fashion lawyers in the United States and a founding member of the law firm Hand Baldachin & Associates LLP (HBA) which specializes in the representation of fashion and lifestyle companies (such as Stella McCartney, Everlane, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Anna Sui, Public School and Mansur Gavriel). He is a member of the Business Advisory Committee of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), on the Advisory Board of the CFDA’s Incubator and a member of the CFDA Fashion Awards Guild. Mr. Hand is an adjunct professor of Fashion Law at both NYU School of Law (where he sits on the Stern Fashion and Luxury Council as well as the Board of the NYU Law Alumni Association) and Cardozo School of Law (where he sits on the Board of Advisors for the Fashion, Arts, Media and Entertainment (FAME) Law Center). He is also on the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) Foundation Board of Directors as well as FIT’s Couture Council. He has been featured and profiled as a Fashion Lawyer in numerous media outlets and publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, the American Bar Association Journal, Women’s Wear Daily and The Business of Fashion.

matt mueller

President and Co-Founder at The Knot Standard

Matt has a 20-year track record in global business, technology startups, and product launches. He has launched three companies since 1999, as well as working with global firms such as the Advisory Board Company, Gannett, and Dubai Holding to create unique lines of business that combine online automation with offline business models. Matt worked with Harvard in 2007 to build a new generation of intelligent hospitals in Dubai, before returning to his roots and co-founding Knot Standard in early 2012. Matt has a degree in Finance from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia.

denise lee

Founder at Alala

Alala founder, Denise Lee is a 10+ year fashion industry veteran. With experience in marketing, business development and brand building, she leveraged her expertise into a personal journey while training for a triathlon in 2011, to discover fashion forward activewear. Finding an athleisure brand that reflected her sophisticated sense of style and pieces she could wear all day without feeling under dressed was a struggle. This was her lightbulb moment: a luxury women’s activewear line that reflected the style of contemporary NYC designers that she loved but with the performance qualities of the best technical clothing in the marketplace. Alala launched in the Spring of 2014 with partners such as Equinox, Bandier and Carbon38 and Pure Barre.

whitney cathcart

Co-Founder and CSO at 3DLOOK

Whitney is co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of 3DLOOK, an AI-first technology company that is building the world's first digital body data platform powered by its mobile body scanning technology. Whitney has spent over two decades working in executive leadership positions for some of America’s leading branded, celebrity licensing, and private label manufacturers delivering apparel products to the biggest names in retail. Whitney also holds a certification from MIT in Artificial Intelligence and is an expert at understanding the intersection of the fashion/retail ecosystem and technology.

Tara Hankinson

Co-Founder of TALEA Beer Co.

Tara Hankinson is the Co-Founder of TALEA Beer Co., New York City's first female & veteran-founded brewery. Prior to TALEA, Tara worked in customer impacting roles as the Head of Customer Experience at Hopsy, an e-commerce beer company and at The New York Times, PwC, and Wolffer Estate Vineyard. Tara's passion for homebrewing became a full-fledged company when she and her co-founder started TALEA. TALEA Beer is now sold in over 100 restaurants and retailers in NYC. Their first brewery and taproom will open in 2020. Tara earned a BSBA from Bucknell University and an MBA from NYU Stern.

leigh sevin

Co-Founder at Endear

Leigh is co-founder of Endear, a 1:1 messaging app uniquely designed to help store associates engage their local audience in conversation over email and text. Working with brands like Margaux, Todd Snyder, and M.M.LaFleur, Endear ensures that store teams have a clear way to increase traffic & reach their monthly sales goals.

greg kim

COO at Grailed

Greg joined Grailed, a menswear recommerce platform a year ago and leads the Product Management, Design, Analytics, Merchandising and Finance functions. He was previously at Wayfair, where he had a variety of roles in Product Management and Marketing. Prior to Wayfair, he worked at McKinsey and M&A investment banking with a focus on consumer business, technology and finance. He holds an MBA from Kellogg and a BA in Philosophy from Williams College.

Poonam Goyal

Sector Head and Senior Retail Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence

Poonam Goyal is a sector head and senior retail analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, the research division of Bloomberg L.P. Ms. Goyal specializes in Athletic brands, Department Stores and Specialty Apparel retail. Ms. Goyal has covered the Retail sector for approximately fourteen years, spending almost four years at Goldman Sachs & Co. focused on retail. Prior to that, Ms. Goyal covered the Metals & Mining sector at GS. Ms. Goyal earned her bachelor’s degree in Finance from Rutger’s University.

celine decarlo

Chief Executive Advisor at Mara Hoffman

Celine began her career with CNN International in London, U.K. as a global senior executive developing tailored communication and business development strategies for multi-national companies across diverse industries. In 2015, Celine shifted her focus to her interest in SMEs and joined Mara Hoffman, a privately owned apparel company. She has concentrated on the company’s executive management and has supported the company and apparel industry’s shift towards more sustainable practices, with a special attention on social engagement and community organizing. Celine sits on the Board of the Women’s Prison Association, the Advisory Council of the social enterprise program the New Standard Institute, and the Advisory Board of Custom Collaborative.

Sylvia Heisel

Fashion Designer and Creative Technologist

Named as one of the "25 Forward Thinkers Defining the Future of Fashion", "Top 100 Women in Wearable and Consumer Tech" and “12 Amazing People You Need to Know in New York Fashion Tech”, Sylvia Heisel is a fashion designer and authority on sustainability and design for wearable tech. Her design lab for 3D printed wearables creates prototype garments and works with fashion brands to develop smart wearables and integrate 3D printing into their designs and supply chains. Recent pieces have been featured at Museo Ferragamo Florence, The Museum of Modern Art New York, Premiere Vision Paris and The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and Shanghai.

Sarah Livingston

Product Marketing and Customer Strategy at Rent the Runway

Sarah Livingston is a Sr. Manager of Product Marketing and Customer Strategy at Rent the Runway. Sarah is responsible for customer research and product strategy to understand customer loyalty and improve retention for Rent the Runway's subscription business. Sarah recently graduated as a full-time MBA from Stern in May 2019.

Ron Offir

Managing Director at Deloitte

Ron Offir is a Managing Director in the Deloitte Digital Practice. He is a digital visionary, who has spent the last 20+ years leading, building, managing and advising direct-to-consumer, omni-channel businesses on their e-commerce and cross channel initiatives. As a digital marketing and operations pioneer, Ron has played leadership roles in building such digital success stories as Gap.com, BanananaRepublic.com, OldNavy.com, Coach.com, SteveMadden.com, NineWest.com and MichaelKors.com. An early champion of cloud based e-commerce platforms, omni-channel fulfillment technologies and processes, and the use of big data analytics and mobile technologies that bridge the ‘digital divide,’ Ron has an unprecedented track record of success.

Thakoon Panichgul

American Fashion Designer

Thakoon Panichgul is a Thai-American designer who steadily carved a niche for himself in the New York fashion industry before gaining wider fame after his appearance in The September Issue. In September 2004, Panichgul debuted his line with a 14-piece collection, which was exclusively available to buy at Net-a-Porter. Thakoon was quickly championed by both the press and those in the public eye, with fans of his clothes including Sarah Jessica Parker, Charlize Theron and Demi Moore. Michelle Obama wore one of his designs during the Democratic Nomination of 2008, garnering Panichgul significant press in the United States. In 2006, Thakoon was one of three recipients of the Vogue/CFDA Fashion Fund and the designer was also nominated by the CFDA for the Swarovski Award for Best Emerging Womenswear Designer. Thakoon has also collaborated with mass brands The Gap and Target, as well as his on-going fine-jewelry collection work for Japanese jeweler Tasaki. Most recently, he has returned to his editorial roots by launching Hommegirls, a new magazine focused on women who love menswear.

DOUGLAS HAND

Fashion Lawyer, Partner at Hand Baldachin and Associates LLP

Douglas Hand is one of the pre-eminent fashion lawyers in the United States and a founding member of the law firm Hand Baldachin & Associates LLP (HBA) which specializes in the representation of fashion and lifestyle companies (such as Stella McCartney, Everlane, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Anna Sui, Public School and Mansur Gavriel). He is a member of the Business Advisory Committee of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), on the Advisory Board of the CFDA’s Incubator and a member of the CFDA Fashion Awards Guild. Mr. Hand is an adjunct professor of Fashion Law at both NYU School of Law (where he sits on the Stern Fashion and Luxury Council as well as the Board of the NYU Law Alumni Association) and Cardozo School of Law (where he sits on the Board of Advisors for the Fashion, Arts, Media and Entertainment (FAME) Law Center). He is also on the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) Foundation Board of Directors as well as FIT’s Couture Council. He has been featured and profiled as a Fashion Lawyer in numerous media outlets and publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, the American Bar Association Journal, Women’s Wear Daily and The Business of Fashion.

Established in 2004 as a pioneering career-based outreach program for MBA students interested in the luxury and retail sectors, the NYU Stern Luxury & Retail Club aims to promote NYU Stern as a premier source of talent and academic leadership in these specific industries. The club now boasts over 1,200 members and has established relationships with some of the most prominent companies and individuals in the luxury and retail space. 

In 2009, NYU Stern introduced the Luxury Marketing specialization, the first of its kind among top-tier business schools. This focus differentiates NYU Stern from other MBA programs and as a club, we collaborate with faculty and industry executives to develop an interdisciplinary curriculum driven by today’s industry leaders.