Daniella Vitale
Chief executive officer americas
With more than twenty years' experience in fashion retail, Daniella Vitale has built her professional career by successfully holding increasingly important roles in the most prestigious brands in the sector. Her career path began in merchandising at Salvatore Ferragamo; continued at Gucci up to cover the position of CEO America; she served as Chief Executive Officer of Barney's New York and later as Chief Brand Officer and Executive Vice President of Tiffany & Company. Daniella's expertise and market knowledge will be fundamental for Ferragamo at this particular moment in time, when the North American market is experiencing a strong recovery.
Karla Welch
CEO and Co-founder of The Period Company
Karla Welch is the Co-Founder, CEO, and Joint-Chief Creative Officer of The Period Company. The Period Company is a B2C period underwear brand bringing the most affordable and sustainable products to those whose “period”. Karla who was born in Vancouver, Canada launched the company with her Co-Founder and Joint-Chief Creative Officer Sasha Markova in 2020 with the mission to eradicate period poverty across the globe. Inspired by being a mother to a transgender son, Karla wanted to pave an unexplored way for those who “period” – a goal to make it easy and inclusive for all.
Named one of New York Times “Best Period Underwear” of 2023, The Period Company carries 15 styles for women and tweens including adaptable and trans boxers to aid bodies from adolescence to post-menopause life phases. Currently in store-front retailers, The Period Company provides their sustainable period products to local communities nationwide in Walmart and Urban Outfitters.
Welch who is also most well known for her seventeen yearlong career as one of the world’s most influential fashion stylists has been named by The Hollywood Reporter as the most powerful stylist for three successive years (2020, 2022, and 2023). In addition to being honored by The Hollywood Reporter, Welch has been recognized for her work as a stylist and Founder by Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Time Magazine, Fast Company, and Vogue.
As an Entrepreneur and Brand Architect, Welch co-created her clothing brand “x karla” (inactive) and creative studio “The Welch’s”; for which she shares with her husband Matthew Welch. Together they have brought to life collaborations with brands such as “Hanes”, “Levi’s”, “Eddie Bauer”, “Express”, “Adidas”, “Tiffany & Co.”, “Stella Artois”, and “Prada”.
Welch resides in Los Angeles, CA with her husband, son, and three rescued rottweilers.
Alden Wicker
Author of To Dye For and Founder of Ecocult
Alden Wicker is an award-winning independent journalist and author of To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion Is Making Us Sick — and How We Can Fight Back (Putnam). She splits her time between managing her internationally recognized website EcoCult.com and contributing to publications like The New York Times, Vox, Wired, The Cut, and more. She’s made expert appearances on the BBC, Al Jazeera, NPR, CBC, and MSNBC, and has been cited by The New York Times, Teen Vogue, Complex, and Nylon as a leading voice in the movement.
Angela Peterson
Program Manager for Indigenous and Local Communities at One Tree Planted
Angela is the Program Manager for Indigenous and Local Communities at One Tree Planted where she specializes in reforestation projects that amplify social impact. She recently graduated with a Master of International Affairs in Energy and the Environment from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Prior to her current position, she worked for international NGOs in South America and Sub-Saharan Africa.
One Tree Planted is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is on a mission to make it simple for anyone to help the environment by planting trees. Their projects span the globe and are done in partnership with local communities and environmental organizations to create an impact for nature, people, and wildlife. Reforestation helps to restore forests that have been degraded by human activities or environmental disasters, provide jobs for social impact, and restore biodiversity habitat. Many projects have overlapping objectives that contribute to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
Amy Hall
Advisor for Eileen Fisher Inc.
Amy joined EILEEN FISHER thirty years ago, where she founded and led what became known as the brand’s Social Consciousness initiative. In that time, Amy created the company’s signature philanthropic programs addressing women’s empowerment; she developed the company’s human rights work, ranging from worker wellbeing to transparency; she partnered closely with the company’s pioneering circular apparel work to advance business models that reduce textile waste; she led the company’s transition to becoming a Certified B Corporation; and she championed the company’s shift to organic, recycled, and regenerative fibers. She has also served as a steadfast brand ambassador and thought leader on issues of “sustainable” apparel and ethical business.
Today, Amy serves as the Social Consciousness Strategic Advisor for EILEEN FISHER Inc., as well as the Sustainability Strategic Advisor for the Eileen Fisher Foundation. She also owns and operates a mission-driven independent bookstore called, “Hudson Valley Books for Humanity,” in her hometown of Ossining, NY.
Amy has served as Advisory Board Chair for Social Accountability International, Development Council Member for Future Fit, and a Good Housekeeping Sustainable Innovation Awards Judge. She has also appeared in numerous publications and programs, including National Public Radio, Crain’s New York Business, The Atlantic, Business of Fashion, CBS-TV, and many more.
Aaron Richter
SVP of Design, Equinox Brands at Equinox
An architect by trade, Richter has 27 years of global design and development experience from both the client and agency perspectives. With a focus on hospitality, retail, health and fitness, he has thread a narrative of design excellence and wellness from his early days as an environmental designer at Nike to the global head of design for W Hotels, Edition Hotels and Equinox Brands including the most recent Equinox Hotel in Hudson Yards.
Kendall Kautz
Director of global product marketing for herman miller
Kendall Kautz is an innovative marketing strategist and Professional Certified Coach with more than a decade of experience inspiring beloved brands to create breakthrough products and experiences. As a director of global product marketing for Herman Miller and Knoll brands, today she leads a team responsible for designing the world we live and work in — at home, at the office, and the spaces in between. She is passionate about helping others through career and leadership coaching and being a champion for personal learning, discovery, and growth. Kendall and her family live in Wilmington, NC, where they enjoy spending time in the sun, sand, and sea.
Rohit Burman
vice president, sustainability and inclusion at calvin klein global and pvh americas
Rohit Burman is a senior leader with over 20 years of global experience in corporate social responsibility, sustainability, foundation and nonprofit management, and inclusion and diversity. He is recognized for his expertise in strategy, program development, communications and stakeholder engagement, employee engagement programs and change management. Rohit has overseen the creation of significant global corporate responsibility and sustainability programs as well as foundations.
Rohit currently is Vice President, Sustainability and Inclusion, Calvin Klein Global and PVH Americas. Rohit began his career as a Program Fellow at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. He has held senior corporate social responsibility positions at J.P. Morgan, MetLife, M.A.C Cosmetics and The Estée Lauder Companies. Rohit has also served as an independent sustainability and social impact consultant, including for organizations such as Philanthropy New York and the Zegar Family Foundation.
Over his career, Rohit has served on several boards, including Philanthropy New York, Grantmakers in the Arts, and Funders for LGBTQ Issues; the Steering Committee of the Africa Grantmakers’ Affinity Group; and the Trustee Committee on Education of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Rohit received his Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University and holds a B.A. in Economics from The College of Wooster.
Lynn Emmolo
Chief Global Officer and Executive Committee Member at Rodan + Fields
Lynn Welsh Emmolo is a visionary beauty industry veteran known for her proven expertise in building brands and businesses with Fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurial startups. Her broad Executive Leadership experience in New Business Development, Global Brand Marketing, R+D, Business Operations and Strategy have led to the creation and repositioning of brands to deliver sustained and profitable growth in the global beauty marketplace.
Most recently, as Chief Global Officer and Executive Committee Member at Rodan + Fields, Lynn defined the global growth strategy and oversaw new market development. She also led Strategic Insights, New Business Development, R+D, Product Development, and the PFC Charitable Foundation. Her leadership agility, decisive action and eye for white space helped propel Rodan + Fields from startup to over $1.2B achieving the #1 skincare brand in the North America. She architected the successful expansion to new categories with the launch of Lash Boost achieving over $250M in sales. During this fast-paced growth, she built an agile team structure with a focus on developing key talent in the organization to support long term business goals. A passionate advocate of giving back she was a Board Member of the R+F Prescription For Change Foundation and Executive Sponsor for ESG initiatives.
Lynn’s power strength is her wealth of experience in beauty/consumer products having worked in all channels of distribution and overseen innovation and marketing in all categories. Her span of experience at major beauty players such as L’Oreal, Avon, Limitedbrands, Shiseido and with entrepreneurial startups Living Proof, Sally Hershberger and Rodan + Fields demonstrates the depth and scope of her unique knowledge. In her work with entrepreneurs, she participated in private equity investments and understands the goals and metrics that make these business partnerships successful.
Honored in her industry as a 2018 CEW Lifetime Achiever, she feels strongly that it’s a leader’s responsibility to mentor young women to help them recognize and fulfill their potential, building diversity in the workplace that delivers purposeful and profitable business results.
Sam Kitain
Chief Marketing Officer for Tarte™ cosmetics
As the Chief Marketing Officer for tarte™ cosmetics, Samantha Kitain is an accomplished brand storyteller with more than 15 years of marketing experience in the beauty industry. Sam joined tarte™ in 2012 and has expanded her role over the last decade to oversee global marketing strategies along with marketing development, social media, public relations, creative content, visual merchandising, digital marketing, retail sales, and tarte.com. Sam has been integral in growing the brand worldwide, while maintaining its core values of being cruelty free, using naturally derived ingredients and giving back. The perfect combination of creative & analytical thinking, she is skilled at creating and executing dynamic business strategies to problem solve and deliver measurable results. She is a valued & trusted leader in the organization with a passion for building and motivating high performing teams. A graduate of the Stern School of Business at New York University, Kitain held positions at L’Oreal USA prior to joining the tarte team.
Liz Batsche
Director of Trade Advocacy at Moët Hennessy USA
Liz Batsche is the Director of Trade Advocacy at Moët Hennessy USA. She leads this brand new functional capability at her company as of January 1st 2023. The function was created as a result of her relentless pitching and passion. At its core, Trade Advocacy is earning the influence of the on-trade (folks such as bartenders, beverage directors, sommeliers and bar group owners) to champion targeted brands. Liz has been at MHUSA for over six years and has prior professional experience at Diageo and in Investment Banking. She is a proud graduate of NYU Stern (’14) and would love to talk to your more about how she can help you achieve your passions.
Jennifer Gootman
Global Head of Sustainability and ESG Strategy at Tory Burch
Jennifer Gootman is a sustainability and ESG strategy executive with in-depth understanding of supply chain ESG issues. In late 2022 she joined lifestyle brand Tory Burch as the Global Head of Sustainability and ESG Strategy. Prior, she was the Head of Sustainability & Social Impact for Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (WSI), leading social and environmental strategy and programming across the company’s eight brands. Under Jennifer’s leadership, WSI launched the first Fair Trade-Certified factory program in home retail and was a founding partner of the Nest Standard for Ethical Handcraft. She built on Williams-Sonoma, Inc.’s leadership in responsible materials and ethical production to launch a comprehensive climate strategy, including the announcement of the company’s Science-Based Target for carbon reduction across the entire value chain. These efforts earned WSI a spot on Barron’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies list for 5 years running and inclusion in the 2022 Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Prior to joining WSI in 2013, Jennifer spent more than a decade with nonprofits and social enterprises in New York, Nicaragua, and India, working within design-driven industries to create impact through supply chain innovation. Jennifer is an Aspen Institute First Movers fellow and an advisor to NYU Stern’s Center for Sustainable Business.
Thomaï Serdari
Associate Professor of Marketing and Director of the Fashion & Luxury MBA at NYU Stern School of Business
Thomaï Serdari is Associate Professor of Marketing and Director of the Fashion & Luxury MBA at NYU Stern School of Business. She is also the editor of the journal LUXURY: History Culture Consumption published by Taylor & Francis and Host of Populuxe: Stories of Desire, a podcast that explores the power of objects in shaping our desires. She is an expert on luxury and actively studies, values, and reports on companies or funds that operate and invest within the luxury goods market.
Sophia Li
Award-winning Journalist and Climate Advocate
Sophia Li is a Chinese-American award-winning journalist, climate advocate and public speaker. Her life’s work is to make talking about issues such as climate justice, human rights and web3 more accessible, more digestible, and more human— redefining how information is communicated in the 21st century while cutting through the content pollution. Harvard named her one of the top climate communicators of 2022 and she was awarded Refinery29’s Sustainable Innovator Award.
She is the host of Meta’s podcast, Climate Talks. Sophia's journalistic reporting has appeared in CNN, Earthshot Prize and the United Nations with bylines in Vogue, New York Magazine, Washington Post, and Atmos. She is the co-founder of STEWARD, serving as the co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Web3 Sustainability Coalition. Sophia is also the sustainability advisor to skincare brand Cocokind and an official United Nations Human Rights Champion.
Tensie Whelan
Clinical Professor for Business and Society and the Director of the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business
Tensie Whelan is Clinical Professor for Business and Society and the Director of the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, where she is bringing her 25 years of experience working on local, national and international environmental and sustainability issues to engage businesses in proactive and innovative mainstreaming of sustainability.
As President of the Rainforest Alliance, she built the organization from a $4.5 million to $50 million budget, transforming the engagement of business with sustainability. Her previous work included serving as Executive Director of the New York League of Conservation Voters, Vice President of the National Audubon Society, Managing Editor of Ambio, a journal of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, and a journalist in Latin America.
Tensie has served on numerous nonprofit boards and currently serves on the advisory boards of ALO Advisors, Buzz on Earth, Giant Ventures, Inherent Group and Nespresso. She was most recently appointed to the board of Emerald SPAC, and is an Advisor to the Future Economy Project for Harvard Business Review. Tensie holds a B.A. from New York University, an M.A. from American University, and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Owner President Management (OPM) Program. She was awarded the Stern Faculty Excellence Award in 2020.
Leticia Viveros
Vice President of Sustainability at fresh
Leticia Viveros is Vice President of Sustainability at fresh. Fresh is one of the beauty brands of the LVMH group. Leticia has more than 20 years’ experience in responsible sourcing and sustainability and has worked in 3 continents for 4 multinational companies. She now leads end-to-end sustainability at fresh and has recently developed their new strategy focused on biodiversity preservation, for a world that is forever fresh. Leticia is also a member of the Environment Commission of the LVMH Group.
Anna Sanga-Howell
Beauty expert
Anna has over 10 years of experience in the beauty industry, specializing in international business development and marketing. She grew up in Japan and worked for Shiseido until she moved to New York to pursue her MBA at the NYU Stern School of Business, graduating in 2018. She joined The Estee Lauder Companies after graduation and worked at both Lab Series (men's skincare brand) and MAC Cosmetics (makeup) pursuing International Marketing. She is currently helping Stern students by hosting Luxury & Retail Coffee Chats as well as the Beauty & Retail Helpdesk with the Berkeley Entrepreneurship Center.
Andy Chiu
General Manager of KraveBeauty
Andy is currently the General Manager of KraveBeauty, a direct to consumer skincare company that was founded by beauty influencer, Liah Yoo, to #PressRest on the way we think about skincare. He is also a Partner at Press Reset Ventures, KraveBeauty's corporate venture fund. Andy has worked in the beauty industry for over six years, working at Wander Beauty, Versed, and Glansaol. Prior to beauty, Andy worked in finance as an investment banker at Moelis and in advisory at PwC.
Tal Waksal
CEO of Q House of Basics
Tal Sharon Waksal is an Israeli entrepreneur and strategic investor. Received a BS from FIT University. Prior to starting Q House of Basics she worked as the Vice President at IRO and has been always focused in the luxury fashion industry from modeling, styling and creative. Born in California and raised in Israel. Tal lives in New York City and is a mom of two.
Chisara Ehiemere
Senior Research Lead, Return on Sustainability Investment (ROSI™) at the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business
Chisara Ehiemere is the Senior Research Lead, Return on Sustainability Investment (ROSI™) at the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, where she oversees ROSI research and partnerships. She has over 20 years of experience building sustainable supply chains and roles including Senior Assurance Director with Field to Market and Vice President of Certification at Fair Trade USA. Chisara holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
Chloe Songer
Co-Founder & CEO of SuperCircle & Thousand Fell
Chloe Songer is the Co-Founder and CEO of SuperCicle, the tech and reverse logistics system addressing the textile and waste crisis by powering take back and recycling programs for the world’s best brands and retailers. Under her leadership, SuperCircle has unified the fragmented waste system by bridging consumers, brands, waste management, supply chain partners and recycling innovators, and has since powered successful solutions for brands such as Reformation, Subset, and more. Songer is also the co-founder of Thousand Fell, the first fully recyclable sneaker brand at scale, and has been honored as a winner in Forbes 30 Under 30 and the Digiday Future Leader Award for her leadership and entrepreneurial vision in launching the company.
Stuart Ahlum
Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer of SuperCircle
Recognized as an industry leader solving challenging issues facing the circular economy, Stuart Ahlum is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of SuperCircle, the tech and reverse logistics system addressing the textile and waste crisis by powering take back and recycling programs for brands and retailers. Ahlum comes from an entrepreneurial background having launched Thousand Fell, the first fully recyclable sneaker brand and recognized by Fast Company as a winner in its World Changing Idea Awards, where he led its business strategy and operations. Understanding there was a void in the textile recycling space, Stuart applied his deep expertise where he now connects the fragmented waste management system in a way that has never been done before, by bridging the gap between waste management, supply chain partners and recycling innovators.