L. CONVERSE

PROFILE

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Lisa has been working as a Fashion Designer, industry leader, executive and creator of strong brands since 1995. She  has practiced and developed her art and craft during the expansion and genesis of branded fashion businesses, and the explosion of retail between 1985 and 2010. She knows what success look like because she has led teams and organizations to success at two Fortune 500 businesses, delivering explosive growth and excellent returns, driving billions of dollars in sales through her creative vision, business acumen and dynamic leadership. 

She began her education in 1986, studied and  honed her skills through her 6 years of study at the  Fashion Institute of Technology and the University of Cincinnati School of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning (DAAP). Lisa possesses a strong sense of intellectual curiosity which motivated her to expand her education. She acquired a breadth of internships in the UC's Theatre costume lab, Bodywear, a small aerobic company, and a 6 month role at Patagonia as an Assistant to the Design Director. She is an informal student of architecture, interior design and visual presentation which influenced and developed her scope and eye. She has honed her craft in a myriad of settings taking great interest in learning and studying to be well rounded and knowledgeable across different design, fashion and apparel markets. 

Upon graduation, Lisa seeked an opportunity that had big possibilities and identified Abercrombie and Fitch as just that. She was hired out of school and spent 9 years as a integral team member and later an executive working directly with Mike Jefferies, a visionary yet controversial brand CEO. Here she was a key player in doubling the businesses from $600M to $1.3M in 5 years.  In her Design and leadership roles, she was an integral leader in creating and directing the look and aesthetic of the female side of the brand at Abercrombie & Fitch and abercrombie (kids). She led the team in carving out and creating a visual identity through the product concepts and execution that put a sexy, sensual spin on Collegiate, Ivy League, East Coast Casual Preppy. Leveraging her vision, creativity, intuition and operational excellence to lead the team to create the product character. This included a focus on beautiful details, on garment marketing/branding, the influence of vintage, washed and "lived  in" luxury.  She identified the incoming trends such as the importance of graphic tees, sexy cargos and utilities as streetwear, and the front of of high end denim boom leading the team in developing the signature denim in speciality retail. The later, established A&F as a denim destination for the masses at a price point for 6-25 year olds.  Her awareness, vision, eye and influence was a key piece in positioning A&F to become a leading Brand in specialty retail  for the better part of two decades.  

Following this remarkable experience and opportunity to create for and  learn from an industry visionary, she was compelled sink her teeth and talents into a new challenge seeking to expand her experience and skills beyond the Junior and Kids markets. Identifying a business she felt had potential to become a brand in the women's market ages 25-45.  She joined White House|Black Market, a $42M annual business in 2003 that was poised for growth. There, she not only lead the product side of the business to grow through product market opportunities, she strategically built teams bringing Design and key support functions such as CAD, Technical Design, Raw Materials and Pre Production brining it in house, expanding lifestyle and product range and guiding development of processes and function integration. In three short years, the business grew from $100M in 2004 to $367M in 2006. Upon the hire of a new President, in the face of the great Recession and Financial Crisis of 2008, she was then entrusted to set the tone for the brand's creative. She identified a market opportunity and directed  the look and aesthetic by proposing to position the business under the handle "Affordable Couture".  The brand where women could experience a luxury fashion product look and feel at an attainable price reinforcing the brand mission of "Making Women Feel Beautiful".  During the next 10 years, she led the organization in the creation of dynamic product ranges, sub-branded businesses, styling across multi- lifestyles, marketing concepts, teams and talent to fuel the explosive growth. As a result of her vision, leadership and creative talents, White House|Black Market was an integral player filling a unique, feminine space bridging mass and luxury and bringing it to the women's specialty retail market thus supporting and driving extensive growth from $367 million in 2006 to almost $900 million in 10 years.

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Over the better part of a quarter of a century, Lisa has demonstrated that she knows what success looks like and can lead organizations, both big and small to success.  Because of her passion and ability to create brands through the direct translation of trends across multi-lifestyles into brand right, highly styled collections, with an elevated aesthetic, amazing detail and quality, across a range of ages and consumer markets, it has led to billions of dollars in revenue, brand equity and increased share holder value year over year. She has demonstrated her ability to leverage her strategic vision, creative talents and acute business acumen to execute and consistently deliver high performance.   She has shown adept knowledge and proven track record in business evolution and change management, building, crafting and leading through change in brand aesthetics, modern processes and technology in support of operational excellence, and speed to market. Her expertise and passion for developing talent has led to inspiring, building and directing small to large teams, from R&D to adoption while also creating cultures of creativity, growth and advancement. Her passion for people and process has successfully created trust based, highly aligned working relationships and teamwork for long stretches of time across and down into these multi-function global retail organization(s).  Lisa is a unique talent  with a passion for design, a love of business and is a person of high values and integrity who savors working on energetic, passionate, creative  teams leveraging her skills with her team members and colleagues in building dynamic businesses and relationships.