2011 Speakers Included

Alexandre Meerson is an expert in E-Commerce & Multichannel Retail for global Luxury & Lifestyle Brands. His consultancy - ‘La Boutique de Luxe’ – helps Brands deliver Commercial Innovation and Change through superb Customer Experience, Digital Marketing & International Distribution.

The founder and curator of the Digital Luxury Brands online networking group, Alexandre constantly researches ways to combine Brand Experience with Product Knowledge and Hard Working E-Commerce to generate sustainable revenue, profit and customer loyalty.

For the last 20 years, Alexandre has worked on “both sides of the fence”, combining 7 years in Digital Marketing agencies and E-Commerce consultancies and over 13 years in Corporate leadership roles internationally.

He started his career in his family’s Luxury Watches and Jewellery business, where he managed a profitable network of concept stores in major cities and concessions in luxury and department stores internationally. At LVMH and then EURO-RSCG he explored the then nascent power of Interactive Communications. One of the pioneers of the Internet and CRM, he went on to build some of the first Web Design, Digital Publishing and Marketing Consultancies in the mid 90’s, and has since 2000 worked around the globe for blue-chip companies. Alexandre settled down in the UK in 2005, and later joined ESPA, the British luxury skincare and spa company to help them build their Direct Sales and E-Commerce business.

Today, Alexandre heads up ‘La Boutique de Luxe’, a specialized multichannel marketing and sales consulting firm. His unique blend of experiences on behalf of prestigious Luxury & Lifestyle Brands and recognized B2B Businesses places him in a strong position to share his expertise in the fields that underpin successful online retail and business transformation.

Milton F. Pedraza is the CEO of the Luxury Institute, LLC. Through the use of proprietary surveying techniques with high net worth consumers, Mr. Pedraza has established the New York-based Luxury Institute as the trusted and impartial luxury brand ratings and research and Luxury CRM consulting institution that is the voice of high net-worth consumers. Today, luxury goods and services firms, luxury professionals, high net worth consumers, and the international press, all rely on the Institute for its impartial ratings and best practices insights on to how to better serve high net-worth clients globally.

Mr. Pedraza is a world-class expert CRM practitioner. Prior to founding the Luxury Institute, Milton served in Finance, Marketing, Sales and Senior Management positions at Fortune 100 companies Altria, Pepsico, Colgate, Citigroup and Wyndham Worldwide. In charge of CRM for a major division of Citigroup, Pedraza was assigned to run Citi's first Global CRM project and won a Global Marketing award for his results. At Cendant (now Wyndham), he was also assigned to run the company's first CRM project in addition to running Luxury Segments. He has licensed his proprietary and continuously updated CRM methods, intellectual property and best practices to the Luxury Institute in order to serve the luxury industry and its consumers. Today, Mr. Pedraza is an author and speaker at the world's foremost Financial Services, Travel and Leisure, Real Estate and Luxury Conferences. As an executive and private investor, Milton has conducted business in over ninety countries and speaks several languages. He is the most quoted expert on luxury around the globe.

Cecilia Pagkalinawan is CEO of StyleTrek.com, a crowdsourced e commerce boutique dedicated to curating and selling entrepreneurial fashion designers from around the globe through social commerce. StyleTrek is both an e commerce site for designers to reach new and existing customers and a social media platform for designers and fashion enthusiasts to interact.

Pagkalinawan founded StyleTrek in February 2010 after raising $1.5M in seed capital from angel investors and venture capitalists including RRE Ventures, Pelion Venture Partners, Primera Capital, Freestyle Capital, Madison Angels, and Angel Hub. StyleTrek is opening its doors to its international consumers in December 2010.

Prior to founding StyleTrek Cecilia was Vice President of E Commerce and Direct Marketing at Frette and La Perla from 2006 – 2010, Consulting Director of E Commerce at Burberry 2004 – 2006, Vice President Strategic Development at RichFX 2002 – 2004 and Founder/CEO of Boutique Y3K in 1998 – 2001.

Cecilia has been actively involved in Mayor Bloomberg’s Fashion NYC 2020 initiative, chaired by Rick Darling, CEO of LF USA; Diane von Furstenberg, Chairman and Founder, DVF, and President, Council of Fashion Designers of America; Terry Lundgren, Chairman, President and CEO of Macy’s; Andrew Rosen, CEO of Theory and Kevin Ryan, CEO of Gilt Groupe.

Cecilia is also an active member of the Luxury Marketing Council and is on the Advisory Board of the Luxury Interactive Conference.

Awards
2004
Cecilia is among 96 executives featured in the book ""Distinguished Asian-American Business People.""

2000
Cecilia was a recipient of the Rockefeller Foundation's Next Generation Leadership Fellowship.

1999
Cecilia was featured among Silicon Alley Reporter's ""Top 100 Internet Executives in New York"" and as one of A Magazine's ""10 Hottest Asian American Entrepreneurs under 30.”

Mr. Hamilton South is a Strategic Advisor to FCP and Founding Partner of HL Group, a strategic marketing communications firm serving a diversified client profile including Fortune 500 businesses and leading companies that span luxury, lifestyle, fashion, and premium consumer brands as well as corporate, media, and civic concerns. Prior to launching HL Group in 2001, Mr. South served as President and Chief Marketing Officer of Polo Ralph Lauren. Overseeing all brand marketing, advertising, and new business development for Polo brands worldwide, he spearheaded RL’s brand transition from a private to a publicly-traded company. Previously, he served as Editor-at-Large for Vanity Fair and Director of Public Relations for North America at Giorgio Armani SpA. Mr. South is considered a noted authority in the luxury goods sector and has spoken at numerous conferences on the subject.

Hamilton serves on the Board of Directors for Hudson Clothing, LLC and Serena & Lily. As a theatrical producer, he was nominated for a Tony Award in 2003.

I am a skilled marketing and management professional, focusing on digital marketing strategy and people/team development.

I manage $60+ million in digital marketing spend across paid search, SEO, display, social, mobile, and attribution for brands like Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Michael Kors, Burberry, Nike, and many others. I focus most of my efforts on developing complete digital marketing strategies, integrating all marketing channels to form one cohesive strategy.

In addition, I spend a great deal of my time working to develop team members, helping not only to build skilled marketers, but also to build true leaders in and out of the company. I truly believe in investing in people and helping them accomplish their personal and professional goals.

Stuart Schorr is Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs for Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC. Schorr is responsible for all communications, including corporate and internal communications, and Jaguar and Land Rover product and brand communications. He is also responsible for managing government affairs communication for the organization.

Schorr, previously served as Senior Manager, Communications for Chrysler LLC, in Auburn Hills, Mich., most recently responsible for External Affairs and Public Policy, Stakeholder and Electronic Communications. Previously at Chrysler, LLC he had overseen global sales public relations, and at Chrysler Canada, LLC, led the communications department. Schorr also held managerial positions within DaimlerChrysler AG in Washington D.C., covering public policy and external affairs, as well as eight years with Mercedes-Benz USA as Regional Communications Manager, in Bethesda, Md.

Jane Judd joined Zappos in 2005 and was promoted to Senior Manager of our Customer Loyalty Team in 2006. Jane has a long history in providing the very best customer service. She began her career and spent 16 years at National Car Rental, gaining increasing responsibility and eventually served as their Consumer Affairs Manager, managing their global customer base. Jane then spent 3 years in a warehouse environment at TCB as their Customer Support Service Manager. Just prior to joining Zappos, Jane served at Best Buy as their Customer Service Manager and then Enterprise Customer Care and Business Relationship Manager.

Jane grew up in Chatfield, Minnesota and later earned her Business Associate degree from McConnell College in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In 2007 she was recognized by 1 to 1 Media as a Customer Champion and in 2008 was awarded the International Customer Service Manager of year by Customer Service Institute of America.

Greg Rogers is the CEO and co-founder of Pictela, a content management platform for the serving of high definition brand assets into online ads and social media. His objective through Pictela is to bring dramatic innovation to online display advertising through a premium technology offering. Pictela was acquired by AOL in December 2010.

Prior to Pictela, Greg served as Vice President of Sales Strategy at TACODA, a behavioral targeting ad network that was sold to AOL in 2007. He also started the first digital analytics practice at MEC, a media agency within WPP, where he pioneered the use of frequency capping in online advertising.

Joelle Musante is a founder and Senior Vice President of Payvment, Inc. Prior to establishing Payvment, she served as executive director of Xcreative Interactive. Musante oversaw Xcreative’s operations, accounting and customer relations. Prior to Xcreative, Musante spent eight years in the non-profit sector working for organizations such as Family ReEntry and the American Association of Blood Banks in the areas of educational programming, operations management, fundraising and event management.

Shauna Mei is the founder and CEO of AHAlife.com, an innovative online platform to discover unique products from around the world, curated by influencers and tastemakers. Prior to launching AHAlife, Shauna was the CEO of Casall International, a Swedish wellness/activewear company, and a co-founder of the Aronsson Group, a luxury fashion investment and advisory firm. Shauna also worked in both Private Equity (Principal Investment Area) and Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs, where she worked on several deals in the fashion media space, most notably the sale of Neiman Marcus Group. Shauna holds a double major in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from MIT and currently lives in New York City.

Marissa is the founder and CEO of GO TRY IT ON (www.gotryion.com) a social retailing start up based in New York City. GO TRY IT ON seeks to to transform the social retailing space by helping people answer the question "what should I wear?" Marissa’s past experiences include working at Digitas in Strategy & Analytics. Marissa attended Cornell University ('06) and earned her MBA from Harvard Business School ('08). Marissa also performs comedic improv with her team Poolside.

Carsten Thoma is president of hybris U.S. and chief operating officer of hybris Group, a multichannel commerce software provider he cofounded in 1997. Thoma began his career at Hewlett-Packard, where he first developed his ideas for standardized yet highly innovative and flexible e-commerce software.

Pinny has been responsible for developing strategic alliances with the leading internet companies on the Web. my goals is to change the way jewelry is sold and to change the traditional buyer from men to woman through social media and innovative marketing and branding

Passionate, enthusiastic and driven by any good intellectual challenge, I find motivation in unexplored environments, especially those related to my fields of expertise.

Major Accomplishments

• Founded and managed the marketing department for www.ice.com (40 million in sales)
• Created a non profit youth organization that educates over 10,000 children a year.
• Built a successful international postal distribution business with sales of over 5 million a year
• Chaplain for The Boy Scouts of America and was nominated for the first Shofar award
• The youngest board member of Shop.org (NRF)
• Created one of the first successful corporate blogs in 2005 www.sparklelikethestars.com
• Launched the podcast on ecommerce with the leading author Hugh Macleod
• Led a group of College students to Poland and Israel to learn about the Holocaust
• Teaches the first Ecommerce and Social media course at McGill University
• Was one of the first companies to use youtube for marketing purposes pinnysworld
• Speaking engagements at many of the leading Internet Marketing conferences around the world i.e. Internet Retailer, WOMMA, Etail, AdTech, shop.org, World Internet Forum, Etail Europe, Etail Austrailia
• Quoted in Forbes, Fortune, Business Week, Wall Street Journal, New York Times and many other leading business publications
• Guest Lecturer at Plattsburgh University, Darden University