Women in Luxury III- Last of the Series
Five women, each at the forefront of luxury in their respective industry groups – wealth management and investments, graphic design, publishing, high end real estate and luxury cosmetics, talk about their marketing strategies and tactics, their assessment of the luxury marketplace today, and how they court their best customer.
A lively moderated panel with ample time for those attending to discuss issues with the panelists.
Generously hosted by Debevoise & Plimpton - David Bernstein, Partner and Yolanda Cartusciello, Director of Marketing.
Panelists:
Sally H. Bliss
Vice President, Investments, Merrill Lynch
Bridget De Socio
Head of StylexDesign, Saatchi&Saatchi, Greater China
Jill Kaplan
General Manager, Weekend Edition, Wall Street Journal
Laura Killam
Senior Vice President Marketing, Sotheby's International Realty
Margaret Sharkey
Senior Vice President, Strategic Business Development, Luxury Products Division L’Oréal USA
Moderator:
Mr. Greg Furman
Founder and Chairman, The Luxury Marketing Council
Time: 6 to 8 p.m.
Location: 919 Third Avenue (35th floor) entrance on 55th Street.
Please be sure to bring photo ID.
Please RSVP by replying to this email. If you have already RSVP’ed for this event then there is no need to do so again.
In the event that your plans change, we'd be most appreciative of the courtesy of a cancellation.
About the Panelists:
Sally H. Bliss
Sally recently joined the Private Banking and Investment Group at Merrill Lynch where her focus is on strategic investment planning and total wealth coordination, providing strategic financial solutions to ultra high net worth individuals, families and institutions.
Sally began her career on Wall Street in 1991 as a sales and marketing consultant for a well known investment banker and as a member of a small executive team, worked on taking a company he was involved with public. She has also worked as a financial advisor for Mellon Private Asset Management and Bernstein Investment Research and Management and as a Sr. Vice President, Wealth Advisor at Morgan Stanley.
Previously, Sally had a successful career in business as a senior sales and marketing executive. She was Sr. Vice President of a prominent cosmetic company, responsible for national sales and training, and also ran her own company through a limited partnership.
Sally is a graduate of Ohio University with a degree in journalism and marketing. She is on the Professional Advisory Council for the Metropolitan Museum, the New York City Ballet, the New York Presbyterian Hospital and on the Directors Council for the Women Studies in Religion Program at the Harvard Divinity School. Sally lives in New York City and enjoys tennis, golf and the Arts.
Bridget De Socio
Once known internationally for her hip magazine cover design for Town&Country and Paper Magazine and eye-opening spreads for fashion houses like Vera Wang, Levis and Hermes, Bridget de Socio has set standards for innovation in graphic design with creations that both challenge the viewer’s assumptions and presage the future direction of design. Her unmistakable trademarks are the use of sexy photography, distinctive color palettes and creative typography.
The first comprehensive book of her work, Exhibition, The Work of Socio X, was published in 2002 by Graphis publishing. The book is teeming with her diverse range of work that includes categories in the fashion and furniture, collecting, youth market, editorial, early work and her signature retinal blasting color. Her extensive use of the ever changing magazine logo for one of her brands became a signifier of endurance for the subculture of trends. Her work has received international acclaim from design institutions such as The Art Directors Club, American Institute of Graphic Arts, ID Magazine, The Type Directors Club, Society of Publication Design, Communication Arts, and Graphis. She has been nominated four times for a National Design Award and has been exhibited at the Cooper Hewitt Museum, Design and Metaphor; ManTransforms: 21st Century Design in the 20th Century and The Young Guns: Emerging Talent at the New York Art Directors Club.
She considers herself not a graphic designer which she is by trade, but as a semiologist, motivating desire while studying the commercial “why”. Her recent endeavor has been the start up of a presige business design offering for Saatchi&Saatchi Advertising in Shanghai where she brings her passion for subcultures of all kinds, from the rich to the hip to pioneer the east for emerging trends and new business models. Prior to that she was responsible for an extensive brand elevation for La Mer, Estee Lauder’s Crown Jewel Skin care brand which included the launch of “the Essence” the most expensive Skin Care Product in the World. Bridget currently lives in both Shanghai and New York. She spends precious weekends in Connecticut with her mother, her dogs and her horse.
Jill Kaplan
Jill Kaplan is the General Manager of Weekend Edition for The Wall Street Journal.
Ms. Kaplan joined Dow Jones in November of 1997 as the International Sales Manager of The Wall Street Journal. Over the past 8 ½ years she has taken on numerous additional responsibilities and was a catalyst in helping to develop and build The Journal’s consumer advertising franchise when she became General Manager of Weekend Journal in 2000 a position she still currently holds. From 2002 – 2005 she was also the Global Director of Consumer Sales Development. She was actively involved in the redesign of The Journal in 2002 and helped to launch Personal Journal as General Manager.
In addition to these roles, she also is the chief liason with news for the business department and overseas their Agency Relations program. She is also on the executive management team for the 2007 Journal 3.0 launch.
Ms. Kaplan began her career in sales with Times Mirror Magazines. She later moved on to work at The Economist where she successfully helped to expand their advertising base and diversify into consumer.
Ms. Kaplan earned a B.S. from Clark University in Economics. Married, mother of two girls: Jaden & Marli.
Laura Killam
Laura Killam has worked in promotion and marketing to affluent consumers for 20+ years. Currently Senior Vice President of Marketing at Sotheby's International Realty, Inc., Killam leads the firm's strategic marketing efforts and supports their consistent implementation across more than 60 luxury residential brokerage offices in the U.S. and London. In the spring of 2006, a survey completed by the New York-based Luxury Institute found that high-net worth clients rated Sotheby's International Realty the real estate brokerage firm that provides the best customer experience.
In her current position Killam is responsible for directing electronic marketing initiatives, advertising, public relations, custom publishing, corporate social responsibility programs, and joint marketing activities with Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates, Inc. and Sotheby's auction house. Killam has been with the firm since 1987, and has held a variety of marketing positions and managed through many significant organizational changes. Following its 2004 acquisition by the Cendant Corporation, the firm more than tripled in size within two years.
Before joining Sotheby's International Realty, Killam worked in the Promotion Department at The New Yorker magazine, both under private ownership and after its acquisition by Advance Publications.
Killam is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Connecticut College, where she earned a B.A. magna cum laude in Design and Art History. She was awarded the Lyman Allen Museum Art History Prize. In 1996 she earned a Certificate in Marketing from NYU and last year completed the CEO Leadership Development Program at The Wharton School.
Margaret Sharkey
Margaret Sharkey began her career at Estee Lauder and Elizabeth Arden where she was a Marketing Manager. She joined L’Oréal USA (the U.S. subsidiary of L’Oréal S.A.) as the Marketing Manager for Lancôme. Her impact was immediate, as was her rise to Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Advertising. A year later she was promoted to Vice President, a position she held before being named General Manager of Biotherm in 1988. Ms. Sharkey later returned to Lancôme when she was appointed Deputy General Manager and Senior Vice President of the Division. While in this position, she was responsible for the overall marketing and advertising strategy for Lancôme in the United States.
In June of 1997, Ms. Sharkey was named General Manager of Helena Rubinstein where she was responsible for overseeing the development and strategy of the brand in preparation for its U.S. launch. In 2001, she was promoted to President of the Division.
In July of 2003 Ms. Sharkey was appointed to the new post of Senior Vice President Strategic Business Development for L’Oréal USA’s Luxury Products Division. Her responsibilities include identifying emerging consumer trends, new product technologies, competitive intelligence and potential acquisitions. In this position Ms. Sharkey works in conjunction with all of the Company’s luxury brands including Lancôme, Designer Fragrances, Biotherm, Kiehl’s Since 1851 and
Shu Uemura.
Ms. Sharkey is well respected in the industry and is an active member of Cosmetic Executive Women and The Fashion Group. She has chaired the March of Dimes and the United Cerebral Palsy cosmetic industry fundraisers and has served on the Board of Directors of the American Ballet Theatre and Catholic Big Sisters. She currently serves on the Boards of The Fashion Group and Trisha Brown Dance.