New Hires at TRAUB Position it for Growth

[Photograph taken from the balcony of Traub's New York offices at 477 Madison Avenue.]

Kelsey Groome and Samantha Freeman appointed Senior Managing Directors & Co-Heads of TRAUB Consulting. Four new Managing Directors join the TRAUB Consulting Team. [ You can read more in WWD ]

New York, NY – February 18th, 2020

Mortimer Singer and Geoffrey Lurie announced today the promotions of Kelsey Groome and Samantha Freeman to Senior Managing Directors and Co-Heads of TRAUB Consulting. They also announced the addition of four new Managing Directors, Joseph Ahearn, Erica Kasel, James Williams and Olivier Moingeon, to bolster the firm’s already impressive roster of senior talent.

Kelsey Groome joined TRAUB in 2008. She has more than 15 years of cross-border industry experience developing and executing new growth opportunities for leading brands, as well as overseeing the firm’s Real Estate and Innovation practices. Kelsey also serves as a Director of Streetsense, a design firm.

Samantha Freeman joined TRAUB in 2019 as a Managing Director focused on Entertainment and Media clients. A broad-based consumer product executive, Samantha brings extensive licensing, retail, and expertise in children’s brands, youth marketing and content marketing. Prior to joining Traub, Samantha served as CEO of Out of the Blue Enterprises, a children’s educational media company acquired by 9 Story Media Group, and also held leadership roles at Nickelodeon and Marvel.

Mortimer Singer and Geoffrey Lurie jointly stated that “Traub is growing from strength to strength. By adding an even more diverse set of skills to our platform, our clients will continue to benefit from the wealth of expertise that the collective brings to each. With these additions, and more so than ever, TRAUB remains unrivaled in operator-led management consulting and fractional management.”

James Williams advises brands and investors on strategy, growth and restructuring. He spent 10 years as CEO of Planet Blue, a contemporary womenswear brand. Previously Williams was a corporate law partner at Loeb & Loeb chairing the Global Fashion and Luxury Brand Practice Group, and was a partner at Davis Shapiro & Lewitt.

Erica Kasel brings her CMO experience from luxury fashion and beauty retail, publishing and hospitality to clients on brand, business, and multi-channel marketing strategy, technology and execution. Her career spans leadership roles with CHANEL, American Express, The Leading Hotels of the World. Most recently Erica served as CMO/CXO at Jane Smith Agency, with clients including Shiseido HQ in Tokyo.

Olivier Moingeon was most recently the CEO of natural French beauty brand Bastide, leading the brand to a multimillion global business. Previously, Moingeon held leadership roles at Goyard and Cartier. Olivier brings further depth to the firm’s operations capabilities.

Joe Ahearn who has served as strategic advisor to TRAUB has officially joined the firm as a Managing Director. Joe has 30 years of experience in the consumer sector having been a CEO/COO of Coleco Industries, Toy Biz, Marvel and also spent 10 years at McAndrews and Forbes.

About TRAUB
TRAUB Consulting is a management consulting and business optimization firm. We work with companies in the retail, eCommerce, consumer, fashion and luxury industries to optimize and accelerate their businesses across channels, geographies and classifications of product. At TRAUB, we help transform business strategies into realities.

A weekly blog, white papers such as the must-read New Davids and The Safari podcast featuring the best minds in the consumer landscape regularly bring TRAUB thought leadership to the industry.

In addition to the consulting practice, TRAUB Capital is the specialized private equity investment arm on TRAUB focused on buyouts in the consumer industries.

Our team includes a talented network of internationally renowned operating partners and industry experts who customize advisory services to assist in the innovative execution of a variety of unique business initiatives.

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