Sample of confirmed attendees for Los Angeles Summit
Why Attend
The No.1 Meeting Place For Beauty Business Partnering
From momentous transactions such as the The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. acquisition of Too Faced, to a spell of minority investments in early-stage companies such as L Catterton’s investments in Kopari Beauty, VMG’s investment in Drunk Elephant and Main Post Partners’ investment in Milk Makeup, M&A activity in the beauty industry is thriving.
The more acquisitions a company makes, the better each transaction performs, according to a recent market report by A.T. Kearney. With frequent buyers growing 63% more enterprise value over a six-year period than infrequent buyers of a comparable size, it is more important than ever to act quickly and secure well-priced targets in a competitive landscape.
Beauty & Money is an exclusive one-day event, connecting industry executives from strategic buyers, financial buyers and independent beauty brands.
Selection Committee
Rich Gersten
Rich has spent the last 30 years investing and building great consumer brands at top private equity firms including Tengram Capital Partners, L Catterton, and North Castle Partners. Rich spent the last 9 years dedicated specifically to investing in the beauty industry, where he developed an extensive network of relationships that sourced many emerging growth brands with very limited access to institutional capital. Realizing the significant opportunity to address this underserved area of the market in beauty, Rich founded True Beauty Ventures.
Rich received a BS in Economics from Union College (N.Y.) and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Bee Shapiro
Bee Shapiro is a New York Times beauty contributor, a position she has held since 2009, the author of the newly published collection Skin Deep, and the founder of Ellis Brooklyn, a luxurious, sustainable, chemical-free line of skincare and perfume.
Kelly Kovack
Jason Fiedler
Jason graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and
received the Frederick H. Gloeckner Award in
Entrepreneurial Studies from The Wharton School. He
finished as the top undergraduate in the 2011 Wharton
Business Plan Competition and was one of two undergraduates
accepted into Wharton's on-campus incubator program for
student-run start-ups.
Upon graduating in 2011, Jason joined Insight Venture
Partners, a leading NYC-based growth equity fund focused on
internet and software businesses. Jason sourced Insight's
$26M investment in Smartsheet and was involved in Insight’s
investments in Pluralsight, Anaqua and Branding Brand.
Jason also helped manage recruiting for Insight’s Summer
Analyst Program across top-tier undergraduate universities.
In 2013, Jason moved to San Francisco and joined Uber as an
Operations Manager. Jason was responsible for launching and
managing three of Uber's first 100 markets, and was also
involved in the launch of UberRUSH and early experiments in
food delivery.
In 2015, Jason joined Red Sea Ventures and has since been
involved in everything from deal sourcing and diligence to
platform and portfolio management.
In addition to his professional career, Jason has been an
active participant in New Heights, a NYC-based charity that
combines basketball with academics and social support
services to boost high school graduation rates of innercity
youth. Jason was nominated and will be joining the
Junior Board at New Heights.
Jason grew up in Scarsdale, NY and nothing is more
important to him than family. He continues to play
recreational basketball, tennis, golf and indoor cycling.
Conor Begley
Emmanuel Rey
French-born and one of nine siblings, Emmanuel Rey obtained a degree in engineering in agronomics, and in 2017 founded YUNI Beauty, and at the end of 2018, in a competitive group with Ouai hair care and Youth the people, YUNI received the Rising Brand of the Year Award from the Los Angeles Business Journal.
Blythe Jack
Blythe is responsible for originating new investment opportunities, diligencing new business opportunities, structuring transactions and working with our partner companies. She is also a member of the Investment Committee.
Blythe joined TSG with extensive private equity and branded consumer experience, having spent over 10 years at Rosewood Capital and having served as CEO of a high-growth consumer products company. While a partner at Rosewood Capital, Blythe sourced and structured investments across the consumer & retail sector, including investments in Under Armour, Clarisonic, Sneaker Villa, Cobalt Boats, among others. She has also served as a National Judge for Ernst & Young's acclaimed Entrepreneur of the Year® program. Blythe received a BA, with honors, in Communication Studies from Vanderbilt University.
Robin Tsai
Josh Goldin
The Speakers
Alex Fogelson
Alex completed his B.S.M at Tulane University in 2011, going on to complete an MFin. Alex went on to work in varied positions at Coach, The Estee Lauder Companies, Li & Fung Beauty, CHAPFIX+, and the Fung Group, and in 2015 he co—founded Taste Beauty along with two others, with over 30 years of experience in the beauty industry.
Taste was founded with a hungry spirit and a passion to drive innovation through the most unique products, highest quality, unprecedented customer service and rapid speed to market.
Alicia Sontag
Ranked one of Beauty's 50 Most Powerful Women by WWD (2015), and two-time honor of Fortune Most Powerful Women conference (2015/2016), Alicia is a Co-Founder and Partner at Prelude Growth Partners. Prelude Growth Partners is a New York City based growth equity firm focused on providing capital and value-added operatingsupport to high potential, fast-growing consumer brands. Prelude seeks to make investments of $3million to $15 million in each company, across branded consumer categories including personalcare/beauty, food & beverage, baby, pet, health & wellness and other consumer categories.
Bee Shapiro
Bee Shapiro is a New York Times beauty contributor, a position she has held since 2009, the author of the newly published collection Skin Deep, and the founder of Ellis Brooklyn, a luxurious, sustainable, chemical-free line of skincare and perfume.
Dr Heather Rogers
Heather D. Rogers is a board certified dermatologist and fellowship trained dermatologic surgeon, specialising in prevention and treatment of sun damaged skin including pre-skin cancers, skin cancers, moles and photo damage. However, in 2014, Dr Rogers founded Doctor Rogers Skin Solutions, which was the beginning of premium scientifically-proven, clean and allergen-free products.
Emmanuel Rey
French-born and one of nine siblings, Emmanuel Rey obtained a degree in engineering in agronomics, and in 2017 founded YUNI Beauty, and at the end of 2018, in a competitive group with Ouai hair care and Youth the people, YUNI received the Rising Brand of the Year Award from the Los Angeles Business Journal.
Frédéric Benqué
Mr. Frédéric Benqué serves as Managing Partner and General Partner at NextWorld Evergreen. He Co-Founded TextMe, Inc. in 2011 and serves as its Director. Mr. Benqué is a seasoned investor with solid financial and operational background. He has over 15 years of experience in various finance and investment roles. His expertise gained him the prestigious rising star in Finance by Financial News in 2006, and facilitated the creation of Credo, an all-clean beauty retailer.
Lori Haram
Lori Haram is the Senior Vice President, Business Affairs and Operations for the Cluster of Brands that are led by Executive Group President, John Demsey. In this role, Lori is responsible to drive strategic projects across the more than 20 brands in the Cluster, as well as support specific initiatives within certain brands, notably Too Faced where she is the primary point of contact between the brand and the larger ELC organization. Lori is also the Chief of Staff to John Demsey.
Previously, Lori led New Business Development for ELC. In that role, Lori completed 8 acquisitions, including Smashbox, Le Labo, BECCA and Too Faced, and 2 minority investments. In 2016, Lori was named as one of the most influential women in mid-market M&A by themiddlemarket.com.
Lori has more than 30 years’ experience in global finance and strategic planning. Following the completion of her business school education, she joined The Estee Lauder Companies as a Financial Analyst in the International division. Lori went on to hold various leadership positions within ELC including Vice President, Finance for Estée Lauder, USA and Canada; Vice President, Global Finance and Strategic Planning for M.A.C Cosmetics, and Senior Vice President, Global New Business Development. In these roles, she worked closely with the Brand Presidents and Senior Management to develop and execute strategic and financial priorities for the business.
Over the course of her career, Lori worked outside of ELC for approximately 5 years. From 1996-1998, she held the position of Vice President, Finance for EMI Group, Angel Records Division, and from 2007-2009 she was first a consultant to, and subsequently the General Manager of the then-independent beauty brand Carol’s Daughter.
Lori developed and delivers a Career Readiness program to 12th grade students under the auspices of the non-profit organization PENCIL and is also the Treasurer of the Lords Valley Country Club. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration, Management, from SUNY-Binghamton and a Master of Business Administration, Finance and Accounting, from Columbia University. She and her husband Khaled live in Manhattan, and their son Ian lives close by.
Jennifer Yen
From Power Rangers to saving complexions with her skin care company purlisse beauty to momtrepreneur with her inspiration of the power of 8 Superfoods.
Jennifer Yen started her career as TV villainess on Power Rangers which wrecked her skin from the heavy makeup and bright lights inspiring her to create purlisse beauty: www.purlisse.com.
After becoming a mother and feeling completely depleted Yen quickly recovered through a Superfood lifestyle, used by generations of women in her family.
The power of Superfoods led Yen to start her second company, YENSA (meaning Color + Face in Chinese) the Superfood Cosmetic and the first Cosmetics meets Superfood Science brand, connecting Superfood Science, Complexion Cosmetics and Superfoods.
Each product is infused with 8 Superfoods (8 representing good luck, prosperity and infinite possibilities in Chinese culture).
Since launching on October 8, 2018 ,YENSA has received over 240,000 positive reviews with top features in CEW, PopSugar, WWD, Coveteur, Byrdie, Hollywood Reporter, Hollywood Life, Bustle, New Beauty and more. Cardi B and Jeffree Starr are among the influencer/celebrities to use the product + many more.
YENSA supports women organizations and recently partnered with Dress For Success #YourHourHerPower campaign featuring 8 SuperWomen: Michelle Phan, Jana Kramer, Aja White, Farnaz Charmatz, Sara Boyd, Deddeh Howard, Jesse Draper, Jennifer Yen who have shared their journeys in this campaign to help motivate and inspire women. Watch the full video here
Michelle Connelly
Michelle Connelly joined Credo in 2017 with nearly a decade of experience in the industry, successfully driving beauty brands at retail through strategically planning their marketing initiatives, visual merchandising and inventory planning. Prior to being recruited to lead the Credo merchant team, Michelle’s career in beauty began after successful stints at both Sephora and Macy’s.
Credo is the leading clean beauty retailer based in San Francisco, CA boasting the largest, safest and cleanest beauty assortment in the U.S. Credo has 8 locations across the nation with more on the horizon and carries the most beautiful, effective and clean beauty brands available today.
Kelly Kovack
Jason Fiedler
Jason graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and
received the Frederick H. Gloeckner Award in
Entrepreneurial Studies from The Wharton School. He
finished as the top undergraduate in the 2011 Wharton
Business Plan Competition and was one of two undergraduates
accepted into Wharton's on-campus incubator program for
student-run start-ups.
Upon graduating in 2011, Jason joined Insight Venture
Partners, a leading NYC-based growth equity fund focused on
internet and software businesses. Jason sourced Insight's
$26M investment in Smartsheet and was involved in Insight’s
investments in Pluralsight, Anaqua and Branding Brand.
Jason also helped manage recruiting for Insight’s Summer
Analyst Program across top-tier undergraduate universities.
In 2013, Jason moved to San Francisco and joined Uber as an
Operations Manager. Jason was responsible for launching and
managing three of Uber's first 100 markets, and was also
involved in the launch of UberRUSH and early experiments in
food delivery.
In 2015, Jason joined Red Sea Ventures and has since been
involved in everything from deal sourcing and diligence to
platform and portfolio management.
In addition to his professional career, Jason has been an
active participant in New Heights, a NYC-based charity that
combines basketball with academics and social support
services to boost high school graduation rates of innercity
youth. Jason was nominated and will be joining the
Junior Board at New Heights.
Jason grew up in Scarsdale, NY and nothing is more
important to him than family. He continues to play
recreational basketball, tennis, golf and indoor cycling.
Rich Gersten
Rich has spent the last 30 years investing and building great consumer brands at top private equity firms including Tengram Capital Partners, L Catterton, and North Castle Partners. Rich spent the last 9 years dedicated specifically to investing in the beauty industry, where he developed an extensive network of relationships that sourced many emerging growth brands with very limited access to institutional capital. Realizing the significant opportunity to address this underserved area of the market in beauty, Rich founded True Beauty Ventures.
Rich received a BS in Economics from Union College (N.Y.) and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Ilya Seglin
Conor Begley
Blythe Jack
Blythe is responsible for originating new investment opportunities, diligencing new business opportunities, structuring transactions and working with our partner companies. She is also a member of the Investment Committee.
Blythe joined TSG with extensive private equity and branded consumer experience, having spent over 10 years at Rosewood Capital and having served as CEO of a high-growth consumer products company. While a partner at Rosewood Capital, Blythe sourced and structured investments across the consumer & retail sector, including investments in Under Armour, Clarisonic, Sneaker Villa, Cobalt Boats, among others. She has also served as a National Judge for Ernst & Young's acclaimed Entrepreneur of the Year® program. Blythe received a BA, with honors, in Communication Studies from Vanderbilt University.
Benjamin Lee
Mehdi Mehdi
Ariel Ohana
Ariel founded Ohana & Co. in 1994. In the more than 20 years since, he has spearheaded the firm’s growth from a Paris based M&A boutique with primarily French clients to a global investment bank advising some of the most prestigious corporations in the world, including Procter & Gamble, VF Corp, Coty, AmorePacific, Mondadori, Omega Pharma and LVMH, as well as private equity funds, business owners and management teams. Ariel has represented clients in Japan, Korea, US, France, Italy and many more countries in the luxury & consumer goods, media & internet, healthcare and energy sectors in over 100 transactions. He currently sits on the board of several companies in France and the US.
Ariel holds a graduate degree from HEC School of Management (Jouy-en-Josas, France), is a CEMS Master graduate (joint degree with ESADE, Barcelona) and holds a graduate degree (DESS) in Business Law and International Tax Law from the Université de Paris. He is still very much involved in the life of HEC: he served as professor of the M&A techniques course for 15 years and is part of the club of largest donors of the HEC Foundation.
Ariel divides his time primarily between Paris and Los Angeles.
Marianna Rittenhouse
Alison Hersh
Global Founding Partner
Event Partners
Media Partners
The Beauty Spotlight
SUBMISSIONS NOW CLOSED - THE FINAL 12 WILL BE ANNOUNCED MARCH 20.
About the Beauty Spotlight
12 independent beauty brands, hand-picked by the prestigious Selection Committee, introduce themselves and their products on the main stage, in a quick fire round of presentations.form.
Submissions will be accepted from both Mass and Prestige independent beauty brands in Colour Cosmetics, Skincare, Haircare, Fragrance, Bath & Body and Beauty Devices. They should be early to mid-stage brands that are actively seeking financial investment, acquisition, distribution, and/or marketing.
These can range from brands that have just started generating revenue all the way up to larger entities that have revenues of over $80 million.
PARTNER WITH US
Based on your objectives, we can create bespoke packages designed specifically for you. Opportunities predominantly lie in 3 main categories: Thought Leadership, Branding, and Networking.
Interested in a media partnership?
We'd love to hear from you and how we can support one another to connect with the industry. Contact [email protected]
The Agenda
Download Full Agenda
Venue
SLS Hotel, 465 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
Please call the hotel directly for the $519.00 + tax rate we can make available. Call the hotel on 310.247.0400.
Nearby is also The London West Hollywood at Beverly Hills which we can recommend if you'd like to stay in LA. You can view the hotel here and contact the hotel on 310 358 7737, mentioning you are attending the Beauty & Money Summit LA.
Conference Packages
Sending Your Team? Group Discounts Available!
Applicable for Primary Market, Service Provider and Industry Rates Only. Not available for Academic or ‘Start-Up’ rates
Book a Team of 3+ - Save an Additional 10% Off
Book a Team of 5+ - Save an Additional 15% Off
If you would like to register a team of 3 or more, please email [email protected] for your discount coupon code before registering. PLEASE NOTE: Discounts cannot be combined with Early Bird Pricing or any other discount or offer. If you have any questions about your registration, please call us on +44 (0)20 3696 2920
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