What's New & Next For Luxury Retail, with Karen Katz, Steve Sadove and Oliver Chen

This week we've got a blockbuster panel featuring three of the most experienced and insightful veterans of the luxury world: Karen Katz (former President & CEO of the Neiman Marcus Group, Steve Sadove (former Chairman and CEO of Saks) and Oliver Chen (Managing director and senior equity research analyst at Cowen and Company).

We cover a lot of territory, first trying to align on a working definition of what "luxury" really means today and how luxury was evolving pre-COVID. Then we shift into what's next, including our dream team's quick takes on luxury re-commerce, the role of the in-store experience, the importance of multi-brand retail (online and off), sustainability, exclusivity, storytelling and more. We wrap up getting everyone's view on why it's so hard for legacy brands to innovate and whether .com spin-outs make any sense at all.

But first we open up with the top retail stories that caught our attention this past week, with a big focus on what we can take away from Black Friday and Cyber Monday performance as the threat of Omicron looms, more profitless prosperity from Allbirds as they report their first quarterly earnings as a public company, and Amazon's rise to parcel delivery supremacy.

About Karen Katz

Katz, who is a graduate of the University of Texas, is the former chief executive, president and director of the Neiman Marcus Group. She stepped down from the role in January 2019. Since 2014 she has also been on the board of directors at Under Armour.

Katz has worked in a number of key executive and leadership roles at Neiman Marcus since joining the group as a merchandise manager in 1985. Most recently she has leveraged Neiman Marcus’ brick and mortar assets to launch an omni-channel strategy that includes merging planning and buying teams for all departments and integrating customers’ online and in-store experiences with in-store apps and personalised web dashboards.

Under Katz, Neiman Marcus acquired luxury e-commerce site MyTheresa.com, the Munich-based luxury e-tailer. She also expanded MyTheresa’s e-commerce offerings to bolster the Neiman Marcus omni-channel strategy and oversaw the opening of the retailer’s first New York City flagship in 2018, a seven-story retail project situated in the Hudson Yards in Manhattan’s far West Side.

About Steve Sadove

Between 2002 and 2013, Mr. Sadove held positions of increasing responsibility with Saks Incorporated, serving as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from 2007 to 2013.

Prior to joining Saks, Mr. Sadove built a distinguished marketing and consumer products career spanning more than 25 years and held senior positions at companies including General Foods (now Kraft) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company as President of Clairol. He led Clairol to become the number one hair care business in the United States, relaunched the Herbal Essences brand into a $700 million business and completed the sale of the beauty care business to Procter & Gamble. Mr. Sadove is also a founding partner of JW Levin Management Partners, a private equity firm.

Mr. Sadove is a former Chair of the National Retail Federation and serves as an advisor to Mastercard. He serves on numerous community and civic boards including Hamilton College as Chairman of the Board of Trustees and AmeriCares.

About Oliver Chen

Oliver Chen has joined Cowen and Company’s Equity Research department as a Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst. He covers over 30 stocks in the Retail & Luxury Sectors.

Oliver is a graduate of Georgetown University, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and is a CFA Charterholder. He also serves on the PhD Retail Research Review committee at the Wharton School's Jay H. Baker Retailing Center. Mr. Chen was recognized in the Wharton School’s “40 Under 40” brightest stars alumni list in 2017.

Most recently, Mr. Chen was recognized on the 2018 and 2017 Institutional Investor All-America Research team as a top analyst in the retailing/department stores & specialty softlines sector. Mr. Chen was also selected as a preeminent retail influencer as he was named to the National Retail Federation (NRF) Foundation’s “2019 List of People Shaping Retail’s Future.” Considered an “industry expert,” Mr. Chen frequently appears as a speaker/panelist at key industry events.

Steve Dennis is an advisor, keynote speaker and author on strategic growth and business innovation. You can learn more about Steve on his website. The expanded and revised edition of his bestselling book Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption is now available at Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior contributor and on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also check out his speaker "sizzle" reel here.

Michael LeBlanc is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus Global E-Commerce Tech Talks , The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois and now in its second season, Conversations with CommerceNext! You can learn more about Michael here or on LinkedIn.

Be sure and check out Michael's latest venture for fun and influencer riches - Last Request Barbecue, his YouTube BBQ cooking channel!

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling author of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail, The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast. He has been recognized by the NRF as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2026 and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.