Opportunity Amid Disruption: Driving Growth & Innovation in the Consumer Goods Industry

Paul Raffin
Former CEO & President
The Frye Company

Paul Raffin, is an internationally known C-Suite executive, with over forty years of experience managing consumer goods businesses across a wide spectrum of the Fashion Industry spanning department store retail, wholesale, direct to consumer, vertical specialty retail, luxury, and trading company, men’s, women’s, kids apparel, accessories and footwear. Paul has held CEO, President or Division President roles at The Frye Company, Li & Fung USA-Mens, Kids and Entertainment Licensing Group, Frette, DZ Trading, Express, J. Crew and Gant as well as Board roles with dELiA*s and Rosie Pope.

He is known first and foremost as a highly experienced Merchant, having worked with industry luminaries from the late Marvin Traub to Les Wexner and Michael Weiss to William and Victor Fung. These opportunities have provided him with invaluable experience in selecting products which resonate with customers and successfully running a variety of business models at different levels of scale. Raffin has led 1Billion+ revenue businesses as well as more entrepreneurial ventures. Throughout his career, Raffin has displayed a strong track record of Brand Stewardship, producing impressive financial results. An avid student of the industry, he is passionate about the art and science of “pattern recognition” and enjoys discovering innovative solutions aimed at improving results.

Raffin has an impressive track record at building, retaining and managing world class talent. He is committed to investing in the culture within an organization and has had deep experience in synthesizing change agendas. Paul is passionate in leading companies which develop their people and evolve their processes in order to unlock both speed to market and innovation necessary in today’s dynamic marketplace.

Most recently, Raffin served as President & CEO of The Frye Company, positioning that brand for explosive growth within the Direct-to-Consumer segment. Raffin has also founded a consulting firm, The Retail Matrix, LLC, whose objective is to optimize the symbiotic relationship between a brand’s promise, and the technology that can help deliver that in an exciting way. Paul was recently featured in a major M.I.T. Sloan School publication about Enterprise Leadership and has recently joined the XRC Lab, an accelerator affiliated with The New School and KSA, as a mentor.
Download the panelists' bios here.   Panel 1: Growth Strategies in the Consumer Goods Industry

• The changing demographics and impact of Millennials on the industry
• How to get retailers & partners to invest resources into growth stage brands
• Critical milestones & hurdles taking a 10m brand to 50m
• Building top line vs. bottom line and more

      Adam Ghander, Moderator
Partner, Co-Chair, Emerging Companies Group
Nutter, McClennen & Fish LLP John Burns
President
Breakaway Ventures Nick McCoy
Co-Founder & Managing Director
Whipstitch Capital           Paul Raffin
Former CEO & President
The Frye Company Rich Vitaro
Director
AlixPartners     Panel 2: The Changing Role of Retail in a Tech Driven Environment

• The impact of mobile - real-time price shopping; bricks as demo, clicks to buy; store/brand management in the retail experience
• Managing channel conflict for clicks and bricks; pricing; operations & experience
• Supply chain management in the era of "buy as try" and more

      Jeremy Halpern, Moderator
Partner, Director of Business Development for the Emerging Companies Group
Nutter McClennen & Fish, LLP Tom First
Managing Partner
First Beverage Group John Lauderbach
VP of IT
Roche Bros. Supermarkets         Ted McNamara
CFO, Treasurer & Director
M. Gemi Anita Brearton
Founder/CEO
CabinetM

3:00pm Introductions 3:10pm Paul Raffin Keynote Address 3:30pm Panel 1 with Q&A: Growth Strategies in the Consumer Goods Industry

• Adam Ghander, Nutter McClennen & Fish, LLP, Moderator
• John Burns, Breakaway Ventures
• Nick McCoy, Whipstitch Capital
• Paul Raffin, The Frye Company
• Richard Vitaro, AlixPartners

4:15pm Panel 2 with Q&A: The Changing Role of Retail in a Tech Driven Environment

• Jeremy Halpern, Nutter McClennen & Fish, LLP, Moderator
• Anita Brearton, CabinetM
• Tom First, First Beverage Group
• John Lauderbach, Roche Bros. Supermarkets
• Ted McNamara, M.Gemi

5:00pm Networking Cocktail Reception
Series Presenting Sponsor