Mark Friedman has more than 30 years of experience in the consumer and retail industry as an Entrepreneur, Manager, Research Analyst, and Strategic Advisor. During his two decades as a Senior Research Analyst at Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs he was ranked on the Institutional Investor annual survey of best analysts in three different sectors- Advertising, Apparel/Footwear and Specialty Retail. In his last role at Merrill Lynch he was also a Group Head managing a 17 person team of Retail Analysts. Mark served on the Board of publicly traded Iconix, and Canadian based Roots when it was private. Mark received an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and a B.B.A. from the University of Michigan.

Marni Shapiro has more than 25 years of experience in the consumer and retail industry as an Entrepreneur, Merchant, Manager, and Research Analyst. During her 11 years at Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers she covered Apparel, Footwear and the Specialty Retail sectors and has been ranked by the Wall Street Journal Analyst Survey. Marni also worked for five years in the apparel industry. As a Vice President of sales for 525…America, she developed and grew their Home Furnishings business. Previously, she was a senior account executive at Fenn Wright Manson, a women’s and men’s clothing concern. Marni was a Board Member and Former President of Trends, a consumer industry association and serves as an advisor to Poq and Storr. Marni received an M.B.A from NYU and received a B.S. from the University of Michigan.