CONFERENCE KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

PAULINE BROWN

Author, Former Chairman of LVMH North America, MD of The Carlyle Group

Pauline Brown is a longtime leader in the luxury sector. She currently is a Lecturer and Executive-in-Residence at Columbia Business School as well as the author of a business book, entitled Aesthetic Intelligence, published by HarperCollins and the founder of the e-learning platform Aesthetic Intelligence Labs. Pauline formerly was the Chairman of North America at LVMH Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton, where she provided regional leadership for 70 brands in five sectors, including fashion & accessories, watches & jewelry, perfumes & cosmetics, wines & spirits and specialty retail. During her tenure, she served on the board of L Capital as well as well the boards of several LVMH subsidiaries, including Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan and Fresh Cosmetics. Before joining LVMH, Pauline was a Managing Director at The Carlyle Group, where she specialized in investments in the consumer & retail sectors. While at Carlyle she served on the boards of portfolio companies, including the American beauty brand Philosophy and European sportswear brand Moncler. Earlier in her career, Pauline held executive positions in the cosmetics industry, including the Vice President of Corporate Strategy and New Business Development at The Estee Lauder Companies. She began her career as a Management Consultant at Bain & Co. Pauline received a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School. She is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. In addition to Neiman Marcus, she currently serves on the board of the venture-backed intimate apparel brand TomboyX. She previously served on the boards of Starboard Value Acquisition Corporation and Del Frisco's Restaurant Group.

ALISA WOOD

Partner, Private Equity Business

KKR

Alisa Amarosa Wood (New York) joined KKR in 2003 and is a Partner in the firm’s Private Equity business. Since 2022, she assumed leadership roles of KKR’s two private equity vehicles customized for eligible individuals serving as Co-Chief Executive Officer of KKR Private Equity Conglomerate LLC and as a member of the investment committee for the KKR Private Markets Equity Fund. Previously, she was the Global Head of the Private Markets and Real Assets Strategies Group and looked after key product areas including private equity, infrastructure, energy real assets, impact, growth equity, and customized products. She sits on a number of the firm's management and leadership committees, including the Risk & Operating Committee, New Business Investment Committee, Democratized Private Equity Investment Committee, ESG Committee and Geopolitical Governance Committee. Over her two decades at KKR, she has been actively involved in the firm's global capital formation and business development efforts, including the creation of new strategies, new products and strategic initiatives across the KKR platform. She also previously sat on the firm's Global Inclusion and Diversity Advisory Committee.

Prior to joining KKR, Ms. Wood was with Deutsche Bank's private equity group. She holds a B.A. from Columbia College and an M.B.A from Columbia Graduate School of Business. Ms. Wood is currently Vice Chair of the Columbia College Board of Visitors, Vice Chair of the Convent of the Sacred Heart Board of Trustees and Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Public Theater. She also sits on the Columbia Business School Private Equity Board and the Private Equity Women’s Investor Network Board. She was awarded the John Jay prize by Columbia University in 2019 and was named by the Wall Street Journal as one of the "Women to Watch" in 2020 and by Private Equity International as one of the “Women of Influence in Private Equity” in 2022.

SARAH CHEN-SPELLINGS

Beyond the Billion
Co-founder and Managing Partner

Based in Washington DC, Sarah Chen is Co-Founder of Beyond The Billion (previously known as The Billion Dollar Fund for Women), a global consortium of over 90 venture funds and limited partner investors that have pledged to invest beyond $1 billion towards women-founded companies. To date, the consortium boasts 6 female-founded unicorns. Previously, she was on the pioneer team of a corporate venture capital unit within $13Bn publicly traded Asian conglomerate, investing in later-stage biotechnology companies. Determined to see more women at the helm, she sits on multiple boards, including 131 & Counting, a bipartisan effort to fete the unprecedented number of women serving in the House and Senate, encouraging more women to run for office in the US; and Lean In Malaysia, which she co-founded, a platform accelerating women into leadership in Muslim- majority Malaysia. Named Forbes Under 30 VC and Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, Chen is a recognized speaker, commentator and advisor on venture capital, innovation and women, having been featured on Forbes, Fortune, Bloomberg, Der Spiegel and at the United Nations, and is a celebrated host on the show and podcast #BillionDollarMoves. Sarah holds a Bachelor of Laws, LL.B (Hons.) from King’s College London.

IDA LIU

Global Head of Citi Private Bank

Ida Liu is the Global Head of Citi Private Bank and a member of the Citi Global Wealth Leadership team. Ida leads the Private Banking activities in 52 offices across 20 countries and delivers wealth management solutions to ultra-high net worth families and their businesses globally. Before becoming the Global Head, she was the Head of Citi Private Bank North America and held numerous other leadership roles.

Ida created Citi Private Bank’s North America Asian Clients Group, and she started her career at Citi by launching and heading the Fashion, Retail and Entertainment Group. Before joining Citi, Ida was at Vivienne Tam, a women’s wear design house, where she was Global Head of Sales, Marketing, Public Relations and Business Development. Prior to this, Ida spent seven years in investment banking with Merrill Lynch’s mergers and acquisitions and technology, media and telecommunications investment banking groups in New York and Hong Kong. She started her career in mergers and acquisitions at BT Wolfensohn (now Deutsche Bank). Ida has received many industry accolades including the distinguished Ellis Island Medal of Honor, Barron’s 10 Most Influential Women in Wealth Management and Crain’s Notable Women on Wall Street.* For four consecutive years, starting in 2019 Ida was named Barron’s 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance as well as American Banker’s 25 Most Powerful Women in Finance.

Additionally, Ida is a Young Global Leader (YGL) of the World Economic Forum, a member of The Committee of 100 (C100) and Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). Ida serves on the UCLA Health Advisory Board as well as the Asia Society Board of Trustees. Ida holds a BA with honors from Wellesley College and an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Spanish and conversant in Russian.