design:retail - September 2017 - 40

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Luminaries
Retail Design

By JENNY S. REBHOLZ

utstanding individuals who have demonstrated unparalleled creative
excellence, exemplary professional leadership and unwavering personal
commitment to the retail design industry-that is the definition of a
Retail Design Luminary. It is an award of perseverance, passion and
achievement. Please join us in congratulating the 2017 class:
Vicky Leavitt, Bevan Bloemendaal and Paul Lechleiter.

INCE CHILDHOOD, Vicky Leavitt has
challenged the status quo. The word "no"
for her was an opportunity to ask "why"
and then to be a champion for change. Whether it
was being too young for a lifeguard job at the local
YMCA or challenging a brand to think bigger and
break down the walls of what they have done before,
Leavitt has always been a maverick.
With a bachelor's degree in human genetics and
a simultaneous master of arts in communication
from the University of Michigan, Leavitt's educational background is not what some might consider
a traditional path into the retail world. Despite a
planned career in medicine, when The Procter &
Gamble Co. (P&G) presented an exceptional job
opportunity upon graduation, Leavitt decided it
certainly "couldn't hurt" to get the experience. That
became a pivotal first step in her career journey,
a path where there has always been the common
threads of customer advocacy, challenging the
status quo and driving transformation and
growth-for retailers or brands.
Leavitt was born in Germany and grew up in
Michigan. Her ability to lead, push boundaries
and achieve measurable results has taken her all
SEPTEMBER 2017

DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM

over the world and created an extensive résumé.
Why? Because the bosses and management teams
she worked with kept calling her to join them in
the next venture. They needed results and knew
Leavitt would help take each business and client
where they needed to go.

Maverick. Visionary.
Advocate.
"I credit the opportunities to live and work in
various parts of the world and the passionate, talented people I have worked with for serving as a
constant source of inspiration," Leavitt says.
While at P&G, Leavitt gained experience in brand
management, and this is where the importance of
being a "customer evangelist" took root. She provided
strategic direction for big-name products, measuring
success through share growth and record shipments.
With a relocation to New York, her track record in

GLOBALSHOP.ORG

brand management led her to Kraft General Foods,
where she took on more senior management roles.
This experience ultimately led to leadership
roles within Omnicom Group, including a focus on business development. There, she helped
successfully reposition and launch one of the first
integrated marketing agencies.
Next, the opportunity to work in a merger and
acquisitions start-up called Lighthouse presented
itself; her first "shopping job." As a member of the
founding team, she helped spearhead the purchase
of 17 firms and build the company to an enterprise
with 1,200 employees and 39 offices-all under two
years. As they began making acquisitions in Europe
(including FITCH), she was charged with opening
the Lighthouse European operations in London,
where she lived for 17 years.
Leavitt later returned to the Midwest to work
with FITCH and help integrate the North American operations. She transformed the business to
become the top-performing, fastest-growing region for this global design firm. This success led
to another M&A role, and then the assignment of
restructuring the FITCH Middle East operations.
Today as CEO, North America consumer and retail

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of design:retail - September 2017