Consumer Web Panel: Emerging eCommerce
Thomas R. Eisenmann - Moderator
Howard H. Stevenson Professor of Business Administration
Chair, MBA Elective Curriculum
Thomas R. Eisenmann is the Howard H. Stevenson Professor of Business Administration in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at the Harvard Business School. He studies lean startups and management challenges in platform-based businesses that exploit network effects. Professor Eisenmann is Chair of Harvard’s MBA Elective Curriculum. He teaches Launching Technology Ventures in the MBA Elective Curriculum, is course head of The Entrepreneurial Manager in the MBA Required Curriculum, and faculty co-leader of the Harvard Innovation Lab-sponsored Silicon Valley Immersion Program.
Professor Eisenmann received his DBA (‘98), MBA (‘83), and BA (‘79) from Harvard University. Prior to entering the HBS Doctoral Program, Eisenmann spent eleven years as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. As co-head of McKinsey’s Media and Entertainment Practice during the early 1990s, he directed teams addressing strategic, organizational, and operational issues for clients engaged in network broadcasting; cable programming; newspaper, magazine, and book publishing; and motion picture production.
Professor Eisenmann is a member of the Strategic Management Journal editorial board. He is the editor of Internet Business Models: Text and Cases, (McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2002).
Eisenmann is a director on the boards of Harvard Business Publishing; Harvard Student Agencies, the world’s largest student-run corporation; and Brilliant Film Fund LLC, a UK-based motion picture production fund. Eisenmann was a member of the board of directors of OneMain.com, one of the ten largest U.S. Internet Service Providers prior to its acquisition.
Chris Morton - Panelist
CEO and cofounder, Lyst
Chris is the CEO and cofounder of Lyst, a social commerce platform that makes it easy for users to buy fashion they discover by following their favorite designers, stores, magazines and friends. From launch six months ago Lyst already connects hundreds of thousands of people with amazing products every month and generates millions in dollars of sales for its partners.
Prior to cofounding Lyst, Chris was a venture capital investor at Balderton and Benchmark Capital in London, where he focussed on early stage consumer internet investments, mostly in the ecommerce, music and games space. Chris also managed Business Development for the Energy & Materials division of QinetiQ, Europe’s largest independent research establishment.
Chris has an MA in Physics and Philosophy from Cambridge University, where he was a DERA scholar.
Hayley Barna - Panelist
Co-Founder of Birchbox
Hayley Barna is the Co-Founder of Birchbox, the beauty subscription brand that brings members access to the newest and best in high-end beauty. Launched in September 2010 and named one of WWD’s Top Beauty Sites and InStyle’s Best of the Web for beauty, Birchbox reimagines beauty retail online. Subscribers receive a monthly box of 4-5 deluxe, curated samples and visit birchbox.com to learn more via articles and videos and purchase full-size versions of the products they love. Through this novel retail and marketing channel, customers are able to experience an editor’s selection of products in their own homes. With subscribers in all 50 states and a growing list of more than 80 fantastic beauty partners including NARS, Kerastase, Stila and Deborah Lippmann, Birchbox gives beauty brands access to engaged consumers in a grassroots, but glossy environment. Prior to Birchbox, Hayley worked at Bain & Company, Christie’s and Amazon.com learning the strategy and psychology behind successful consumer businesses. She attended Harvard Business School where she met her business partner Katia and discovered her entrepreneurial ambitions.
John Volturo - Panelist
CMO, Beachmint
John has a long history of developing successful brands and maximizing the retention of profitable customers. John was the Senior Vice President for Brand Management and New Marketing Strategy at Guthy-Renker where he developed 14 new businesses in less than seven years, and led multi-channel acquisition and customer marketing initiatives to support brand launches. Prior to Guthy-Renker, John was the Senior Director of Customer Marketing at BMG Direct where he oversaw the CD club’s multi-channel marketing efforts and initiated customer relationship-deepening programs.
John is currently the Chief Marketing Officer at BeachMint, a next-generation social ecommerce company located in Santa Monica, California. During the past year, BeachMint has launched JewelMint, StyleMint, BeautyMint and ShoeMint, leveraging the power of celebrity influencers and curation.
Scott Friend - Panelist
Managing Director, Bain Capital Ventures
Mr. Friend joined Bain Capital Ventures in 2006. Prior to Bain Capital Ventures, Mr. Friend was Chairman of the Executive Advisory Board and VP of Marketing & Science for Oracle Retail. Prior to its acquisition by Oracle in 2005, Mr. Friend was the President and co-founder of ProfitLogic, a Bain Capital portfolio company. In 2005, Mr. Friend was named a winner of the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year Award” in New England. Prior to ProfitLogic, Mr. Friend held positions at Learning Sciences Corporation, The Parthenon Group and IBM.
Mr. Friend received an MBA, with distinction, from Harvard Business School and a BA, magna cum laude, in Electrical Engineering and Economics from Brown University.
Tim Riley - Panelist
Director of Online Experience, Warby Parker
Tim Riley is the Director of Online Experience for Warby Parker, where he works on making the process of buying eyeglasses online as fun and easy as possible. Prior to Warby Parker, Tim worked to develop strategies for enhancing the customer experience for clients such as Volkswagen, Audi, Walgreens and Kaplan University. In a previous life, Tim served as the director of The Tour for the Cure, a national fundraising campaign for the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA and also dabbled in the world of management consulting.
