Rose Marie Bravo (born Rose Marie La Pila January 13, 1951 in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, New York) is an American businesswoman. During her career, she has occupied leadership positions in several major fashion businesses and is now vice chairman at

Burberry Burberry is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry headquartered in London, England. It currently designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats (for which it is most famous), leather accessorie ...

, of which she was

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

from 1997 to 2005.

Biography

Bravo, whose Italian-born father owned a hairdressing business in the New York

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, attended the elite public

Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science, commonly called Bronx Science, is a public specialized high school in The Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Spec ...

and went on to study English literature at

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

where she graduated in 1971. She graduated

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

and joined Abraham and Straus' department store at

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

as a buyer in 1971. In 1974, she was recruited by

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

. When Macy's bought

I. Magnin I. Magnin & Company was a San Francisco, California-based high fashion and specialty goods luxury department store. Over the course of its existence, it expanded across the West into Southern California and the adjoining states of Arizona, Oregon, ...

in 1988, she headed the acquired asset until the bankruptcy of Macy's in 1992. After five more years as President and Chief Merchant of

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street and ...

, and member of the Board of Directors of Saks Holdings Inc.,

Victor Barnett Victor J. Barnett (born 1933) is a British-American businessman, former executive chairman of Burberry, and member of the Wolfson family. Early life and education Victor Jules Barnett was born in London, England, in 1933 to Esmond Barnett and E ...

hired her to be chief executive of

. In her new job she initiated a radical reform of the British classic brand and improvements of the company structure. Her strategy included signing top model

Kate Moss Katherine Ann Moss (born 16 January 1974) is a British model. Arriving at the end of the "supermodel era", Moss rose to fame in the early 1990s as part of the heroin chic fashion trend. Her collaborations with Calvin Klein brought her to fas ...

and recruiting the young designer Christopher Bailey in 2001, who was working for

Gucci Gucci (, ; ) is an Italian high-end luxury fashion house based in Florence, Italy. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and branding to Coty, Inc. for fragran ...

at that time. The Burberry line of products was greatly increased and especially the newly added perfumes contributed to the company's raising profits. Under her tenure, Burberry launched fragrances, purses, children's wear and doggie macs. With Bravo as a CEO, Burberry managed to expand greatly on the US market. The company's sales doubled from US$470 million to US$1 billion. The same happened to the profits, e. g. in the six months before September 30, 2003 they increased to a total of US$115 million. In 2005, Burberry announced Bravo would step down for

Angela Ahrendts Angela Jean Ahrendts, DBE (born June 7, 1960) is an American businesswoman who was previously the senior vice president of retail at Apple Inc. She was the CEO of Burberry from 2006 to 2014. Ahrendts left Burberry to join Apple in 2014. Ahrendts ...

(formerly

Liz Claiborne Anne Elisabeth Jane Claiborne (March 31, 1929 – June 26, 2007) was an American fashion designer and businesswoman. Her success was built upon stylish yet affordable apparel for career women featuring colorfully tailored separates that co ...

). After a 6 months transitional period, Bravo retired as a CEO and became vice chairman of Burberry.

Other roles

* Member of the Fordham University Board of Trustees''''

Awards

* 1996: 75 Most Influential Women in business by '' Crain’s New York Business''' * 2004: Top 50 hall of fame by the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' * 2004: #13 most Powerful Women in Business outside the US by '' Fortune Magazine'' * 2005: #63 in ''Forbes'' list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women * 2006:

Commander of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

* 2006: Recipient of the Fordham Founder’s Award

Personal life

Rose Marie Bravo is married to William Jackey. Rose Marie Bravo is the owner of a large waterfront house in Long Island that sits on a 15-acre property, nearby Tuthill Cove. She listed it for sale in 2021 for $7,250,000.

References

External links

Mammon Interview: Bravo encore at Burberry
Observer - The Guardian, June 2, 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bravo, Rose Marie 1951 births Living people The Bronx High School of Science alumni American corporate directors People from the Bronx Fordham University alumni American people of Italian descent American chief executives of fashion industry companies American women chief executives Women corporate directors 21st-century American women