Keynote Speaker - Gregory J. Furman

Gregory J. Furman 
Founder & Chairman, The Luxury marketing Council

Founder & Chairman of The Luxury Marketing Council, Greg Furman has held a number of senior positions in different industry groups. He served as policy advisor and speech writer to the Ontario Minister of Education; head of public affairs and issues management for Sun Oil's Canadian Subsidiary, Suncor; Managing Director of Advertising and Sales Promotion for the NYSE; and head of J. Walter Thompson's corporate image PR business.  During his four-year association with Bergdorf Goodman his responsibilities included marketing strategy, advertising, PR, interactive initiatives, direct mail and the store's $30 million catalogue business.  In November 1994 Greg started his own consulting firm and founded The Luxury Marketing Council.

The Luxury Marketing Council, a group of some 4,000 CEOs and top marketing executives, now consists of 1,000 luxury firms in 36 cities worldwide.  Member companies include American Express, Bentley, Bergdorf Goodman, Cartier, David Yurman, Departures Magazine, Escada,Barrons, Frette, Ghurka, Godiva, Judith Ripka, La Mer, Leading Hotels of the World, Mandarin Oriental, Maybach, Mercedes Benz, NASDAQ, Neiman Marcus, Sony Cierge, Sotheby’s, and Swiss Air.

Greg’s strategy consulting practice focuses on helping clients define their missions and corporate positioning, develop strategic plans and grow their businesses by taking a more creative, "out of the box" approach to all facets of the marketing mix: PR, advertising, direct mail, special events, and especially innovative partnerships and collaborations.

He and his wife, Wanda, who has her own consulting business, divide their time between their homes in Manhattan and Clinton Corners, New York in the Hudson Valley.  Greg’s avocations include painting and sculpture (he has had six one-man shows of his work in the last two years) and poetry (he has published twelve books of poems – the most recent “Selected Poems: 1995 – 2009” and “The Album of Iridescences.”

Highlights of his educational experience include studying with Marshall McLuhan (1970 – 1977) at the University of Toronto, “Strategic Marketing” at Harvard and “Managing Critical Resources” at the University of Virginia’s Colgate Darden School of Business.


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