Keanan Duffty Director of Fashion Programs, Parsons Executive Education Drawing on his years of experience in fashion retail, design, branding, and marketing, Keanan Duffty teaches you how to create effective retail operations plans to maximize omnichannel sales. An award-winning fashion designer, musician, and author, Duffty is the director of Fashion Programs at Parsons School of Design and leads our Fashion Retail Transformation program. A member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), he has created co-branded collections and products with Aveda, Reebok, Gola, and Dr. Martens and served as design director for Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B, John Varvatos, and Ben Sherman. Duffty established his namesake collection with a client base including Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale’s, Barneys New York, Harvey Nichols, Lane Crawford, Baycrews, and Journal Standard in Japan. Duffty also had a multiyear contract with Target and engaged in a major collaboration with David Bowie, which sold out upon its debut. Duffty earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Central Saint Martins in London. His writing is regularly featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, Women’s Wear Daily and the Business of Fashion. Connect on LinkedIn or KeananDuffty.com Read more
Caryn Pang Part-Time Lecturer, Parsons Executive Education, Fashion Management MPS, and Hult International Business School Caryn is a faculty member at Hult International Business School in Boston and Parsons School of Design in NYC. Her ability to teach marketing and business fundamentals is a result of her 15+ years of experience as a retail business executive coupled with consulting experience for businesses in the international fashion industry. Caryn’s teaching philosophy is to empower students to create a roadmap to fulfill their academic and career goals. She has worked for Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, TJX Corporation, and Macy’s, and enjoys teaching all levels of students including undergraduates, graduates, and executives. Caryn is a PhD candidate at Iowa State University. Her research stream focuses on cross-cultural-consumer behavior, as it relates to global retail markets. As a consultant, Caryn is skilled at improving business outcomes with successes that include creating the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s executive education program to stimulate its strategic business turn-around plan and spearheading the launch of an online digital learning platform for an international luxury jewelry and gemstone business. Connect on LinkedIn Read more
Jasmine S. Young Operations & Strategy, Gap Inc. Jasmine Young is a strategy and operations consultant in the fashion and beauty industry and is currently on the Operations & Strategy team at Gap Inc. She previously worked for Alexander Wang, Glossier, NOAH, and Hood by Air and is a member of the advisory board of Pace University’s Design Thinking Certificate program. Young is an expert on direct-to-consumer sales and the creation of business strategies for fashion and beauty brands. Her focus is on how technology and changes in consumer behavior have undermined fashion’s traditional business models. She is a 2016 graduate of Parsons’ MA Fashion Studies program. Connect on LinkedIn Read more
Patrick Klesius Director of Enterprise Data Architecture and Analytics, David Yurman Patrick Klesius is the director of Enterprise Data Architecture and Analytics at David Yurman and is a visiting faculty member at Parsons School of Design. For more than 20 years, Patrick has focused on data and analytics for luxury and lifestyle retailers including Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, and David Yurman. His is an expert on merging technology with marketing and business processes to enable brands to meet the changing demands of today’s customers. Klesius also serves on the advisory councils for Apparel Merchandising, Design, and Production Management at the College of Business at Auburn University and the Couture Council at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Connect on LinkedIn Read more
Ron Thurston Founder, Take Pride Today Ron Thurston has led the retail teams of some of the most prominent brands in the United States, including Intermix, Saint Laurent, Bonobos, and Tory Burch. He is the author of the best-selling book Retail Pride: The Guide to Celebrating Your Accidental Career. Thurston was named one of the world’s 100 Most Influential People in Retail in 2021 and is a featured keynote speaker and industry expert. Connect on LinkedIn or RetailPride.com Read more