HSN Names Betsy Olum General Manager, Beauty & Merchandising Strategy

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., April 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- HSN, a leading interactive multi-channel retailer, announced today that Betsy Olum has been appointed General Manager of Beauty and Merchandising Strategy, effective the week of April 11th.  She will report directly to Lynne Ronon, HSN Executive Vice President of Merchandising.

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In this newly created position, Ms. Olum will be responsible for developing and implementing innovative merchandising strategies designed to maximize HSN's beauty business.  She will also work with HSN's senior merchandising team to identify strategies to position HSN for accelerated growth.   In addition, Ms. Olum will be charged with analyzing assortments, evaluating brand productivity and identifying hsn.com merchandising opportunities across all of the Company's divisions.  

"We are thrilled to welcome to our team one of the beauty industry's best-known and most accomplished marketers," said Mindy Grossman, CEO of HSN, Inc.  "Betsy's appointment underscores our commitment to expanding our beauty portfolio with unique brands and products as well as maximizing our assortments and products across all of our categories and driving their expansion."

Ms. Olum began consulting with HSN in January 2011, overseeing the overall assessment of the company's beauty business.  Previously, she spent ten years at Sephora as the Senior Vice President of Marketing, where she is credited with creating and launching the Sephora brand in the U.S. while developing, branding and launching some of the company's most successful brand partners.  Prior to joining Sephora, Ms. Olum was General Manager, North America at Escada Beaute, which she helped build in the U.S., initially as the VP of Global Marketing and Creative Director, and subsequently as General Manager for North America.  In 1999, she opened Prema Nolita Day Spa in New York, which she owned and operated for five years while simultaneously working as a brand consultant for Sephora.   She has also held marketing positions at Avon, Charles of the Ritz and Erno Laszlo, and served as a buyer in the cosmetics department for Bloomingdale's.  

Ms. Olum was awarded a fellowship to the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, where she received an MBA, and she earned her bachelor's degree from Colgate University.  She is on the Board of Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) and was awarded the CEW Achiever Award in 2008.

ABOUT HSN

Headquartered in St. Petersburg, FL, HSN is a leading interactive multi-channel retailer, offering a curated assortment of exclusive products and top brand names to its customers. HSN incorporates entertainment, inspiration, personalities and industry experts to provide an entirely unique shopping experience. At HSN, customers find exceptional selections in Health & Beauty  (e.g. M. Asam, Carol's Daughter, Coty, Elizabeth Arden,  FusionBeauty, Andrew Lessman, Lancome, My Life by Mary J. Blige, Perlier, Serious Skin Care, Wei East, ybf Beauty); Jewelry (e.g. Heidi Daus, R.J. Graziano, Rarities: Fine Jewelry by Carol Brodie Amedeo Scognamiglio, Tori Spelling); Home/Lifestyle  (e.g. Jeffrey Banks, Nate Berkus, Bissell, Colin Cowie, Dyson, Easy Exotic by Padma Lakshmi, Todd English, Emeril Lagasse, Happy Chic by Jonathan Adler, Joy Mangano, MoMA Design Store, Wolfgang Puck); Fashion/Accessories  (e.g. American Glamour Badgley Mischka, Curations with Stefani Greenfield, Libby Edelman, Sam Edelman, Chi by Carlos Falchi, Diane Gilman, "Timeless" by Naeem Khan, Twiggy LONDON, Sharif, Serena Williams Signature Statement); and Electronics  (e.g. Sony, Kodak, Acer, Olympus, GE, Panasonic).  

A leader in transactional innovation, HSN is the only retailer offering live streaming video in HD on three screens: TV, online and mobile.  HSN broadcasts live to 96 million households in the US in HD 24/7 and its website – hsn.com – is a top 10 most trafficked e-commerce site, featuring more than 16,000 product videos.  Mobile applications include HSN apps for iPad, iPhone and Android.  HSN, founded 34 years ago as the first shopping network, is an operating segment of HSN, Inc. HSNI.

SOURCE HSN