Helaine is a trusted board member and C-Suite advisor to businesses focused on transforming their business model and fueling their strong and sustainable growth trajectories. She creates progressive business strategies focused on the customer experience.
Drawing on her 30+ years of experience, Helaine identifies and expands untapped business opportunities, influencing digital, merchandising and market direction. She advises leadership teams to consider the positive impact of strategic and tactical alignment across commerce channels, encouraging cross-functional collaboration.
Following her last corporate role building the macys.com business, Helaine left to start Suval Consultants in 2011 to fuel her passion for helping businesses grow by providing strategy, leadership and guidance to clients in this fast-changing retail environment (from start-up to multi-billion $). In 2018, Helaine became one of the founding partners of WHYZ Partners, a boutique advisory firm focused on delivering growth through both profitability and purpose for the retail and fashion industry.
Helaine spent a decade building the macys.com business from $40M to $1.1B. In her role as Executive Vice President/GMM, she was the strategic leader for macys.com merchandising and marketing direction, aggressively expanding and identifying key businesses and opportunities for growth and development. She recruited and developed a world class merchandising, planning, creative and marketing strategy team which grew from 5 people to 400+, including 17 Vice Presidents. Helaine led the team in the conceptualization of strong selling tools on-line, which led to improved sales, conversion and increased customer satisfaction. She also took a leadership role in building an Omni-channel experience for the macys customer and business. Helaine led several corporate strategy initiatives during her tenure at macys.com, including the accelerated growth strategy, exploration of shipping strategies leading to free shipping, international growth opportunities and category growth expansion.
Helaine’s experience also includes various senior executive positions, including Senior Vice President for living.com, Vice President and General Manager for Avon, and numerous executive positions at Bloomingdales, including Senior Vice President for Home Furnishings. Helaine developed the industry leading home furnishings area by creating trend setting departments with unique marketing concepts, exciting merchandise and stimulating visual presentations.
Over the last several years, Helaine has provided board leadership to several companies and charitable organizations. Helaine is a member of the Board of Directors for Lenox Inc., UJA-Federation of New York, and the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College, and previously served on the Board of Directors for Ashley Stewart and On Campus Marketing. Helaine also serves as a business mentor for Parsons XRC Labs Fashion Labs, advising NextGen start-ups and disruptors. Helaine is the past chair of the executive committee for UJA, Women’s Executive Circle; a group of senior level Jewish women business leaders who come together under the auspices of UJA-Federation of New York.
Helaine holds a Certificate in Corporate Board Governance from Columbia Business School and a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism from the University of Maryland.