AGENDA & SPEAKERS

Dominic Kaffka is the SVP, Managing Director at IMG FOCUS. - a full-service creative and event production agency built to support fashion’s leading tastemakers in bringing bespoke brand experiences to life. In his role, he oversees the conception and production of large scale fashion events for IMG and its clients and has played an instrumental role in New York Fashion Week: The Shows overseeing creative direction and event production since 2015. Prior to relocating to New York, Kaffka worked at IMG Berlin as the Global Director of Creative and Production. He was raised in Munich, Germany where he graduated from The University of Applied Sciences Kufstein and currently resides in New York City.

Jason Wu is a prominent New York-based fashion designer renowned for his namesake brand, epitomizing American luxury marked by sophistication, glamour, and refinement. His unwavering commitment to design excellence and impeccable attention to detail has solidified his status as one of his generation's most gifted fashion designers. Since the inception of his company in 2007, Wu has cultivated a signature “Jason Wu Collection” and a contemporary line, “Jason Wu”, dedicated to crafting meticulously designed garments that embody modern luxury and effortless elegance from the inside out. Jason has earned numerous accolades, including the Swarovski Award for Womenswear, The Fashion Group International Fashion Star Award, and the Canadian International Designer of the Year.

Lauren Sherman is a special correspondent at Puck, covering the fashion and luxury industries. The former chief correspondent for the Business of Fashion, she began her career as a reporter at Forbes and holds a BFA in writing, literature and publishing from Emerson College. She lives in Los Angeles.

Laurie Brookins is an award-winning journalist who covers fashion, watches and jewelry, and other luxury-focused subjects for a variety of print and online publications. Her work has appeared in The Hollywood Reporter, Town & Country Travel, Robb Report, the Miami Herald, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and the Palm Beach Daily News, while she also has produced digital content for Town & Country, Robb Report, Worth, Galerie, and THR’s Style section. Laurie is based in New York City and is currently working on her first book. 

Edward Campbell is Vice President of Thought Leadership at Highsnobiety, the leading media brand and cultural consultancy connecting brands with the next generation. Having established Highsnobiety's strategy practice out of its Berlin office in 2019, Edward is now based in New York and oversees Highsnobiety’s Thought Leadership globally, the heart of which is ‘The New Luxury’, Highsnobiety’s ongoing investigation into the future of luxury. Always playing in spaces at the intersection of youth culture, brand marketing and style, Edward has worked within strategy and insights functions at businesses including Warner Music Group and AKQA where his lead client was Nike.

Rachna Shah is the CEO of global fashion experience agency KCD. She oversees KCD’s four global offices and all groups including: Media Relations, Creative Production, Fashion Services, Digital, VIP Services, Guest Experience and Beauty. Shah is an expert in strategic consulting with brands and designers and maintains deep relationships within the global fashion industry. She has been at the forefront of digital PR throughout her career, bringing to the industry some of the most talked about campaigns for the most well-known fashion, luxury and retail brands. Her expertise in event management and guest experience has made KCD the industry go-to for runway shows and the majority of the industry’s global large-scale events and activations.

Amy Rollinson is a Senior Advisor on the Vogue Business advisory team and is the operational brain behind flagship studies such as Vogue Business Index and the Vogue Business Beauty Index. Alongside working with luxury brands like Ferragamo and Shiseido, Amy also manages research for global tech companies including Amazon Ads, Google and Snapchat. Prior to Vogue Business, Amy managed research for the beauty sector at Euromonitor.

Carlotta Rossi Spencer serves as Head of Branded Entertainment Business Development for Banijay, overseeing the company’s newly unveiled division BBE (Banijay Branded Entertainment). Housed centrally within Banijay, BBE leverages the group’s expansive global production expertise to deliver against brand briefs both at a local and global level, and Carlotta is charged with overseeing the delivery and fulfillment of new partnerships in this space to drive maximum value for the business worldwide. Previously, Carlotta served as Head of Format Acquisitions for the company, and has held several roles in research and development having begun her career in journalism and communications. 

Tom Barker is a writer reporting on all things style and shopping-related. He works closely with the activations team to bring to life the many campaigns that Highsnobiety launches, such as the City Series (which might be coming to a city near you, very soon). He previously studied at London College of Fashion and worked in London, reporting for a mix of magazines, before moving to Berlin where he currently resides. He is the only known member of Berlin’s Ipswich Town fan club and a proud follower of East Anglia's biggest team. His other interests include early-2000s British indie music, buying new running gear in the hope of finally doing a half marathon, and hot sauce.

Michael Jaïs has been the CEO and Co-Founder of Launchmetrics since its establishment in 2016 following the merger of Augure (which he co-founded in 2002) and Fashion GPS. Throughout his career, he has held several management positions at leading firms such as Thomson Multimedia and Accenture, as well as other founder roles with companies including ETL leader, Leonard's Logic, which was successfully sold to a subsidiary of OpenText. He holds a Master's degree from Sciences Po Paris in Economics and Finance, where he now serves as a part-time adjunct Marketing professor for their Master's program. 

Alison is the Chief Marketing Officer at Launchmetrics. She joined Fashion GPS in 2013 as the Global Director of Brand Development. Previously she held roles at companies such as IMG Fashion and Net-A-PORTER managing Marketing & PR. She has also spent time guest lecturing at Parsons, The New School, Condé Nast College and Il Sole 24Ore's Business School. Alison holds a Bachelor's degree in Advertising & Communications from the University of Central Florida and a Masters from SDA Bocconi's School of Management.

Tatiana, Launchmetrics' Chief Customer Officer, joined the company in 2011 as Client Relations Manager handling customer success in the US before going on to manage the team as Director of Client Relations. Additionally, she has served as the company's Chief Experience Officer where she founded the Launchmetrics Academy to provide training and development to all employees. Tatiana holds a degree in Marketing and Information Systems from Loyola University, Maryland.

Katherine Knight, joined Launchmetrics in 2018 as the Corporate Communications Director and today is the AVP, Brand & Communications.  Previously, she held Marketing & PR roles at La Perla, Céline and Louis Vuitton. Katherine holds a Master's degree in Marketing from ESSCA - Angers.

Briony Sturgis, joined Launchmetrics in 2021 and today is the Brand Partnerships Manager, part of the Brand & Communications marketing team.  Previously, she held Marketing & PR roles at ModusBPCM. Briony holds a Scottish MA degree in English Literature from St Andrews.