Bag Borrow or Steal is led by a seasoned team who brings a wealth of knowledge from the realms of fashion, retail, subscription, and ecommerce.

Michael J. Smith
President and Chief Executive Officer
Michael has served as president or CEO at four consumer Internet sites, with a proven track record in online retail and direct marketing that spans 20 years. Previously he served as president and CEO of Classmates.com, a leader in online social networking and the fourth largest paid content site on the Internet. While president of Nordstrom.com, he orchestrated a turnaround that resulted in its first quarterly profit. In 1999 he founded LifeSketch.com, the first scrapbooking site. As president and CEO of Lands' End Inc., he launched LandsEnd.com and executed a company turnaround that led to record sales and profits. Michael holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Becky Gebhardt
Vice President of Creative and Online Experience
Becky brings over 15 years of creative leadership experience in multi-channel marketing for retail, direct, and online businesses to her role. She is responsible for driving the creative vision and online customer experience for Avelle: The new Bag Borrow or Steal. Previously, Becky spent over 15 years at Dodgeville, WI based Lands' End, Inc., where she served as Vice President of Creative for direct, online and retail which included Women's, Men's, Kids and Home Divisions. Becky has also held a number of senior creative positions for online, and business to business sales and marketing.

Dana Palzkill
Senior Vice President of Product Management
Dana brings more than 20 years of experience in the direct marketing and retail business to her role. She is responsible for overseeing the designer selection, product assortment, inventory management and clearance of all bags and accessories at Bag Borrow or Steal. Previously she spent five years at Nordstrom Direct, most recently serving as vice president of multi-channel integration and planning, where she focused on creating a seamless experience for the customer through improved systems and processes. Prior to that, she spent four years improving product forecasting and buying, as well as sales and profit, and served as vice president of inventory management. She also served as director of inventory management at Garnet Hill, an upscale home textiles and women's apparel retailer, improving customer fulfillment and inventory turnover. Dana started her retail career at Lands' End, spending more than 15 years in a variety of product manager and inventory management roles.

Norin Crawford
Vice President of Direct Marketing
Norin brings more than 15 years direct marketing and sales optimization experience to his role at Bag Borrow or Steal. Previously he was the Vice President of Memberships at Classmates.com with overall responsibility for the $75 million consumer subscription business. At Classmates, Norin's team designed and executed the customer contact strategy built to drive conversion, retention, customer content collection and product usage among the company's 2 million paying subscribers and 50 million registrants. Norin was also the architect of Classmates' email system that led the company to profitability and eventually delivered personalized content through more than 1 billion opt-in emails annually. Prior to Classmates, Norin worked at Network Commerce as Director of Site Operations and spent seven years as an Account Director at The Domain Group.

Dave Martine
Vice President of Operations and Business Development
Dave has nearly 15 years of operations, fulfillment and supply chain management experience. Prior to joining Bag Borrow or Steal, David was the Vice President of Sales at CarDomain.com where he managed Retail Sales, Advertising and Business Development. Previously Dave had his own Supply Chain Management Consultancy where he was responsible for redesigning and implementing the communications distribution network for New York City. Dave was also the Director of Operations at OnlineShoes.com where he managed the implementation of a state of the art fulfillment center, and previously he was a Customer Service Manager and the Director of Drop Ship Operations at Nordstrom.com. Earlier in his career, David worked in the office of Scheduling and Advance in the White House. Dave holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Washington.

Eric Helmer
Vice President of Business Intelligence
Eric brings 20 years of experience in Business Intelligence and Marketing to Bag Borrow or Steal. He is responsible for providing fact-based strategic business recommendations that optimize sales and profits. As Global Director of Direct Marketing at Getty Images, Eric built teams in both London and Seattle that delivered Marketing messages to customers across 82 countries in 10 languages. His team also supported the Regional Marketing offices in Sydney, Tokyo, Paris, Madrid and New York. Eric served in a wide variety of IT and Marketing roles across 14 years at Eddie Bauer's World Corporate HQ, culminating as Group Manager of Business and Customer Intelligence. Over the years he oversaw New Customer Acquisition, Customer Retention, Customer selections for Catalog, Retail and Internet marketing, Customer Research, and Customer Modeling.

Lloyd Lapidus
Co-Founder
For more than a decade, Lloyd has been instrumental in founding and leading several young companies. Prior to co-founding Bag Borrow or Steal, he was a principle in a direct response firm that specialized in online direct sales and marketing. Previous to that, he co-founded and ran a marketing firm that focused primarily on direct response television products and services. In late 1990's, he was one of the founders of the nation's first national prepaid wireless company. That company was subsequently sold to a public telecom company. He started his career in a family business, successfully pioneering new channels of sales and distribution for the company. Lloyd earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from American University in Washington, D.C.

Greg Pippo
Co-Founder
Greg is an attorney and entrepreneur with a solid background in finance. Prior to co-founding Bag Borrow or Steal, he served as an equity trader/manager at New York-based Schonfeld Securities, a national trading fund, and spent several years as a financial analyst/commodities options trader for ED & F Man, overseeing sugar, cotton and silver trading. For two years following law school, Greg practiced appellate defense law for Torto and Waterman, P.C. in New York. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Binghamton University, and his J.D. degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York.

As we continue to grow we also appreciate hearing how we might do things better to help meet and exceed our customer's expectations. Feel free to drop us a note anytime. Email Us.

For Media Inquires:
Contact RF|Binder, Joanna Aven at (781) 559-0426 or Joanna.aven@rfbinder.com.

Corporate Contact Information:
Bag Borrow or Steal™
1118 Post Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101
Toll Free 866.922.2267

For Handbag Returns:
Avelle
2200 Eagle Drive
Middleton, WI 53562

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