ABOUT UCHE PÉZARD
Uche Pézard, CEO of Luxe Corp Group and Chairwoman of Luxury Connect Africa is one of the world’s pioneer leaders of the business of luxury and part of only a small circle of luxury business experts who have shaped the landscape of the modern luxury industry in the last two decades. A veteran Luxury Business Strategist, Consultant, Advisor, Investor & Author, her impressive twenty-year career track-record features a roll call of some of the most profitable global brands in the world, for whom she has consulted and advised on landmark multi-billion-dollar projects in over 60 countries on 6 continents.
In following with her remarkable career in the international luxury industry, she became the first female of African descent to head a French luxury company in 2015 when she was named the CEO of Luxe Corp, the pioneer global luxury business strategy consulting & advisory company with a footprint in over 70 countries, which she co-founded. She subsequently engineered the company’s restructuring and consolidation in all key luxury markets in Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East.
With an insightful vision of the luxury business, a strong leadership aptitude, a rare creative talent, and a laudable capacity to pull luxury brands together, she has collaborated closely with the world’s most renowned luxury companies as well as emerging luxury brands including Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermès, Gucci, Cartier, Dior, Giorgio Armani, Valentino, Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron, Piaget, Chopard, Moët & Chandon, Perrier Jouët, Couronne, Vivienne Tam, Woo, and several others. Her expertise in taking luxury brands to elevated growth through strategic creative business solutions has led to the successful expansion, turnaround and launch of several companies. This rare combination of creative business aptitude has also made her a highly sought-after strategic advisor to financial & investment institutions with interests in the business of luxury.
Uche’s vision for the modern consolidation of the luxury business through innovative leadership led her to create Club e-Luxe in 2007, the industry’s first digital luxury platform that defined the digital direction of the luxury industry in the industry’s first digital decade. The executive club congregated over two thousand luxury executives annually in Paris for nearly a decade, establishing the platform as the destination for digital luxury strategy and the access point for tech solutions made for luxury.
She is the author of two bestselling books, Luxury Fashion Banding (2007), the first book to address the business of luxury from a strategic perspective, which has been described as an “indispensable resource for anyone involved in the luxury business”; and, Luxury Online (2010 & 2011), the first book analyzing digital media and tech innovation in luxury, described as “what the luxury industry has been awaiting for over a decade.” She has also acted as a Guest Editor and Contributor of the Journal of Brand Management and Harvard Business Review; and is regularly featured in global media including The New York Times, The Economist, Bloomberg, Forbes, Financial Times, BBC, France 24, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Elle, Madame Figaro and others.
A highly sought-after engaging speaker, Uche Pézard has addressed audiences of thousands of business leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, diplomats, and scholars through memorable keynotes at more than 100 professional gatherings including the Condé Nast Luxury Conference hosted by the legendary Suzy Menkes, the New York Times Luxury Conference, American Express Luxury Summit, Goldman Sachs Luxury Forum, China Luxury Summit etc, as well as seminars at prominent institutions including Harvard Business School, ESSEC Paris, London Business School, IE Madrid, MIT Boston and several others.
A visionary leader, her expertise in merging the worlds of business, creativity, culture and innovation; and her passion for Africa led her to create Luxury Connect Africa in 2017 as the pioneer business resource and investment platform dedicated to reviving and accelerating luxury’s growth in Africa through both transforming African luxury heritage brands into successful businesses and facilitating the expansion of international luxury companies to the African continent.
A polyglot fluent in four languages, she sits on the boards of several companies and institutions; and has been an Honorary Fellow of the American Luxury Marketing Council since 2009. In addition to the business of luxury she is passionate about contemporary art & design, tech innovation and social equity. She is also an amateur chef, painter, and aviation enthusiast.