Senior Leadership

Ms. Berry was the Head of Corporate Finance North America at BNP Paribas for 20 years and previously the Founder of Vendôme & Company, a cross-border Mergers & Acquisitions boutique, which she had started in her mid-twenties and then sold to BNP in 1989. Ms. Berry has over 30 years of cross-border Mergers & Acquisitions experience, and has originated and executed domestic and cross-border buy-side and sell-side Mergers & Acquisition transactions with a primary focus on Luxury, Beauty / Personal Care and Premium Branded Consumer Products.

Ms. Berry has provided strategic Mergers & Acquisitions services to a variety of global corporations including: BIC, Birks, Carrera y Carrera, Coty, Estée Lauder, JAKKS Pacific, Kering, Kraft, Labelux, Lactalis, L’Oréal, Le Creuset, Markor Home Furnishings, Mattel, Natura, Newell Rubbermaid, Nu Skin Enterprises, Redcats, Swarovski, VF Corporation and Vivendi, among others.

Selected Transactions

Ms. Berry’s selected transactions include the following:

• Laboratoires Expanscience | Mustela acquisition of Babo Botanicals

• Dries Van Noten sale to Puig

• Birks Group sale of Mayor’s Jewelers to The Watches of Switzerland Group

• J. Mendel sale to Stallion | Dennis Basso

• Montres Corum sale to Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group

• Pernod Ricard sale of Wild Turkey to Gruppo Campari

• JAKKS Pacific acquisition of the Disguise dress-up business, a subsidiary of Cesar

• American Leather sale to Argosy Private Equity

• Joseph sale to Onward Kashiyama

• JAB Holdings (Labelux) acquisition of Bally

• Laboratoires Vendôme sale to Johnson & Johnson

• Pochet sale of the Lalique crystal and luxury goods business to Art & Fragrance

• Kraft Foods sale of Cadbury's Kandia Excelent chocolate to Oryxa Capital

• Vivendi Universal sale of the film, television and theme park businesses to General Electric Company’s subsidiary National Broadcasting Company

• François Pinault | Artemis sale of Prime Equipment to Investcorp

• BIC acquisition of the minority interest not already owned in BIC Corporation

Luxury Specialist

Ms. Berry has been invited to provide lectures on the global Luxury market at NYU’s MBA Program, and was a member of the Jury for the CFDA {Fashion Incubator} Award 2014-2016, alongside LVMH and Ralph Lauren. She is routinely featured for her unique insight and knowledge of the global luxury sector in WWD, Business of Fashion and French Business Television Network, BFM.

Active Participant in the French Community in New York

She serves as the President of the Board of the French-American Chamber of Commerce New York, as well as of its 20 Chapters across the U.S. Ms. Berry is also the founder of its Luxury Committee, which organizes regular, specialized and highly curated events for the Luxury industry.

Ms. Berry is a foreign trade advisor to the French government (Conseiller du Commerce Extérieur). She has received the French Government’s highest levels of distinguished recognition, including the French National Order of Merit, and the Knight of the Legion of Honor, personally presented by the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Ms. Berry was Chair of the Board of the Lycée Français de New York (‘‘LFNY’’) for ten years during which time she led an in-depth, multi-level transformation of this unique French - American school, now counting over 1,300 students. This undertaking includes the $125 million for-purpose new school, which was built to enable the six former campuses to be transferred to one single site. The new building was financed through an innovative structure led by triple tax exempt bonds, while major changes were also made in the school’s program, faculty, scholarship and fundraising areas. The LFNY has been recognized as one of the most successful French schools internationally, and its student body of over 50 nationalities has doubled in size under her leadership. Ms. Berry is Board Chair Emerita.

Ms. Berry is a founding member and former President of the New York Alumni Association for HEC Paris, as well as a former board member of Friends of HEC, responsible for the Business School’s U.S. Capital Campaign. In 2008, Ms. Berry was recognized as the Woman-of-the-Year by HEC Paris.

An International DNA

An American citizen born in New York, Ms. Berry was raised in Italy, and then France, where she spent 18 years. She received an MBA from HEC Paris and a Licence ès Economie (Bachelor of Science equivalent) from Paris X (Nanterre). Ms. Berry is fluent in French and English, with conversational knowledge of Italian, Spanish and German.