Bonnie Brooks was appointed Vice Chairman of Hudson’s Bay Company, February 2, 2014. Hudson’s Bay Company is the world’s oldest continuously operating company which owns and operates Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord and Taylor in the USA, and Hudson’s Bay department stores in Canada.
Prior to her current role, Ms. Brooks was President of Hudson’s Bay Company since 2012 (heading up Hudson’s Bay and Lord and Taylor USA) and from 2008 to 2012, was CEO and President of Hudson’s Bay (90 Full-line Department Stores.) where she led the company’s recent, successful, turnaround.
Ms. Brooks has spent her career building and repositioning fashion and luxury retail businesses across the world. Prior to joining HBC in 2008, she spearheaded the revitalization of another iconic retailer, Asia’s Lane Crawford.
As President of Lane Crawford Joyce Group, Ms. Brooks brought many of the world’s leading brands to Greater China and Southeast Asia. She was responsible for all divisions of the company, including Lane Crawford, Joyce Boutiques, Pedder Group, and founded the LCJG Distribution Company, opening hundreds of stores in nine Asian countries. Ms. Brooks was based in Hong Kong from 1997 – 2008.
Before her move to Lane Crawford Joyce Group, Ms. Brooks served as Executive Vice President, of all Merchandising and Marketing for Holt Renfrew, the leading specialty department store, where she brought most of the major American and European designer brands to Canada. Previously, she also served for three years as Editor-in-Chief of Flare, Canada’s largest fashion and lifestyle magazine.
Ms. Brooks holds an MBA from the University of Western Ontario. She was named one of the Top 25 Retailers Worldwide by Monocle Magazine; and was recognized by Fast Company Magazine USA, as one of the world’s “100 Most Creative People in Business.” She is well-known in the fashion industry for her achievements in the past three decades.
In October of this year, Bonnie will be the first woman to receive the Business Leader of the Year in Canada from the Ivey School of Business – previous awardees have included Canada’s elite business leaders.
Bonnie was the Parsons School of Design Honoree in 2013, and also that year received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, awarded personally by Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper for philanthropy. She was inducted into the American Marketing Association Marketing Hall of Legends in January 2014.
She was appointed recently to the role of Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Ontario Museum, by the Premier of Ontario. She is a member of the Board of Directors for Empire Company Limited, a Director of Abercrombie and Fitch in the USA, and is a member of the Board of Trustees for RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust.
Since joining the Hudson’s Bay Company, Ms. Brooks has collectively raised more than $22 million for charitable organizations, including the Canadian Olympic Foundation, and the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Ms. Brooks currently divides her work between Canada and the USA.