From WWD Issue 03/31/2011
Apparently, sitting on the sidelines doesn’t sit well with Burt Tansky.
After just five months of retirement in Florida and some adult education courses, Tansky, the former chairman and chief executive officer of the Neiman Marcus Group, has become a senior advisor at Marvin Traub Associates, a new position at the global consulting firm. Tansky will work with MTA’s ceo Marvin Traub and president Morton Singer.
“I will be participating in helping their clients and finding new clients,” Tansky told WWD. He said he’ll work on a project-to-project basis, while Traub said Tansky will work part-time though the situation could evolve. “I have known, liked and admired Burt for over 30 years,” said Traub, the former Bloomingdale’s chairman and ceo. “He is an outstanding merchant who has an exceptional record of building luxury retailing at Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus, while gaining the respect of luxury brands worldwide. Burt adds a unique retailing and merchandising background to Marvin Traub Associates.”
The job will blend Tansky’s love of traveling with his expertise in the luxury arena, including designers, brands and retailers. Tansky will advise “a targeted number of global companies on their strategy and business development needs,” Traub said. He officially starts his new gig Friday, becoming the only executive on the team with the title senior advisor.
Tansky is expected to travel with Traub to Milan in June, where there will be an event honoring WWD on its 100th birthday, and opportunities to meet with brands, some of which Tansky could help launch in the U.S.
Tansky and Traub are both considered retail industry giants; Tansky for his long successful career in luxury retailing and Traub for elevating Bloomingdale’s into an innovative, contemporary department store, and carving out a second career as an international consultant and deal-maker. They have never worked together before. Tansky continues as non-executive chairman of Neiman Marcus Group, and lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where he is renovating his apartment.
MTA, founded by Traub in 1992, has 25 clients in 11 countries and specializes in business development and strategy focused on fashion brands, retailers, real estate development and financial services in the upscale retail and consumer goods sector.
