Carol Schuster
Regional Chair

Biography

Carol is a global business leader with 15+ years of experience with Fortune 500 companies, focusing on building brands, entering new markets, and leveraging new channels as part of a global growth strategy. She has held senior CMO/EVP/SVP client and agency leadership roles in major corporations as well as start-ups across the globe. She drove digital transformation by creating seamless experiences for the travel and fashion retail industries. Her category experience spans luxury apparel, travel & hospitality, shipping & logistics, and a wide range of CPG, B2B, and B2C brands.

Carol recently served as SVP Marketing, Public Relations, and Business Information Officer at Lafayette 148, a leading luxury women’s fashion retailer. Joining 2012 to launch the company’s first retail boutiques in China, she ultimately led global marketing and technology. Prior to joining Lafayette 148, Carol held the role of Worldwide SVP/CMO Marketing for Royal Caribbean International, where she launched the Quantum of the Seas, the first “Smart Ship” in the vacation industry.

Carol started her career in advertising at J. Walter Thompson in Germany, helping American brands enter the European market. After the Berlin Wall came down, she established the Central & Eastern European global network for the D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles Advertising Agency. In 1996, she returned to New York as EVP Managing Director to lead its flagship office and the global Procter & Gamble business. In 2002, she joined Ogilvy & Mather as Senior Partner/Global Managing Director, leading global client businesses including DHL Shipping & Logistics, Kraft Foods, and BlackRock.

An explorer at heart, Carol received her MBA in Global Management from Thunderbird Graduate School of Global Business and studied in Beijing as a graduate student. She attended the University of Illinois, where she received a Liberal Arts degree in Germanic Language & Literature with a minor in Chinese and Economics. Carol is a David Rockefeller Fellow for the NYC Partnership, an International Advertising Association Global Board Member and North American Regional Chair, as well as an Adjunct Professor at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business. She is multilingual with work and life experience in the US, Europe, and Asia, including China.