Jennifer Hyman
CEO, Co-Founder and Chair of the Board, Rent the Runway
Jennifer Hyman is one of the most accomplished startup leaders in the U.S., having raised over $525M from top venture capitalists and honored with recognitions like the TIME “100 Most Influential People in the World”, Forbes “12 Most Disruptive Names in Business”, Fortune’s “Most Powerful Female Entrepreneurs”, “Trailblazers”, “40 under 40” and Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business.”
Full Profile
Jennifer Hyman is an influential entrepreneur, tech innovator, and visionary speaker known for redefining the future of fashion and business leadership. As Co-Founder and CEO of Rent the Runway, she has pioneered sustainable disruption in the trillion-dollar fashion industry, building the world’s first and largest shared designer closet and helping millions of women access designer style in new ways.
Jennifer Hyman launched Rent the Runway in 2009 after identifying a key consumer pain point: limited access to designer fashion without the high cost or commitment. Her solution – a subscription rental model – democratized luxury and introduced a ‘Closet in the Cloud,’ the first scalable platform connecting hundreds of designer brands with millions of customers.
Her leadership saw Rent the Runway reach unicorn status and set historic milestones, including orchestrating the first-ever IPO led simultaneously by a female CEO, COO, and CFO. Jennifer’s fundraising expertise is evident, having raised more than $525 million from top venture capitalists, and her trailblazing career has earned accolades from TIME, Forbes, Fortune, and Fast Company as one of the most influential, disruptive, and creative leaders in business.
Jennifer continues to shape the business landscape as a Board Director for Estée Lauder Companies and Zalando, and as an adviser to Goldman Sachs and Women.nyc. She holds a BA and MBA from Harvard, living in Brooklyn with her husband and daughters.
Business Challenges Addressed
Jennifer Hyman is an authority on solving complex business challenges including:
-
Startup Resilience & Turnaround: At the height of Rent the Runway’s growth, Jennifer led the company through existential challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, transforming operations for a post-pandemic world through strategic, financial, and cultural innovations.
-
Customer-Centric Transformation: She demonstrates the power of extreme customer focus during recessionary times, driving loyalty through enhanced experiences and digital engagement, and turning support teams into proactive growth engines.
-
AI-Driven Competitive Advantage: Jennifer advocates for leveraging emerging technologies, such as AI, to optimize curation, logistics, and customer relations – deepening competitive moats and sustaining industry leadership.
-
Innovative Business Models: By challenging industry norms, she highlights the value of subscription, rental, and resale models for increased market accessibility, sustainability, and recurring revenue.
-
Work-Life Integration and Leadership: Jennifer navigates executive challenges with authenticity, promoting women’s advancement, work-life balance, and building resilient, inclusive cultures.
Awards & Recognition
Jennifer Hyman is celebrated as one of TIME’s “100 Most Influential People,” Forbes’ “Most Disruptive Names in Business,” Fortune’s “Most Powerful Female Entrepreneurs,” and Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business.” Her story and impact resonate with audiences seeking actionable insights and bold inspiration.
Book Jennifer Hyman to energize your business strategy, leadership culture, and innovation mindset. With proven expertise in digital disruption, sustainability, and customer experience transformation, she helps organizations thrive in competitive markets and uncertain times.
Talks
E-commerce is poised to benefit from the rapid rise of AI technologies by helping to narrow the “endless aisle” problem of shopping in the 21st century. By focusing on the unique customer data advantage and fashion curation capabilities of Rent the Runway, Jennifer Hyman is unlocking an even greater opportunity to leverage AI in her business. Hyman will discuss how businesses can effectively harness emerging technologies like AI to deepen the competitive moats of their business, enhance customer satisfaction, and ultimately improve business outcomes.
In February 2020, Rent the Runway had just come off their biggest sales year ever. Not only was it a $1 billion business—it was a valuation fewer than 20 women-owned companies in the U.S. have ever reached.
Suddenly COVID hit the U.S. and people sheltered at home. With no need to get dressed for work, special events, or anything for that matter, nearly 70% of RTR customers paused their subscriptions overnight.
From the stage, Jennifer shares the story of how she saved her company, positioning the business strategically, financially, and culturally for a post-COVID world. She went on to successfully take Rent the Runway public just a year later, in the first-ever IPO led by a female CEO, COO, and CFO.
Jennifer managed to keep her team together and united with deep resilience and passion for the business, fighting against macro factors outside of the their control. Her story is loaded with leadership lessons that can help any team overcome even the most difficult times.
The companies that win during difficult macroeconomic climates have an extreme focus on the customer experience. This speech will dig into how to create a customer experience mindset across every division of your company.
Every executive is faced with countless decisions to which there are no good answers and often the business lies in the balance. As a founder and CEO, Jennifer Hyman will share her insights and will review some of the biggest decisions she had to make as a leader, how she made them, and the lessons she learned in the process. Through anecdotes and clear cut takeaways, she gears this conversation towards anyone thinking deeply about how to be a better leader.
There is countless debate about work-life balance and whether it is possible as an executive. We’ve recently seen more women leave the workforce than at any point in recent memory. As a founder of a high-growth company, CEO of a public company, and Board member of three public companies, Jennifer Hyman will discuss how she managed to do this while also getting married, having two kids, raising a family, and building a community.