Marriott, Walmart Executives Tapped to Speak at UVA Darden Leadership Speaker Series

06 February 2018

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business will welcome business leaders from the worlds of hospitality and e-commerce as part of the spring Leadership Speaker Series (LSS).

The series offers Darden students, faculty, staff and guests the opportunity to hear leadership journeys firsthand from prominent executives.

The spring 2018 Leadership Speaker Series includes:

  • 21 February: Leeny Oberg, executive vice president and CFO, Marriott; and a 1982 graduate of UVA’s McIntire School of Commerce
  • 27 March: Matt Kaness (MBA ’02), former president and CEO, ModCloth Inc.; currently executive-in-residence, vice president and officer at Walmart eCommerce

Oberg joined Marriott as part of its investor relations group in 1999 and held a number of roles with a global focus, including senior vice president; international project finance; and asset management for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She has served as CFO for Marriott’s Ritz-Carlton brand and was named Marriott’s CFO in 2016. Oberg holds an undergraduate degree from UVA’s McIntire School of Commerce and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Kaness joined the innovative women’s apparel company ModCloth as CEO in 2015 and helmed the company through a successful sale to Walmart. Previously, he served as chief strategy officer of Urban Outfitters, where he helped engineer significant revenue growth and oversaw a unique approach to an omni-channel customer experience. Prior to Urban Outfitters, Kaness served as a management consultant in the consumer and retail practice of PRTM. In addition to a Darden MBA, he holds an undergraduate engineering degree from Catholic University.

The LSS events are free and open to the public and will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Darden School in Charlottesville.

About the University of Virginia Darden School of Business

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business prepares responsible global leaders through unparalleled transformational learning experiences. Darden’s graduate degree programs (MBA, MSBA and Ph.D.) and Executive Education & Lifelong Learning programs offered by the Darden School Foundation set the stage for a lifetime of career advancement and impact. Darden’s top-ranked faculty, renowned for teaching excellence, inspires and shapes modern business leadership worldwide through research, thought leadership and business publishing. Darden has Grounds in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Washington, D.C., area and a global community that includes 18,000 alumni in 90 countries. Darden was established in 1955 at the University of Virginia, a top public university founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

 

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Molly Mitchell
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Darden School of Business
University of Virginia
MitchellM@darden.virginia.edu