hilary billings is a brand strategy consultant who specializes in creating lifestyle brands. she has developed new brands and brand extensions for large companies such as wal-mart, hallmark, and harrah’s casino hotels, as well as defining brand strategies for startup companies and micro enterprises such as world of good.
ms. billings co-founded red envelope and developed the w hotel brand for starwood hotels and resorts. she served in a variety of roles at pottery barn, including vice president of product development and design. ms. billings currently serves on the corporate boards of peet’s coffee & tea, design within reach, tea collection, and chef’s catalog. she holds a b.a. from brown university in art history and english.
llenay ferretti has nearly 20 years of experience in product design, planning, development, and production management. she has extensive knowledge of fair trade standards and certification. ms. ferretti was the executive director of ten thousand villages, the largest fair trade organization in north america. before this, she served as the ten thousand villages buyer for east and south africa, bangladesh and nepal, managing artisan relations and trade development with 45 producer groups.
prior to her work in third world economic development, ms. ferretti was the creative design director of chico’s fas, a national women’s apparel retailer. ms. ferretti held various positions at liz claiborne inc., including vice president of design. in this role she led product design and development and directed a design staff in all aspects of product development with a global factory base. llenay currently consults on projects for the u.s. african development foundation and usaid programs in africa, as well as other international trade development initiatives.
stephen pezzola practiced law for 15 years as general counsel for vyyo inc., zen research nv, and dsp communications, inc., among other positions. he later became executive vice president for corporate and strategic affairs at vyyo Inc., and executive vice chairman of the board for zen research nv.
mr. pezzola currently consults for start-ups and well-established firms in the areas of strategic planning, strategic relationships, business development, mergers and acquisitions, financing, and negotiations. he is the ceo of the consulting firm yorkshire ventures, llc. mr. pezzola also serves as chairman of the board of directors of wmode, inc., a private canadian corporation. in addition, he serves on the board of directors of primed management consulting services, inc., a private california health care corporation. mr. pezzola received a b.s. and a j.d. from the university of california at berkeley.
gordon sandison brings years of international experience to his role as advisor. for eight years mr. sandison was an executive at phillips petroleum company, based in the company’s london office. upon his return to the u.s., he worked on projects in asia, africa, and latin america. thereafter, mr. sandison became Vice president for emerging markets for phillips lng ltd., work that took him to south korea, china and india. most recently, he served as a consultant for far east energy, advising the company on market development. mr. sandison is a graduate of the u.s. naval academy and has advanced degrees in mechanical engineering and international relations