Castanea Partners announced today that Jill Beraud has joined IPPOLITA, its portfolio investment in luxury fine jewelry and accessories, as Chief Executive Officer.
“Jill is an experienced and highly successful operator and brand builder and brings to the company a wealth of strategic and organizational leadership capabilities,” said Brian Knez, Managing Partner of Castanea. “We are thrilled to have Jill’s creative perspective at IPPOLITA and look forward to working closely with her to support the company’s continued development.”
Prior to joining IPPOLITA, Jill was Executive Vice President of Global Retail and Strategic Store Development and Design at Tiffany & Co, a global luxury jeweler and specialty retailer. At Tiffany, she was responsible for all operations, including global retail, omni-channel consumer experience, and global real estate and store design. Prior to that, Jill was CEO at Living Proof, the prestige hair and skin products brand, where she built a strong team and successfully accelerated the company’s growth. Additionally, she has held senior management positions and marketing roles at PepsiCo, Inc. and at Victoria’s Secret.
“I am thrilled to be joining IPPOLITA, an innovative brand that has achieved remarkable success in the fine jewelry market,” said Jill Beraud. “I’m looking forward to building on IPPOLITA’s unique design aesthetic and brand story to accelerate growth globally and ensure it reaches its full potential.”
About IPPOLITA
IPPOLITA was founded in 1999 by Italian artist and designer Ippolita Rostagno and Lauren Sharfman to address a void in the fine jewelry market. At the time, jewelry was primarily traditional and worn only on special occasions. Since then, IPPOLITA has pioneered the concept of cool fine jewelry designed to be worn every day and for all occasions.
About Castanea
Castanea is a private equity firm that works in partnership with founders and management teams of innovative passion brands to grow their businesses through a combination of capital investment and operating expertise. We are focused on select consumer verticals including beauty, food and beverage, multi-unit services, and enthusiast lifestyle. We typically invest between $15 to $150 million of equity in minority or majority transactions. Our team of talented operating executives offers critical expertise in key verticals and functional areas, and provides our partner companies with strategic and tactical support. Castanea has more than $1 billion in assets under management and is currently investing from a $735 million fourth fund. For more information about Castanea Partners read our story.