Former President & CEO Of Macy's California And Partner At U.S. Venture Partners Phil Schlein Joins Mavatar As Chairman Of The Board
Sep 04, 2013, 02:04 ET
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Mavatar Technologies, Inc. is proud to announce Phil Schlein, former president and CEO of Macy's California and Partner at U.S. Venture Partners (USVP) has joined its Board of Directors as the Chairman. For the 11 years under Schlein's leadership, Macy's California sales grew from just under $200 million to almost $1.2 billion; profits grew from $17 million to $108 million. Since joining USVP in 1985, he has originated a number of investments in the consumer/retail sector including Ross Stores, Callaway Golf, PETsMart, Fresh Choice and The House of Blues. Mavatar is a free iPad app and web browser add-on, allowing consumers to comparison shop across multiple top retailers with one cart, while also automatically searching for the best available coupons and promo codes and applying them at checkout, ensuring shoppers get the best price possible.
The company recently received one million dollars in seed funding from Super Angels and won Audience Choice at Tech Cocktail SF 2013 after a successful launch at Tech Crunch's Startup Alley, part of Disrupt NY 2013 and #SFBeta in San Francisco, impressing attendees, media and industry leaders with their innovative shopping application. Mavatar was selected by PC Magazine as #2 of 10 Tech Innovations That Will Change How You Shop and recently launched a Chrome Extension and can be found in the Chrome Store.
Mavatar fits perfectly into the type of start-ups and entrepreneurial ventures that Schlein likes to get involved with. He believes Mavatar fills the gap between the modern shopper and the traditional retail industry in a non-intrusive way to top retailers' brand, business models and customers relations. "Smart/comparison shopping exists because the Internet enables it and Mavatar, unlike other players, found a way to turn this problem into an opportunity for the top retailers," said Phil Schlein, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mavatar and former president and CEO of Macy's California. "The ability to offer valid promo codes right before the transaction greatly facilitates the shopping decision making process which not only enhances the shopper's experience but also decreases the shopping cart abandonment rate; a problem that is getting out of hand with the outburst of recommendation engines and target marketing."
Schlein adds, "Mavatar is also pioneering an alternative shopping experience that can only be delineated with online shopping. The new normal customer service for today's savvy shoppers is expecting personal deals, free shipping, easy returns, etc. Mavatar is not only democratizing online shopping but also captures and showcases the values that a top retailer provides to its consumers in a well thought-out product with a genius design."
In recent years, Schlein has been active in the consumer products areas, serves on the Boards of Directors of VisaNow, Tea Collections and other privately held companies. He was an advisor to the late Steve Jobs and served as a Director of Apple Inc. (also known as Apple Computer, Inc.) from 1979 to 1987. Schlein holds a B.S. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
"Phil has been engaged with Mavatar from the inception as a great sounding board, offering advice and insight into this industry," said Susan Akbarpour, co-founder and president of Mavatar. "When I was reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, I pictured Phil as the true supporter of Steve that he was and the type of Chairman that any entrepreneur must have on their board -- A sound voice of reason and tough love, someone who often saves entrepreneurs form themselves! Brom and I truly appreciate this opportunity and will do our best to embrace his solid presence on the board and for helping to move the company to the next level."
"We are thrilled and honored to have someone of Phil's professional and industry pedigree join our Board," said Brom Mahbod, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Mavatar. "His illustrious financial and retail career is unparalleled as he provides us invaluable advice and guidance while Mavatar continues to grow as a promising company."
Mavatar supports popular stores Macy's, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Banana Republic, Gap, Sephora and Old Navy, as well as other top retailers such as Bloomingdale's, Levi's, Athleta, Bergdorf Goodman, Quicksilver, Horchow, Last Call, and Piperlime. The company is adding more stores at a rapid rate and soon plans to have hundreds of them supported through its platform.
Mavatar Technologies received their $1 million in investment capital from former Facebook CPO, Chris Kelly, scientist and award-winning retired Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer, Jeffery Moore, CEO of Triton Systems, Ross Haghighat, and Medical Director of Pain Specialists of Orange County, Dr. Afshin Grayeli and his wife Anousheh.
Mavatar's advisory board members include Jerry Socol (former CEO, Filene's), Jeffrey Moore (Scientist, retired senior lecturer, Stanford Graduate School of Business), Paul Deneve (Apple Vice President; reporting to Tim Cook, former CEO, Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin & Nina Ricci), Chris Kelly (former Chief Privacy Offer, Facebook), Ross Haghighat (Entrepreneur/VC, Triton System, Chairman/CEO), and Mitch Stein (User Experience Scientist in Apple, IBM Research, Oracle).
About Mavatar Technologies
Mavatar Technologies, Inc. is a privately held company that offers a smarter online shopping solution by combining patent-pending technology with a superior user experience. The company's core technology consists of a universal shopping platform that allows users to comparison shop across multiple retailers at the same time while applying all promotions available to purchases automatically. For the consumer, Mavatar delivers a simplified and personalized shopping experience with the best pricing. For the merchant, Mavatar helps to reduce cart abandonment while strengthening brand identity and marketing efforts. The company was founded in 2011 and is located in Silicon Valley. For more information, please go to www.mavatar.com or visit Mavatar on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
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