For the past 25 years, Megan Quinn has built a career specialising at the luxury end of retailing, advertising, publishing and design for the fashion, jewelry, hotel and airline industries. She has held a variety of leadership and senior executive as well as non-executive board roles, utilising her strong commercial capabilities and deep expertise in brand and service offer development.
Named as one of the top most powerful women in Australian retail in 2013 by Inside Retail, Megan is a truly engaging speaker whose global experience, intelligence, honesty, humility and quick humour serve to consistently inform, entertain and inspire her audiences.
Current work
In conjunction with her Board appointments and involvement in philanthropy, Megan runs Q&CO a boutique consultancy which focuses on how her clients can most effectively engage with their customers and clients through multi-channel and traditional service models. Alongside consulting, she also runs master classes and workshops.
Previous experience
Advertising: Her secondment to London in 1988 with the Mojo advertising agency marked the beginning of 18 years of involvement with prestigious clients and established her brand development and campaign design skills as well as a deep understanding and appreciation of the commercial requirements of her clients.
Executive: While in London, Megan held executive board roles with both Harrods and Net-A-Porter. Today she is a senior advisor across a range of industries and is a Non-Executive Director of Reece Group; InvoCare and City Chic Collective. She is also an Ambassador for Fitted For Work.
Achievements: One of Megan's notable achievements was her co-founding of the internationally acclaimed Net-A-Porter in 1999. Her role was to direct the brand development of the company which launched in June 2000. In her capacity as Creative Director, she designed the iconic packaging, directed the site design and editorial, and was a member of the buying team. In her role as HR Director, she hired, trained and managed all staff, with a particular emphasis on creating the unique levels of service for which Net-A-Porter is now internationally renowned. As a Board Director, she reported to the fellow directors of the company, and reviewed and discussed the strategic, marketing, operational and financial implications and consequences of the rapidly expanding global business.
Talking Points
The Entrepreneurial Mindset: Moving to the Beat of Your Own Drum
The Entrepreneurial Mindset: Moving to the Beat of Your Own Drum
The Vital Balance of Business: Between Commerciality & Creativity; Information & Intuition; Finance & Feelings; AI & EQ; Meta Data and Thick Data
The Vital Balance of Business: Between Commerciality & Creativity; Information & Intuition; Finance & Feelings; AI & EQ; Meta Data and Thick Data
How to Create a Global Brand with Local Resonance
How to Create a Global Brand with Local Resonance
How to Differentiate in Crowded Markets: Don't Be a Business Sheep
How to Differentiate in Crowded Markets: Don't Be a Business Sheep
The Power of Diversity: Beyond Gender, Race and Age
The Power of Diversity: Beyond Gender, Race and Age
How to Future Proof Your Business: Ambiguity is the New Black
How to Future Proof Your Business: Ambiguity is the New Black
The Yin and Yang of Data
The Yin and Yang of Data
The Power of Creativity to Create Business Advantage
The Power of Creativity to Create Business Advantage
A Life Lived With Passion
A Life Lived With Passion
Business Transformation
Business Transformation
The Vital Balance of Good Business
This past year has seen an accelerated critical inflection point for many businesses and industries. In order to survive, differentiate and resonate, leaders need to master the art of balancing business needs with the needs, desires and expectations of their customers and team members. The Vital Balance of Good Business
During such volatile and uncertain times, businesses tend to revert back to formulaic processes of cost cutting and efficiencies. Risk appetites retreat and are replaced with a determination to repeat the homogenous norms which provided previous success. But this inward and backward looking focus on finance negates the constantly evolving need states of our customers and staff who look for purpose, experience and a sense of being part of something worthwhile and trustworthy.
This speech opens the mind to the new business paradigm of duality, where as leaders we need to master the balance between commerce and empathy. That was certainly a focus when we launched Net-a-Porter, and it’s a consistent trait of companies which are thriving in this new world order. Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, calls it “the AND”. For competitive advantage and differentiation, we need to balance commerciality and imagination; information and intuition; finance and feelings; technology and creativity; consistency and adaptability; meta data and thick data; AI and EQ; efficiency and ethics; reputation and relevance, profit and purpose.
Takeaway: Competitive advantage by embracing cultural momentum.
Video
Megan Quinn | a Co-Founder Net-a-Porter | E-Commerce Interview
For the past 25 years, Megan Quinn has built a career specialising at the luxury end of retailing, advertising, publishing and design for the fashion, jewelry, hotel and airline industries. She has held a variety of leadership and senior executive as well as non-executive board roles, utilising her strong commercial capabilities and deep expertise in brand and service offer development.Megan Quinn at the Saxton Corporate Luncheon
For the past 25 years, Megan Quinn has built a career specialising at the luxury end of retailing, advertising, publishing and design for the fashion, jewelry, hotel and airline industries. She has held a variety of leadership and senior executive as well as non-executive board roles, utilising her strong commercial capabilities and deep expertise in brand and service offer development.Tracey Curro up close and personal with Nic Frances, Megan Quinn and Creel Price
For the past 25 years, Megan Quinn has built a career specialising at the luxury end of retailing, advertising, publishing and design for the fashion, jewelry, hotel and airline industries. She has held a variety of leadership and senior executive as well as non-executive board roles, utilising her strong commercial capabilities and deep expertise in brand and service offer development.Megan Quinn @SaxtonSpeakers Australia Speaks
Megan Quinn has built a 25-year career in luxury retailing, advertising, publishing and design for the fashion, jewellery, hotel and airline industries. She has held a variety of leadership and senior executive roles, as well as non-executive board roles, utilising her strong commercial capabilities and deep expertise in brand and service offer development.I wanted to thank you for agreeing to present at our Women's Network Conference. Your presentation was the highest rated presentation of the day. Most employees mentioned that they could rel ... keep reading Goldman Sachs & Partners Australia Pty Ltd
Megan was the epitome of professionalism from the minute she walked in the door, but more than that, she was completely approachable, warm and kind - just like the mantra she follows in her business practices. I felt that Megan truly valued the input from each of our team members throughout the whole event, and in particular for me from a media relations point of view, she was more than willing to take part in media interviews with a great willingness to talk on all things to do with her career journey and life. The audience were glowing with inspiration following her genuinely real and motivating presentation and each of our team felt personally touched by her presence. We thank Megan very much for her contribution to our event, for making our audience so inspired and for her personable approach throughout the whole day.
I just wanted to take the time to say a BIG thank you for your contribution yesterday in helping make our Choice Hotels FCM Business Forum Luncheon a great success. I personally spoke with all of the attendees at the completion of the event and everybody thoroughly enjoyed your presentation. Some of their comments were: 'She had me captivated for the whole presentation'; 'I could've listened to Megan talk for hours and I'm sure she could talk for hours'; 'What a story and what an amazing lady'; 'Her story was like reading a good book'; 'I can't believe I had the chance to listen to Megan's story especially the part re the start-up of Net-A-Porter... as myself and my business partner were just in NYC just two weeks ago sitting in the Net-A-Porter New York offices discussing the possibilities for our brand'. I could go on but the above is a great indication of how well received Megam was... thank you!
A huge thank you to Megan for making the journey to Sydney to present to our Chapter. Megan's presentation was humble, inspirational and delivered with big dollops of humour and passion. It was an exemplary effort and very much appreciated!
Speaker rating: Excellent - Megan Quinn presented a very professional and engaging talk on governance, with specific emphasis on Diversity (of skills, age, education and gender), Leadership (the challenges of strong leadership in tough times) and Generational Change (knowing when to hand over the reins as well as the concept of fixed terms of service on boards). Her presentation hit the mark on all counts, utilising her national and international experience in both management and governance.
