Andrea Jung (鍾彬嫻,

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...

: Zhōng Bīnxián,

jyutping Jyutping is a romanisation system for Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK), an academic group, in 1993. Its formal name is the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong Cantonese Romanization Scheme. The LSHK advocates fo ...

: zung1 ban1 haa4) (born 1958) is a Canadian-American executive, non-profit leader, and prominent women's-issues supporter based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In April 2014, she became president and CEO of Grameen America, a

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

microfinance Microfinance is a category of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; savings ...

organization founded by

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolo ...

winner,

Muhammad Yunus Muhammad Yunus (born 28 June 1940) is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker, economist and civil society leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance ...

. From 1999 until 2012, she served as the first female CEO and chairman of

Avon Products Avon Products, Inc. or simply known as Avon, is an American-British multinational cosmetics, skin care, fragrance and personal care company, based in London. It sells directly to the public. Avon had annual sales of $9.1 billion worldwide in 20 ...

, Inc., a

multi-level marketing Multi-level marketing (MLM), also called network marketing or pyramid selling, is a controversial marketing strategy for the sale of products or services in which the revenue of the MLM company is derived from a non-salaried workforce selling th ...

company. Jung was also the first woman to serve as Chairman of the Cosmetic, Toiletry & Fragrance Association, and Chairman of the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations. Jung received the 2010 Clinton Global Citizen Award for her leadership of the

Avon Foundation Avon Products, Inc. or simply known as Avon, is an American-British multinational cosmetics, skin care, fragrance and personal care company, based in London. It sells directly to the public. Avon had annual sales of $9.1 billion worldwide in 2 ...

for Women and other public-private partnerships to end violence against women and to stem the breast cancer epidemic. Under her leadership, the Avon Foundation for Women raised and awarded nearly US$1 billion to support health and empowerment causes, becoming the largest women-focused corporate

philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

around the world. After resigning her CEO role at Avon, Jung continued as chair of Avon's board of directors through the end of 2012 and then as a senior advisor to Avon's board through April 2014.

Early life

Jung was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Ontario in 1958 and raised in

Wellesley, Massachusetts Wellesley () is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Wellesley is part of Greater Boston. The population was 29,550 at the time of the 2020 census. Wellesley College, Babson College, and a campus of Massachusetts Bay Communit ...

. As a child, she studied the piano and took lessons in Mandarin on Saturday mornings. Her mother is a Shanghai-born amateur pianist. Jung's father is a Hong Kong-born retired architect, formerly a partner at

TRO Jung Brannen TRO is a healthcare design firm headquartered in Boston, MA. The firm has a multidisciplinary service offering of architecture, engineering and interior design. TRO celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2009. In January 2018, TRO was acquired by Smi ...

, who also taught at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of th ...

. Jung graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. in English from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

in 1979 after completing a senior thesis titled "The Fiction of

Katherine Mansfield Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a New Zealand writer, essayist and journalist, widely considered one of the most influential and important authors of the modernist movement. Her works are celebra ...

: Reconciliation of Duality." She is fluent in Mandarin. Her brother,

Mark Jung Mark A. Jung was the founder and former CEO of IGN Entertainment and the networks of Snowball.com, running the company from January 1999 to November 2006. Previously, he was CEO of Worldtalk Corporation and also served as VP and General Manager at ...

, also graduated from Princeton University and went on to become co-founder and CEO of IGN which he continued to run after its acquisition by NewsCorp.

Career

Jung was executive vice president of

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. is an American integrated luxury retailer headquartered in Dallas, Texas, which owns Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Horchow, and Last Call. Since September 2021, NMG has been owned by a group of investment compani ...

, responsible for all of women's apparel, accessories, and cosmetics. Before that, she was senior vice president, general merchandising manager, for

I. Magnin I. Magnin & Company was a San Francisco, California-based high fashion and specialty goods luxury department store. Over the course of its existence, it expanded across the West into Southern California and the adjoining states of Arizona, Oregon ...

. Jung joined Avon Products, Inc. in 1994 as the company's president in its product marketing group. She became president of global marketing in 1996 and executive vice president/president of global marketing and new business in 1997. Her responsibilities at that time centered primarily around market research, joint ventures and strategic planning. She then became president and chief operating officer, with responsibility for all business units of Avon worldwide. She has been on the company's board of directors since 1998. In November 1999, Jung was promoted to chairman of the board and chief executive officer. In December 2011, Avon announced that it had initiated a search for a new chief executive with Jung helping to choose her replacement and continuing as chairman of the board for the next two years. Avon faced several controversies at the time of her resignation. The company's stock had dropped 45 percent in 2011. Avon's third quarter earnings report stated that sales targets would be unattainable and disclosed that there were two ongoing SEC inquiries. Net income in the third quarter fell to $164.2 million, or 38 cents a share (below analysts' estimates of 46 cents a share), from $166.7 million, or 38 cents, a year earlier. The results marked the fourth time in five-quarters that profit trailed analysts' projections. There was also a three-year probe into an alleged bribery of foreign officials has already caused the dismissal of four Avon executives. Jung was named one of ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' magazine's 100 Most powerful women in 2004. In 2009, Forbes ranked her the 25th most powerful woman. In 2012, she was named in the list of the worst 5 CEOs of 2012 by

Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

. In 2014, Andrea Jung became president and chief executive officer of a non-profit organization, Grameen America. This organization, founded by

, a Bangladeshi economist, "provided assistance, often in the form of microloans, to women looking to start small businesses."

Boards

* Jung has been on the board of directors of

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...

since 1998. * Jung was on Apple's board of directors in 2008 and 2009, and rejoined the board in 2011, where she remains. * In 2013, Jung became co-founder and chair of the board for Venly, a Cambridge, Massachusetts distributed resource software and services firm that trains recent graduates and returning veterans to be community social media consultants for local businesses. * In February 2013, Jung was nominated as a member of the supervisory board of

Daimler AG The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufactu ...

, part of the company's plan to increase female representation. * In May 2018, Jung joined the board for

Wayfair Wayfair Inc. is an American e-commerce company based in Boston, Massachusetts that sells furniture and home goods online. Formerly known as CSN Stores, it was founded in 2002, and currently offers 14 million items from more than 11,000 global su ...

, an American e-commerce company that sells industrial cabinets, furniture and home-goods. * In February 2021, Jung joined the New Jersey Council on the Green Economy.

Personal life

Jung has been married twice. Jung's second ex-husband, Michael Gould, was the CEO of

Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain; it was founded in New York City by Joseph B. and Lyman G. Bloomingdale in 1861. A third brother, Emanuel Watson Bloomingdale, was also involved in the business. It became a di ...

, the first company she worked for after college. Jung has two children, an adopted son James "Jamie" Gould with her ex-husband Gould, and a daughter Lauren Christensen from her first marriage.

References

External links