Jennifer Hyman is an American businesswoman who the co-founder and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

(CEO) of Rent the Runway, a company focused on the renting of high-end clothing and accessories.

Early life and education

Jennifer Hyman grew up in

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a Political subdivisions of New York State#City, city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtow ...

, and attended New Rochelle High School. She received her BA in social sciences from Harvard University in 2002. Hyman later attended

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

, where she met co-founder of Rent the Runway Jennifer Fleiss, and graduated with an MBA in 2009.

Career

In November 2008, Hyman first had the idea for Rent the Runway after witnessing her sister agonize over and drop thousands of dollars on a dress for a wedding, only to wear it once. Hyman co-founded Rent the Runway in 2009. A highlight in Hyman's career was taking the company public as the 30th women ever to take her company public in history, and being a part of the first company to go public with a female founder/CEO, COO, and CFO. Prior to the founding of Rent the Runway, Jennifer ran an online advertising sales team for weddingchannel.com and worked as an in-house entrepreneur for the Starwood Hotel where she was responsible for creating the hotel’s first wedding business. Following that, she served as the director of business development for IMG’s fashion division. Hyman participates in national conferences and panel discussions regarding topics covering the economy, women in business and company culture. Some of her past speaking engagements include NRF Foundation's "Retail’s Big Show" WWD's Digital Forum and the 99U Conference. Hyman has spoken out publicly against sexual harassment in the tech industry and went public with her own experience on

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

's '' Squawk Alley'' in July 2017. Hyman serves on the Board of Directors of the Estée Lauder Companies, and on the Women.nyc Advisory Board.

Personal life

Hyman met her husband, Benjamin Stauffer, a television and film editor, on the dating app Hinge. They were married in January 2018.

Awards and recognition

* ''Fortune'' magazine's

40 Under 40 ''Fortune'' magazine's 40 Under 40 is a list of individuals the publication considers to be the most influential young leaders for the year. The list has existed in two phases: From 1999 to 2003, the list was presented purely as a numeric rankin ...

in 2012 *

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

magazine's ''100 Most Influential People of 2019'' * People Magazine's ''2020 Women Changing the World''

References

External links

''Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss, Founders of Rent the Runway''
on

Maria Shriver Maria Owings Shriver ( ; born November 6, 1955) is an American journalist, author, a member of the prominent Shriver and Kennedy families, former First Lady of California, and the founder of the nonprofit organization The Women's Alzheimer's M ...

's website
''Mystery Guest: `Rent The Runway' CEO Jennifer Hyman''
on Bloomberg TV
How I Built This - Rent the Runway: Jenn Hyman
(NPR podcast) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hyman, Jennifer Businesspeople from New York City American businesspeople in fashion American women chief executives American technology chief executives Businesspeople from New Rochelle, New York Harvard Business School alumni People from Greenwich Village American women company founders American company founders Living people 21st-century American women 1980 births New Rochelle High School alumni Harvard College alumni