Board of Directors

Gary Friedman has served as our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, and Founder of the RH brand as we know it today, since January 2014. Previously, Mr. Friedman served as our Co-Chief Executive Officer and Director from July 2013 to January 2014, and as Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer from May 2010 to October 2012. From October 2012 to July 2013, Mr. Friedman served as Chairman Emeritus, Creator and Curator on an advisory basis, and as Chief Executive Officer and a member of our Board of Directors from March 2001 to October 2012, during which time he served as our Chairman from March 2005 to June 2008. Mr. Friedman joined RH from Williams-Sonoma, Inc. where he spent 14 years serving as President and Chief Operating Officer from May 2000 to March 2001, as Chief Merchandising Officer of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. and President of Retail from 1995 to 2000, and as Executive Vice President of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. and President of the Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn brands from 1993 to 2000, during which time Mr. Friedman was responsible for transforming Pottery Barn from a $50 million dollar table top and accessories business into a billion dollar plus home furnishings lifestyle brand. Mr. Friedman also developed and rolled out the revolutionary Williams-Sonoma Grande Cuisine stores, growing the brand from less than $100 million to almost $1 billion. Lastly, while at Williams-Sonoma Mr. Friedman spent several years conceptualizing and developing the West Elm brand, which launched shortly after he left the company. Mr. Friedman joined Williams-Sonoma in 1988 as Senior Vice President of Stores and Operations. Mr. Friedman began his retail career in 1977 as a stock-boy at the Gap store in Santa Rosa, California. He spent eleven years with Gap, and held the positions of Store Manager, District Manager and Regional Manager overseeing 63 stores in Southern California. 

Carlos Alberini has served on our Board of Directors since June 2010. Mr. Alberini currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Guess?, Inc., a NYSE-listed specialty retailer of apparel and accessories, since February 2019. Mr. Alberini previously served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lucky Brand from February 2014 to February 2019. Mr. Alberini served as our Co-Chief Executive Officer from June 2010 through October 2012 and from July 2013 through January 2014, and he served as our sole Chief Executive Officer from October 2012 through July 2013. Mr. Alberini was President and Chief Operating Officer of Guess from December 2000 to June 2010. From May 2006 to July 2006, Mr. Alberini served as Interim Chief Financial Officer of Guess. Mr. Alberini served as a member of the Board of Directors of Guess from December 2000 to September 2011. Prior to Guess, Mr. Alberini served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Footstar, Inc., a retailer of footwear from October 1996 to December 2000. From May 1995 to October 1996, Mr. Alberini served as Vice President of Finance and Acting Chief Financial Officer of the Melville Corporation, a retail holding corporation. From 1987 to 1995, Mr. Alberini was with The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc., an operator of department stores, in various capacities, including Corporate Controller, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Prior to that, Mr. Alberini served in various positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

Mr. Alberini was selected to our Board of Directors because he possesses particular knowledge and experience in retail and merchandising, branded consumer goods, accounting, financing and capital finance, board practices of other large retail companies and leadership of complex organizations.

Keith Belling has served on our Board of Directors since April 2016, and previously served as an advisor to the Board of Directors from May 2015 to April 2016. Mr. Belling is the founder and former Chief Executive Officer of RightRice, a next generation rice brand that launched in February 2019, in Whole Foods Markets nationwide and on Amazon. Mr. Belling is also the co-founder and former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of popchips, inc. (“popchips”) a leading better-for-you snack food business that launched in 2007. He previously served as popchips’ Chief Executive Officer from 2007 through 2012, leading the company to sales and distribution at over 30,000 retail stores across North America and the United Kingdom and served as the Chairman of the Board from 2007 through 2019. Mr. Belling has served as an advisor to several innovative consumer, real estate and technology companies, including Modern Meadow Inc., Olly Nutrition, and LBA Realty LLC. Mr. Belling also has founded other businesses, including e-commerce company AllBusiness.com, a leading small business portal, founded in 1998, where Mr. Belling formerly served as Chief Executive Officer and which was acquired by NBCi. Mr. Belling was a real estate attorney with Morrison & Foerster LLP, where he represented a diverse clientele including developers and real estate investors.

Mr. Belling was selected to our board because of his experience as a founder, leader, and entrepreneur of several innovative consumer companies, as well as his background and experience in the real estate sector.

Eri Chaya has served on our Board of Directors since 2012, and has served as our President, Chief Creative and Merchandising Officer since November 2017. Ms. Chaya leads product curation and integration, brand creative and business development for RH Interiors, Contemporary, Modern, Beach House, Ski House, Outdoor, Baby & Child and TEEN, across the Company’s physical, digital and print channels of distribution. Ms. Chaya previously served as RH’s Co-President, Chief Creative and Merchandising Officer and Director from May 2016 to November 2017, Chief Creative Officer from April 2008 to May 2016 and Vice President of Creative from July 2006 to April 2008. Prior to RH, Ms. Chaya was a creative director at Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, an international advertising agency, and a creative director at Banana Republic.

Mark Demilio has served as a member of our Board of Directors since September 2009 and currently serves as the board’s Lead Independent Director. Mr. Demilio currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the audit committee of SCP Health, a privately-held provider of emergency medicine and hospitalist services through physician staffing and management since September 2015. Since January 2021, Mr. Demilio has been serving as a consultant to Spinnaker Medical, a privately held special purpose acquisition company. Mr. Demilio served as a member of the Board of Directors of Cosi, Inc., a national restaurant chain, from April 2004 to May 2017, served on its audit committee, its compensation committee and its nominating and corporate governance committee, and served for a time as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cosi and as the interim Chief Executive Officer of Cosi. From June 2018 through December 2020, Mr. Demilio was a member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the audit committee of Nurse Assist, a medical device manufacturer and distributer. From February 2014 through March 2016, Mr. Demilio served as a member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the audit committee of The Paslin Company, a private company that designs, assembles and integrates robotic assembly lines for the automotive industry.

From December 2000 until his retirement in October 2008, Mr. Demilio served as the Chief Financial Officer of Magellan Health Services, Inc., a Nasdaq-listed managed specialty healthcare company that managed the delivery of behavioral healthcare treatment services, specialty pharmaceuticals and radiology services. Mr. Demilio has also been the General Counsel for Magellan Health Services, the Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel of Youth Services International, Inc., an attorney specializing in corporate and securities law with the law firms of Miles & Stockbridge and Piper & Marbury, a financial analyst for CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield of Maryland and a certified public accountant with Arthur Andersen LLP.

Mr. Demilio was selected to our Board of Directors because he possesses particular knowledge and experience in accounting, finance and capital structure, strategic planning and leadership of complex organizations and board practices of other major corporations.

Hilary Krane has served on our Board of Directors since her appointment in June 2016. Ms. Krane is currently the Chief Legal Officer for Creative Artists Agency. Up until February 2022, Ms. Krane served in various executive roles at Nike since 2010, including most recently as Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel for NIKE, Inc. Prior to joining NIKE, Inc., Ms. Krane was General Counsel and Senior Vice President for Corporate Affairs at Levi Strauss & Co. from 2006 to 2010. From 1996 to 2006, she was a partner and assistant general counsel at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Ms. Krane has been a director at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Portland Branch since January 2018. Ms. Krane holds a Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University and a J.D. from the University of Chicago.

Ms. Krane was selected to our Board of Directors because of her extensive operational, compliance and business experience contributing to the growth and development of innovative and iconic global brands.

Katie Mitic is currently Co-Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of SomethingElse, Inc., a direct-to-consumer beverage company that launched in 2019. From 2012 to 2017, Ms. Mitic was the Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Sitch, Inc., a startup building innovative mobile consumer products.

Prior to Sitch, Ms. Mitic served in executive leadership positions at innovative growth companies, including Facebook, Inc. and Palm, Inc. As Director of Platform & Mobile Marketing at Facebook, she grew developer products and partnerships globally. As Senior Vice President, Product Marketing at Palm, she expanded the company’s product lines and international footprint up until its acquisition by Hewlett-Packard. Earlier in her career, Ms. Mitic worked at NetDynamics (acquired by Sun Microsystems), where she launched the industry’s first application server, at Four11, where she built the industry-leading email service RocketMail (now Yahoo! Mail) and at Yahoo!, where she served as Vice President and General Manager. She currently serves on the Board of Directors and audit committee of TCV Acquisition Corp., a publicly held special purpose acquisition company. Additionally, she serves as a board member on private and non-profit boards, including DVx Ventures and LeanIn.Org.

Ms. Mitic received her B.A. from Stanford University and her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Ms. Mitic was selected to our Board of Directors because of her extensive leadership, operational and entrepreneurial experience with innovative growth companies and global consumer technology companies.

Ali Rowghani was appointed to our Board of Directors on January 22, 2015. Mr. Rowghani has served in executive leadership positions at innovative growth companies, including Twitter, Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios, Inc. At Twitter, Mr. Rowghani was hired as the Company’s first Chief Financial Officer in March 2010, and later served as Chief Operating Officer, with responsibility for business development, platform, media, product, and business analytics, from December 2012 to June 2014. Most recently, Mr. Rowghani was the Managing Director of the YCombinator Continuity Fund, which invests in growth-stage startups and which Mr. Rowghani helped launch in 2015.

Prior to Twitter, from June 2002 to February 2010, Mr. Rowghani served in various leadership roles at Pixar, including Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning, reporting to Pixar founder and President, Ed Catmull. 

Mr. Rowghani holds a B.A. in International Relations and an M.B.A. from Stanford University. 

Mr. Rowghani was selected to our Board of Directors because he possesses extensive operational, financial and leadership experience, and because of his expertise in scaling innovative and high-growth companies.

Leonard Schlesinger was appointed to our Board of Directors in April 2014. Dr. Schlesinger has served as the Baker Foundation Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, a role he returned to in July 2013 after serving as the President of Babson College from July 2008 until July 2013 and having held various positions at public and private companies. He also serves as a Director and Chair of the Audit Committee of DataPoint Capital Acquisition Corporation. From 1999 to 2007, Dr. Schlesinger held various executive positions at Limited Brands, Inc. (L Brands, Inc.), a formerly listed NYSE company, including Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Operating Officer. While at Limited Brands, he was responsible for the operational and financial functions across the enterprise, including Express, Limited Stores, Victoria’s Secret Beauty, Bath and Body Works, C.O. Bigelow, Henri Bendel, and White Barn Candle Company. Dr. Schlesinger also served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Au Bon Pain Co., Inc. and as a director of numerous public and private retail, consumer products, and technology companies. Dr. Schlesinger has also held leadership roles at leading MBA and executive education programs and other academic institutions, including twenty years at Harvard Business School, where he served as the George Fisher Baker Jr. Professor of Business Administration. Dr. Schlesinger holds a Doctor of Business Administration from Harvard Business School, an MBA from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Arts in American Civilization from Brown University. 

Dr. Schlesinger was selected for our Board of Directors because he possesses extensive leadership, operational, financial, and business expertise from his significant and broad experience with numerous private and public retail companies.