HSN consultant selected to head company's beauty business

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- HSN announced that Betsy Olum has been appointed general manager beauty and merchandising strategy. She will report directly to Lynne Ronon, HSN EVP merchandising.

In this newly created position, Olum will be responsible for developing and implementing innovative merchandising strategies designed to maximize HSN's beauty business. She will also work with HSN's senior merchandising team to identify strategies to position HSN for accelerated growth. In addition, she will be charged with analyzing assortments, evaluating brand productivity and identifying hsn.com merchandising opportunities across all of the company's divisions.

"We are thrilled to welcome to our team one of the beauty industry's best-known and most accomplished marketers," said Mindy Grossman, CEO of HSN. "Betsy's appointment underscores our commitment to expanding our beauty portfolio with unique brands and products as well as maximizing our assortments and products across all of our categories and driving their expansion."

Olum began consulting with HSN in January, overseeing the overall assessment of the company's beauty business. Previously, she spent ten years at Sephora as the SVP marketing, where she is credited with creating and launching the Sephora brand in the U.S. while developing, branding and launching some of the company's most successful brand partners. Prior to joining Sephora, Olum was general manager, North America at Escada Beaute, which she helped build in the U.S., initially as the VP global marketing and creativedDirector, and subsequently as general manager for North America. In 1999, she opened Prema Nolita Day Spa in New York, which she owned and operated for five years while simultaneously working as a brand consultant for Sephora. She has also held marketing positions at Avon, Charles of the Ritz and Erno Laszlo, and served as a buyer in the cosmetics department for Bloomingdale's.