Carolee Friedlander CEO and Founder, AccessCircles; former CEO and Founder, Carolee Designs
Carolee’s vision is to create a by-invitation network to enrich the health and wellness, financial expertise, and life balance of women through informative gatherings, transformative knowledge, unique experiences, and access to leading authorities and alliance partners in the fields of health and wellness, financial expertise, and life balance.
As founder and CEO of Carolee Designs, Friedlander led her organization through all business life cycles, from early stages to a highly respected, recognized brand. During that time, Friedlander was considered the trendsetter in both design and marketing of fashion accessories worldwide, creating collections with distribution in over 700 premier retail stores internationally. This quintessential entrepreneur had grown businesses through global expansion, product diversification, and a keen understanding of the changing needs of women today.
In 2001, Friedlander negotiated the sale of Carolee Designs to Retail Brand Alliance, a privately held retail company with sales of $1.5 billion. She remained with the company until 2005.
Throughout her career, Friedlander has embraced mentoring and leadership roles in many diverse business organizations and is active in numerous civic, philanthropic, and educational organizations. Some of those include: The Women’s Leadership Board at The John F. Kennedy School of Government, Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA).
She is a past president of the Committee of 200, the organization of preeminent businesswomen and also served as the chair of its Foundation Board. Carolee serves as a director on the board of DSW, Inc.; the Museum of Arts and Design in New York; and The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, where she also serves as chair of the Finance Committee. She also serves on the board of The Society for Women’s Health Research.
Friedlander has been recognized with numerous awards for her professional and philanthropic achievements.