Michelle SadlierDownload CV

Global brand · marketing · growth · London

I turn brand ambition into commercial momentum.

Nineteen years in luxury, fashion and digital commerce. Promoted three times at ZEGNA; by the end, responsible for €50M+ of global marketing across EMEA, the Americas and APAC. Now an independent adviser to leadership teams through change.

Read the storyDownload executive CV
Michelle Sadlier in a dark crew-neck knit against a warm plaster wall
Former Director, ZEGNAIndependent strategic adviserCMO mandate
€50M+global marketing investment governed
+33%Hunter outerwear growth, year on year
3×promoted across four ZEGNA leadership roles
17ZEGNA runway and film chapters across her tenure
1stNET-A-PORTER paid performance, Meta beta and company Hack Day programmes
1stdigital hire at Karla Otto
3regions aligned: EMEA, Americas and APAC

Michelle Sadlier — Executive dossier§ 01 · Proposition

Executive proposition

The work is creative. The accountability is commercial.

Most valuable when a business has outgrown its story or its operating model.

Michelle Sadlier seated on a wooden bench in a black top
  1. 01

    Brand and category

    Clarify what the company stands for and make it something customers choose.

    ZEGNA One Brand transformation · Hunter repositioning
  2. 02

    Growth and go-to-market

    Turn strategy into visible momentum across product, retail and regions.

    Global seasonal planning · Retail activation · DTC context
  3. 03

    Organisation and investment

    Build the planning and governance that carry ambitious work into every market.

    €50M+ stewardship · CMO Budget Guidelines · Global Marketing Summit
  4. 04

    Executive transformation

    Align creative, merchandising, retail and regional leaders around one plan.

    Go-to-Market Steering Committee · EMEA, Americas and APAC

Michelle Sadlier — Executive dossier§ 02 · Journey

Executive journey

Nineteen years. One clear progression.

From editorial judgement to digital fluency, then brand leadership, then global investment and enterprise transformation.

Michelle Sadlier in a minimal white space with a blue artwork
  1. 01
    SADLIERLondon

    Independent Brand & Strategic Advisor

    Executive scope
    Brand, positioning, go-to-market and organisational clarity for executives and founders.
  2. 02
    London / Milan · global remit

    Director, Global Brand Marketing & Retail Activation

    1. Global Head of Brand Marketing & Innovation
    2. Global Head of Brand Marketing & Content
    3. Global Brand Marketing & Content Director
    4. Director, Global Brand Marketing & Retail Activation
    Executive scope
    Global brand marketing, content, customer experience, go-to-market and retail activation across EMEA, the Americas and APAC; €50M+ investment governance.
  3. 03
    London · global remit

    Global Head of Brand & Digital Innovation

    Executive scope
    Brand innovation, digital, integrated campaigns and four London Fashion Week seasons.
  4. 04
    London · global remit

    Global Social Media Manager

    Executive scope
    Global social strategy: awareness, audience growth, traffic and product engagement.

Earlier career · 2007–2012

The foundations: fashion, culture, journalism and the early social web.

  1. Global Digital LeadKarla Otto
  2. Sponsorship ExecutiveBritish Fashion Council
  3. Journalist & ProducerStoryful
  4. Account ExecutiveBryan Morel PR
  5. Executive AssistantLouise Kennedy
2008
HDip, Journalism & Media CommunicationsGriffith College Dublin
2008
Fashion JournalismLondon College of Fashion, University of the Arts London
2005
BA, Media, Marketing & Communication StudiesDublin Business School

The numbers

Numbers with names attached.

Every figure is drawn from Michelle’s CV or from identified company reporting. Company-wide results are shown as context during her tenure, never as the work of one executive.

Michelle Sadlier in a long black coat against a vermilion show backdrop
  1. €50M+

    global marketing investment governed

    ZEGNA · Director, Global Brand Marketing & Retail Activation · 2024–25
  2. +33%

    Hunter outerwear sales, year on year

    Rain Starts Play · multi-channel campaign led within the wider business
  3. 3×

    promoted across four global ZEGNA roles

    2017–2025 · London and Milan
  4. 20%

    ZEGNA revenue growth reported in 2023

    Company context during the One Brand period · not attributed to one executive
  5. +6.2%

    ZEGNA brand DTC revenue, 2024

    Company context · 6.1% organic · ZEGNA Group reporting
  6. 17

    runway and film chapters delivered

    SS18 → SS26 · every season of her tenure
  7. 4

    London Fashion Week worlds for Hunter

    AW14 → SS16 · coverage in The New York Times and Forbes
  8. 1st

    paid performance and Meta beta programmes at NET-A-PORTER

    Plus the integrated UGC campaign The Net Set and the first company-wide Hack Day

Michelle Sadlier — Executive dossier§ 03 · ZEGNA

Flagship transformation · ZEGNA · 2017–2025

Eight years. Four roles. One house in motion.

Three promotions across four global roles. Michelle turned ZEGNA’s house vision into one working marketing system: campaigns, seventeen seasons, investment and retail activation.

Role
Four-role progression from Global Head of Brand Marketing & Innovation to Director, Global Brand Marketing & Retail Activation
Headline
€50M+ global marketing investment governed

The strategy · 2017–2025

Global event strategy.

Michelle led ZEGNA’s global event strategy end to end. One programme spanned the international shows and their editorial platforms, the house’s top private clients, and its defining public moments, from the first Milan courtyard to Dubai Opera.

Seasons
17
Audiences
3
Years
8

International shows & editorial platforms

  1. 01SS1816 June 2017Università Statale · MilanThe opening act: a Renaissance courtyard turned tangerine to introduce the new house to the world’s press
  2. 02FW1812 January 2018Università Bocconi · MilanSnow falls indoors at Bocconi, weather theatre for the global front row
  3. 03SS2014 June 2019Former Falck steelworks · Sesto San Giovanni#UseTheExisting: renewal staged as spectacle, then carried into product and retailIn the plates below
  4. 04FW2214 January 2022Oasi Zegna → Piazza del Duomo · MilanA mountain road ends at the Duomo, the film seasons’ finale in Milan’s most public squareFilmIn the plates below
  5. 05SS2320 June 2022Lanificio Zegna rooftop · TriveroHeritage as stage: the show returns to the house’s own wool mill
  6. 06SS2611 June 2025Dubai Opera · DubaiThe programme fully global: an oasis raised inside the Dubai OperaIn the plates below
  7. 07Films2020–2022Oasi Zegna → Castello di Masino → DuomoFour seasons released as films; the show reconceived as a global editorial platformFilmIn the plates below
  8. 082017Campaign filmDefining Moments · Robert De NiroCinema-scale storytelling that moved the house into an intimate, human registerIn the plates below
  9. 09SS19Film & cultureAll The World’s A Stage · Luca Guadagnino & William ChanA directorial voice joined with globally relevant talent, built to travelIn the plates below
  10. 102022House platformBorn in Oasi ZegnaThe founder’s landscape made the house’s editorial world across content, retail and experienceIn the plates below

Private clients

  1. 111:1Standing forumGo-to-Market Steering Committee · EMEA, Americas & APACC-suite alignment on top-client strategy and one-to-one selling; the private arm of the same programme, held to committee level by design

Brand moments

  1. 122021New YorkZEGNA lists on the NYSEA 111-year-old house staged for investors, employees and customers at onceIn the plates below
  2. 132022MadridZEGNA × Real Madrid · Official Luxury Travelwear PartnerThe house’s codes carried to a vast international audience through sportIn the plates below
Condensed from the full record of seventeen consecutive seasons, 2017–2025, and the campaign platforms shown in the plates below. Seasons marked Film were released as films during the pandemic years.Artistic direction across the record: Alessandro Sartori and the ZEGNA creative organisation. Client detail is held to committee level by design.

Campaigns and platforms

One house, many cultural registers.

Eleven campaigns, platforms and enterprise moments from the record, one frame each.

  1. Robert De Niro in conversation in ZEGNA’s Defining Moments film
    01
    Defining MomentsRobert De Niro
  2. Mahershala Ali photographed in portrait for ZEGNA’s What Makes a Man campaign
    02
    What Makes a ManMahershala Ali and a global cast
  3. ZEGNA Spring Summer 2020 runway inside the former Falck steelworks
    03
    #UseTheExistingLaunched at the SS20 show · Falck steelworks
  4. William Chan in a still from ZEGNA’s All The World’s A Stage, directed by Luca Guadagnino
    04
    All The World’s A StageLuca Guadagnino · William Chan
  5. Models around a white metal tree in a still from the ZEGNA FW22 film
    05
    Four digital-first seasonsSS21 → FW22 · Oasi Zegna, Castello di Masino, Piazza del Duomo
  6. Born in Oasi Zegna campaign imagery in the founder’s alpine landscape
    06
    Born in Oasi ZegnaOasi Zegna · Lanificio Zegna
  7. A mound of raw Oasi Cashmere fibre lit on the ZEGNA FW24 set
    07
    Oasi CashmereTraceable cashmere · FW24 cashmere mound
  8. Four Real Madrid players in the ZEGNA luxury travelwear wardrobe at the club’s Valdebebas training ground
    08
    ZEGNA × Real MadridOfficial Luxury Travelwear Partner
  9. ZEGNA branding on the New York Stock Exchange at the December 2021 listing
    09
    ZEGNA lists on the NYSENew York · December 2021
  10. A look from the ZEGNA FW25 Vellus Aureum show on the wool meadow
    10
    Vellus AureumFW25 wool meadow · Allianz MiCo
  11. The ZEGNA SS26 show staged as an oasis inside Dubai Opera
    11
    ZEGNA in DubaiSS26 · Dubai Opera

What changed

  • Governed more than €50 million of global marketing investment.
  • Earned three promotions across four senior global roles in eight years.
  • Worked through the One Brand period, in which ZEGNA reported 20% growth in 2023 and 6.2% DTC growth in 2024.

Michelle Sadlier — Executive dossier§ 04 · Hunter

Brand repositioning · Hunter · 2014–2017

A British icon, recut for growth.

Moved Hunter from functional footwear into a fashion conversation: four London Fashion Week worlds, platform firsts and Rain Starts Play.

Role
Global Head of Brand & Digital Innovation
Headline
+33% outerwear growth, year on year

The record · 2014–2016

Run of show.

Four London Fashion Week seasons in three years: the first runway shows in the brand’s history, each built to be filmed, shared and sold.

Shows
4
Seasons
3 yrs
Outerwear
+33%
  1. 01AW1415 February 2014University of Westminster · LondonModels wade a flooded birch forestIn the plates below
  2. 02SS1513 September 2014Seymour Leisure Centre · LondonA mirrored catwalk floats above a swimming poolIn the plates below
  3. 03AW1523 February 2015Albert Embankment Warehouse · LondonThree waterfalls fall across an orange runwayIn the plates below
  4. 04SS1619 September 2015Euston Station Parcel Deck · LondonA giant tent pitches on a muddy runwayIn the plates below
Compiled from public show records; runway worlds created with Hunter’s creative direction and set designers.Creative direction across the record: Alasdhair Willis and the Hunter creative organisation.

Campaigns and platforms

Weather, Britishness and the second screen.

Four runway worlds and the multi-channel campaign that followed them, one frame each.

  1. Hunter Original AW14 runway staged through a flooded birch forest
    01
    Flooded birch forestAW14 · London Fashion Week debut
  2. Hunter Original SS15 runway inside a mirrored Victorian bathhouse
    02
    Mirrored bathsSS15 · Seymour Leisure Centre
  3. Hunter Original AW15 runway beneath indoor waterfalls
    03
    WaterfallsAW15 · Albert Embankment
  4. Hunter Original SS16 runway staged as a festival campsite
    04
    Camp HunterSS16 · Euston parcel deck
  5. Two models in Hunter raincoats laughing in the rain in the Rain Starts Play campaign
    05
    Rain Starts PlayOuterwear · +33% year on year
  6. Hunter Rain Starts Play posters lining a concourse at Piccadilly Circus station
    06
    The Piccadilly takeoverHunter’s first out-of-home campaign · Meta · The New York Times

What changed

  • Hunter outerwear sales increased 33% year on year during the Rain Starts Play work.
  • Coverage in The New York Times, Forbes and Digiday.

Michelle Sadlier — Executive dossier§ 05 · NET-A-PORTER

Platform innovation · NET-A-PORTER · 2012–2014

The audience became the platform.

Built NET-A-PORTER’s global social foundations before social commerce had a playbook: the first paid performance campaigns, Meta betas and The Net Set.

Role
Global Social Media Manager
Headline
First paid performance, Meta beta and company Hack Day programmes

The record · 2012–2014

Run of firsts.

Two years at the birth of social commerce, and the programmes that made social a product and customer capability rather than a channel.

Firsts
4
Years
2
Remit
Global
  1. 012012Global social strategyBrand awareness · audience · traffic · productSocial treated as a company-wide capability, not a publishing desk
  2. 022012First paid performancePaid social · globalThe company’s first paid performance campaigns
  3. 032013Meta beta programmesPlatform partnershipsEarly access to new formats, tested before they had a playbook
  4. 042013The Net SetUser-generated campaignCommunity behaviour turned into product, the groundwork for social luxury commerceIn the plates below
  5. 052013Hack DayCompany-wideThe first cross-functional hack day: marketing, editorial, product and technology
Programme claims are drawn from Michelle’s CV and LinkedIn extract.The Net Set launched as NET-A-PORTER’s social shopping platform after the groundwork described here.

Campaigns and platforms

Social as product.

The platform, the programmes and the mechanism that made experimentation easier, one frame each.

  1. The Net Set member profiles shown on desktop and mobile
    01
    The Net SetUser-generated campaign · member profiles
  2. The Net Set social shopping platform shown across Apple devices
    02
    On every screenThe Net Set · iPhone, iPad, desktop
  3. 03
    Paid performance and Meta betasNET-A-PORTER · 2012–2014

What changed

  • Company firsts across paid, platform and innovation practices.
  • Social foundations that connected audience, editorial and commerce.

Michelle Sadlier — Executive dossier§ 06 · Leadership

Michelle Sadlier listening during a production debrief with two colleagues

How I lead

Clarity before theatre.

Make good judgement repeatable: clear choices, explicit standards, and enough trust for talented people to do work no single leader could.

  • Commercial accountabilityMarketing must show up in customer choice and enterprise value. Activity is not an outcome.
  • Customer truthStart with what people actually do and value; test the internal story against it.
  • Creative braveryDistinctive work needs clear choices, senior protection and an idea that travels.
  • Organisational clarityPeople do their best work when ownership, standards and decision paths are explicit.
  • Low-ego partnershipEnterprise transformation is cross-functional. The job is to align with creative, product, retail, finance and regional peers, not to claim solitary heroics.

Michelle Sadlier — Executive dossier§ 07 · In her words

Michelle Sadlier by a tall window with a coffee, in a black knit

In Michelle’s words

I have always been interested in what makes people choose.

Attention is easy. What interests me is why a company, product or idea feels relevant enough to matter.

Journalism, communications and the early social web taught me to find the signal quickly: what is culturally alive, what is credible, what someone will actually care about. At NET-A-PORTER that judgement met technology and commerce; at Hunter it met a British icon ready to become a fashion protagonist.

At ZEGNA the scale changed. Across eight years and four global roles I learned that a house transforms through its story, but also through investment choices, seasonal rhythms, retail expression, regional judgement and hundreds of small decisions that must still feel like one brand.

I am most useful when a company has real substance, a meaningful moment of change and the ambition to connect creative strength with commercial momentum.

Michelle Sadlier — Executive dossier§ 08 · Point of view

Michelle Sadlier marking a blank page at a pale timber worktable

Thinking and speaking

A clear argument, built for the room.

  1. Working note
    Brand is an operating system

    A brand becomes commercially useful when product, experience, investment and behaviour all understand the same idea.

  2. Talk
    Making heritage move

    How established brand codes can drive contemporary relevance instead of blocking change.

  3. Talk
    What the modern CMO must make coherent

    Why story, investment, customer experience and organisational rhythm belong to one accountable leader.

  4. Talk
    Global consistency without local irrelevance

    A practical framework for creating one recognisable brand while giving markets enough clarity and room to perform.

Michelle Sadlier silhouetted in a monumental window high above the Milan skyline
Leadership is what remains when the launch is over.

Michelle Sadlier — Executive dossier§ 09 · Contact

Black-and-white portrait of Michelle Sadlier

Direct routes

A considered note is enough.

For Chief Marketing Officer, global brand leadership, board, advisory or speaking conversations. Michelle is based in London and works internationally.

For organisers · 100-word biography

Michelle Sadlier is a global brand, marketing and growth executive who connects creative ambition with commercial and organisational discipline. Promoted three times across four ZEGNA leadership roles, she helped shape the house’s global transformation through campaigns including Defining Moments and Born in Oasi Zegna, major partnerships, seventeen runway and film chapters, and the NYSE listing period. She ultimately led integrated brand marketing and retail activation across EMEA, the Americas and APAC, and governed more than €50 million of marketing investment. She now advises luxury, retail and consumer leaders through moments of change.

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