Kate Joined Forever New in our infancy, coming on board to support our first store rollout plan, Kate was quick to embrace our pace and aspirations to make an impact on the global market. Over her ten year career with us, Kate worked across all 11 of our international markets, leading and supporting our aggressive and demanding store roll out schedules.
From early on Kate displayed great passion and knowledge on our brand aesthetic and customer, which resulted in Kate becoming a executive in our global operations team. Kate has a innate ability to engage and gain support from all levels of an organisation, which was no doubt earned through her passion, commitment to the brand and teams as well as her work ethic and people skills.
Kate's success in driving company policy and change to our global team displays her ability to engage and gain trust from her teams, which can be hard enough in a home country without the added complexity of language and culture barriers across the 11 markets she covered.
Kate was given my trust early on in her career and her work ethic and commitment continued to impress myself and the business around her until her last day with us.
Kate is a true retail and brand trailblazer with the drive and passion to take on anything thats presented to her, a career which im looking forward to following.”
Dipendra Goenka
Owner and Managing Director
Forevernew.com.au
My association with Kate Burns over many years has been at a senior level of a Global Fashion Business dealing with strategic matters and business positioning as they relate to locating stores in retail malls & strips.
Kate solid understanding of the retail landscape and ability to deal at all levels of the organisation together with a relentless tenacity to meet the Business objectives demonstrates her ability to deliver positive results.
Kate takes the time to assess situations from a business perspective while also considering the importance of team and relationships in achieving solid outcomes. It is for these reasons I would have no hesitation in recommending Kate to utilise her skill in supporting a retail Business
Nat Portelli
Director at Nat Portelli Retail Property Services Pty Ltd
Kate is a passionate, energetic, results oriented leader who knows how to get things done and to take the team with her on the journey. She knows the critical levers that deliver success and growth in global retail and how to maneuver and maximize each to deliver practical results and sustainable impact. Kate has the rare skills of working effectively on two horizons, simultaneously focusing on today’s performance while also helping to build the next generation of an organisation. She takes a long term perspective but responds with urgency to the here and now.
Anita Muller
CEO and Consultant Company, Running Tall
Kate was an early member of the Forever New family and quickly embraced our ambitious global aspirations. Over her ten year career with us, Kate worked across all 11 of our international markets, leading and supporting our aggressive and demanding store roll out schedules.
Her ability to drive engagement and support from our store teams, right through to board level is testament to her exceptionally high energy levels, work ethic and people skills. She was given the trust and autonomy to execute the brand vision across store operations and she succeeded.
Kate’s understanding of our brand, our team and our customer was demonstrated by her commitment to creating the ultimate customer experience in all respects, enhanced by her knowledge of the ever changing retail environment.
Kate has creative talent and passion rarely found in a store operations executive and this contributed to her holistic approach and understanding of the business across all divisions. She was a significant asset to the company over an entire decade, playing a pivotal role in building the brand to the heights of its success across Australia and the world.
Amanda Coote
Co-founder Forever New Pty LTD
Kate is a courageous and resilient leader leader highly regarded for her executive capability in critically assessing complex retail businesses to catalyse, drive and achieve commercial growth. This is achieved through a clear focus on vision, strategy, people, brand and profitability and the capacity to inspire these streams to build alignment and accelerate change.
Kate has successfully created sustained value in domestic and international businesses with diverse product categories and varying business models.
This encompasses traditional retailing through to emerging digital platforms and the relationship in the retail ecosystem between brand, customer, retailer and relevant external stakeholders.
When partnering with Kate I have found her to be a considered and effective communicator with high levels of warmth, composure, drive for results and the proven ability to lead and inspire others.
Angela Briggs
Director at UMENCO
Kate is the kind of leader that you may only be lucky enough to encounter once or twice in a career. She is passionate & inspiring – with the kind of innate business savvy that transforms people, businesses & results.
She has the experience & intuition to think both operationally & strategically, being as impactful building a business from the sales floor to driving & developing a brand on a broad international scale.
Kate empowers & inspires in equal measure, giving her peers & team the tools, time & space to deliver to their best. Her guidance & leadership has had an immeasurably positive impact on shaping the career I have forged & the retail leader I have become.
To work with or for Kate is a truly transformational experience. She is a true retail trail blazer, an invaluable asset to any brand or business.
Lauren Evanson
Retail Operations Manager Forever New Clothing Pty Ltd