Kathy Tierney

The chief executive of one of the world’s most admired housewares chains will deliver the keynote address, describing how Sur La Table grew from a single cookshop to a chain of more than 67 stores, without sacrificing range, depth, breadth or authority.

Kathy Tierney joined Sur La Table in April 2004 as Chief Executive Officer, bringing a rich background in business and international experiences to the Company.

Tierney served on the senior management team at The Nature Company for over a decade (1975 -78 and 1983-93), holding a variety of positions, including Executive VP of direct marketing, retail store operations, and creative services. As CEO and President of Smith & Hawken from 1993 to 1999, she grew both their retail and direct businesses significantly. During her tenure, the company quadrupled sales and grew from a catalog company with three stores into a multi-channel retailer, with 44 stores nationwide, a popular web site, and a leading position in the catalog industry. She retired from Smith & Hawken (although she retained a seat on the company’s board until 2001). From 2001 to 2003 she was the CEO of Fitch North America, a global marketing and branding firm, providing consulting services for many Fortune 500 companies. From 2003 to mid-2004, Tierney was an independent consultant with a client roster including The Home Depot, Vinquiry, Yoga Works, and Hirsch Bedner Design, to name a few.

Tierney entered the Peace Corps shortly after graduating from college and was sent to teach in rural Fiji. This life-changing two years in a very different culture, led her to Tom and Priscilla Wrubel, founders of The Nature Company and Peace Corps Volunteers from Africa. The time she spent in Fiji instilled in Tierney a sense of adventure and a desire to know more about cultures and food outside of America.

She and her husband, Mike, also lived a year in England while he participated in a Fulbright teacher exchange program. While there, Tierney learned about gardening and yoga, having no idea how useful these avocations would be in her future. Mike, who has a doctorate in Educational Anthropology, is president of Taft Street Winery in Sebastopol, California, a family-owned business that he and his brothers founded in 1980.

Tierney climbed to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro with a group of family and friends in 2000. Out of this rigorous experience, which she calls “hard but really amazing,” she took away a deeper understanding from the advice to slow down that her guides kept giving her. She learned that building a business is a lot like climbing a mountain: reaching the top comes from a slow and steady pace.

Tierney earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Dominican College in California, a small liberal arts college now known as Dominican University of California. She received a K-12 lifetime teaching credential from the University of California, and attended Harvard's Executive Strategic Marketing Program.

Visit the Sur La Table website at www.surlatable.com