LEADERSHIP 

 

                                                           Richard Baum                                                             Managing Partner

Richard is the Managing Partner of Consumer Growth Partners (CGP), an Independent Sponsor with an exclusive focus on middle-market specialty retail and non-perishable branded consumer products companies.  Prior to co-founding CGP in 2005, Richard spent 16 years as a top ranked sell-side equity research analyst at Sanford Bernstein, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse.  Previously, he spent 6 years in the merchandising organization at Bloomingdale’s and began his career as a strategy consultant with The Boston Consulting Group.

Richard currently serves as President of the Retail Marketing Society, a not-for-profit organization that focuses on bringing leading edge topics of interest to the broad retail community   via  a series of monthly  webinars.  He  also  serves  as  aBoard  Director   for   Chair  King/Fortunoff  Backyard Stores,  Factory Connection, Inc., and Rolla Coster, Inc.  He served as a board director of Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:  VRA) for nine years before stepping down in 2020.  In 2023 he was selected by iGlobal Forum as their inaugural recipient of the Independent Sponsor Lifetime Achievement Award.

Richard earned a BA degree in Economics from the University of Michigan where he graduated magna cum laude with Phi Beta Kappa honors and a JD degree from Harvard Law School.  He lives in a suburb of New York City with his wife Robin, a medical school admissions dean.  He is also the proud father of two young men, Zachary an attorney in Washington, DC and Ross a musical theatre composer and songwriter in New York City and Los Angeles.