A born entrepreneur, Deirdre Quinn’s early love of the craft inspired a degree in fashion design. Her passion for production and merchandising led her to Donna Karan, Escada, and Liz Claiborne, where she traveled to more than seventy countries. In 1996, Ms. Quinn joined forces with two other fashion veterans and visionaries, Shun Yen Siu and Ida Siu, to found Lafayette 148 New York, creating one of the very rare, vertically integrated fashion brands. More than twenty-five years later, her boundless drive to discover what is next continues to lead the brand towards the future, including the move to a soaring, sustainably-built loft space in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
 
A member of the Fashion Institute of Technology board of trustees, Ms. Quinn has a lifelong love of learning and a devotion to philanthropy and enriching the world through education. She also serves as Associate Partner with the Partnership for New York City and is a member of C200, a committee comprised of the world’s most successful female corporate leaders and entrepreneurs.