UCD_BC_the interview_20-23.qxd 25/8/08 16:42 Page 21
THE INTERVIEW
“
WAS there life before Tiffany?” smiles Jim Quinn when I
ask him about his career prior to joining the renowned
luxury jeweller over 20 years ago. In fact, this laconic
Irish-American New Yorker worked for some 12 years
with Citibank in various wealth management and private
banking roles, completing an MBA at night before joining
Tiffany in 1986.
Quinn attributes much of Tiffany’s success to the
longevity and dedication of the senior management there.
“I’ve been here 22 years, the chairman has been here for
20 years and the CFO for 25 years. We have had the enor-
mous good fortune to work together over many years and
see the company grow to where it is today.”
And grown it has. Despite its iconic status, thanks to the
Truman Capote novella and subsequent movie Breakfast
at Tiffany’s, when Quinn joined it was a relatively small
New York business with just six US branches. Today it is a
truly global brand, with nearly 200 stores in 30 countries,
from Toronto to Moscow, Tokyo to Beijing.
Quinn says he started at Tiffany during an important
transitional period. The business had gone through seve-
ral changes in ownership. For many years a private comp-
any, in the late Seventies it was acquired by Avon Products,
which by the early Eighties was looking to sell the business.
The executive management at Tiffany organised a lever-
aged buyout and took the company private again.
“It was a terrific time to join because the executive man-
agement that’s here today was essentially coming tog-
ether at that point, although in much more junior posi-
tions. We have grown up together professionally as the
business has grown up, and that has been a strength.
“Today we are present all over the world, we have a
multichannel business, not just retail but a catalogue and
ecommerce business too. We manufacture and design
most of our products and source many of our precious
metals and gems directly from the mines. We now have a
multi-functional global business with a very exciting and
complex business model.”
Iconic luxury brand
As I head to Tiffany’s Madison Avenue offices to meet
Quinn, a bus stops alongside my cab, its advertising livery
touting some standard American romantic comedy.
Depicted is a well-dressed suitor bearing a gift in a small
neat box. No logo is visible but it strikes me that it is
instantly recognisable as a Tiffany gift box, thanks to its
iconic — and trademarked — blue.
It’s a timely reminder of the ubiquitousness of the prem-
ium brand, but of course the brand is about a lot more than
its famous packaging. “It is interpreted in many ways — the
design, quality and craftsmanship that goes into the prod-
uct,” says Quinn. “It is interpreted in how we communicate
it in our creative marketing, how we design and build our
Photos courtesy of Sipa Press/Rex features
UCD BUSINESS CONNECTIONS 21
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