Leah S. Bailey is a highly respected industry leader, mentor, and advisor with deep experience in marketing, strategy, and management. For more than 30 years, she has held executive roles in private and public companies in the CPG, beauty, and cannabis industries.

Leah has been deeply involved in the cannabis industry during the past 10 years, with her last role as the Chief Executive Officer for Blounts & Moore, which is a social equity licensee in Illinois with 6 dispensary licenses and 2 craft grow licenses. Before to Blounts & Moore, Leah was the Chief Business Development Officer for AUSA/AUDACIOUS, a publicly traded multi-state cannabis company that relaunched in early 2021. In this role, she oversaw M&A, marketing, sales and government and regulatory affairs. She led the company’s efforts to secure and develop licenses and businesses in New Jersey and New York.

Prior to AUDACIOUS, Leah ran Bailey Management Consulting, where she advised organizations in diverse industries including CPG and cannabis. From 2018 to 2020, she was the Chief Executive Officer of Fluresh, a Michigan-based vertically integrated cannabis grower, processor, and dispensary company. During her time there, she built the company’s facilities including cultivation, manufacturing, and retail, hired the management team, received 16 state licenses (medical and adult use cultivation, processing and retail), achieved significant revenue, and become EBITDA and cash flow positive.

Until 2017, Leah was the President of Global Beauty for Helen of Troy where she led the company’s strategic integration of global businesses and oversaw a transformation of both product strategies and operations, as well as a significant improvement in financial performance. Helen of Troy brands included Hot Tools, Revlon, Bed Head, Infusium, Pert Plus, Brut and Sure.

Earlier in her career, Leah was the President & CEO of Paris Presents, Inc. a family-owned marketer of beauty products including leading cosmetic accessory brands, Real Techniques and EcoTools. At Paris Presents, Leah led an organizational transformation that included building a new leadership team, developing a strategic planning model, and entering new, overseas markets. She achieved significant distribution at Walmart, Target and Ulta. During Leah’s leadership, Paris Presents realized significant sales and EBITDA growth, and she led and oversaw its sale to private equity.

Leah was the VP of Marketing for GTE in 1999, then a $15B company which is now Verizon. She led the company’s branding effort.

She started her career at Alberto Culver (now Unilever) where she rose from Director of Marketing to VP and General Manager. Her first position was in brand management/marketing for Quaker Oats (now PepsiCo).

A dedicated mentor and advisor, Leah has taught in the Leadership MBA program at Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, and she is a judge and mentor for the University of Chicago Booth New Venture Challenge, the #1 university accelerator program in the nation.

Leah serves on the board of Tikun Olam USA. Tikun Olam is a global cannabis brand and is the leader in medical cannabis research and development. Leah served on the board of Scott’s Liquid Gold from 2017 to 2022 and Frontier Co-op, which specializes in natural and organic products, from 2014 to 2019. She also served on her own boards at Fluresh and Paris Presents.

Leah is a member of the Chicago Economic Club and International Women’s Forum.

Leah holds a BA from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from Harvard University.