Heather Reisman
| Heather Reisman | |
|---|---|
Heather Reisman in 2007
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| Born |
August 28, 1948 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Residence | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Alma mater | McGill University |
| Occupation | CEO of Indigo Books and Music Co-founder and Past Chair of Kobo |
| Spouse(s) | Gerald Schwartz |
| Children | 4 |
Heather Reisman (born August 28, 1948) is a Canadian businesswoman and philanthropist. Reisman is the founder and chief executive of the Canadian retail chain Indigo Books and Music. She is the Co-Founder and past Chair of Kobo.
Reisman was born in 1948 in Montreal, Quebec and educated at McGill University. Her father, Mark, was a real estate developer; her mother, Rose, owned a clothing store; and her brother, Howard, founded computer company Time Systems. She is the niece of Simon Reisman, who headed the Canadian delegation that negotiated the 1988 Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement.
After Reisman’s first marriage ended in divorce, she switched careers joining her brother Howard’s company. In 1979, she co-founded Paradigm Consulting, a strategic change consultancy, serving as its managing director for seventeen years.
In 1995, she was invited to become a "front-line investor" for Borders, the American book retailer, which was planning to enter the Canadian market. When Borders was unable to obtain the necessary federal regulatory approval in Canada, Reisman entered big box book retailing on her own founding a company called Indigo Books and Music. She successfully raised $25mm from a group of investors based on the original concept document for Indigo. In 2001, Indigo Books and Music acquired its main rival Chapters to form the largest book retailer in Canada obtaining a clear leadership position in the book retailing industry. Since 1998, Reisman has also chosen more than 262 "Heather's Picks" for Indigo, which are books specifically recommended by her and come with a money-back guarantee
In 2009, she Co-Founded Kobo to participate in the exploding ereading market. In 2012 Kobo was successfully sold to Rakuten and it remains a leader in the field.
During her career Reisman has also served as a governor of the and of McGill University. as well as Board member of several companies including Williams Sonoma and J. Crew. She is currently a Director of Onex Corporation; and Mt. Sinai Hospital.
In August 2006, as a result of differing reactions by the two main Canadian political parties to the 2006 Lebanon War, Reisman withdrew her longtime support for the Liberal Party of Canada and chose to support the Conservative Party of Canada under Stephen Harper.
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