JOHN TIGHE, JUDY PERSON, MICHAEL STRAHAN TO BE HONORED AT 2017 YMA SCHOLARSHIP FUND DINNER

The YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting education for the fashion arts and business, has announced it will honor fashion luminaries John Tighe, executive vice president, chief merchant at JCPenney; Judy Person, executive vice president and group president for Randa Accessories and fashion entrepreneur Michael Strahan at the organization’s annual YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund Geoffrey Beene National Scholarship Awards Dinner on January 12, 2017 in New York.

This year’s YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund Geoffrey Beene National Awards Dinner, anticipated to be the event’s largest ever, will be held at the Grand Hyatt in Times Square. At the event, over $1 million in scholarships will be awarded to scholars from the top fashion programs at universities and colleges nationwide.

As part of the evening, the YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund will honor Tighe as Retailer of the Year and Person will be honored as Wholesaler of the Year. Additionally, the Future of Fashion Award to Strahan, who partnered with JCPenney to launch his eponymous men’s line in 2015.

“For 80 years, the YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund has been the leader in identifying the best and brightest new talent for the fashion industry. This will continue as in 2017 we will introduce more than 200 new scholarship winners,” said Douglas Evans, Executive Director. “It is the leadership from our honorees that allows us to continue the tradition of giving back to the community, and supporting education and career pathway programs.”

Past honorees have included Ralph Lauren, Manny Chirico, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Tommy Hilfiger, Kenneth Cole, Geoffrey Beene, Iris Apfel, Alber Elbaz, Isabel and Ruben Toledo, Zac Posen, Mark Weber, Tim Gunn, and most recently, Tim Baxter, Ronny Wurtzburger, and Jessica Simpson.