Steve Sadove to Lead New Division at Marvin Traub Associates

Former Saks Inc. CEO Steve Sadove will join Marvin Traub Associates to launch a division focused on innovation in retail and consumer industries. Sadove will lead the Traub Accelerator division as co-founder. He will also advise Traub’s traditional clients and join the board of directors.

Traub CEO Mortimer Singer commented, “We are thrilled to launch this new division under the direction of Steve Sadove, whose passion for innovation and technology in our industry aligns with our mission of helping cutting edge companies develop and grow fresh ideas to reach their full potential. As technology continues to transform the way consumers shop, powerful results occur when innovative ideas connect with industry expertise and insight.”

“I am thrilled to join Morty, his partners and his team, and I look forward to leveraging my background in consumer products and retail to promote further innovation in the industry,” added Sadove.

Sadove left Saks Inc. in September, a couple months after it was acquired by Hudson’s Bay Company. He joined the luxury retailer in 2002 as vice chairman and become COO in 2004. He was promoted to CEO in 2006. Sadove’s background prior to Saks was mostly in consumer products companies like General Foods, Clairol and Bristol-Myers Squibb. He was elected chairman of the National Retail Federation in January 2013. He sits on the boards of Colgate-Palmolive, JCPenney, Aramark and Ruby Tuesday.

The Traub Accelerator’s first client is a company called Powa Technologies, which created a shopping app for mobile devices that helps users instantly buy specially tagged products that appear in ads, billboards and shop windows.

Marvin Traub Associates was founded in 1992 by retail legend Marvin Traub shortly after he retired from a storied career at Bloomingdale’s. Traub died in July 2012 at the age of 87.