NEW YORK — Maria Baum has been named chief executive officer of Tracy Anderson Mind & Body LLC.
Baum will also become a partner in the fitness and lifestyle brand, which is co-owned by Tracy Anderson and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Tracy Anderson, which opened its first studio in 2006, has one seasonal and three permanent studios in the U.S. The company sells exercise DVDs worldwide, as well as apparel, equipment — exercise mats, weights — and nutritional supplements.
Baum’s role will be to drive business growth and manage prospects in the U.S. and internationally. Among her priorities will be to launch a higher-end apparel line and expand studio locations and pop-ups throughout the country and internationally.
For 10 years, Baum has been a portfolio manager at Baum Capital Management. She is the founder and co-owner of Tutto Il Giorno, a restaurant chain with locations in Sag Harbor, Southampton and TriBeCa. Earlier, she was a portfolio manager at Blacktower and a senior proprietary trader at Lehman Brothers. Baum sits on the board of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and is the creator of BCRF’s Hamptons Paddle & Party for Pink, which has raised more than $3.5 million. She has an MBA from Wharton.
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In a telephone interview with Anderson and Baum, Anderson said she has spent 16 years working on content in the health and fitness field. “Sixteen years, thousands of exercise movements and four different studios later, we have the foundation for an amazing ceo to take a hold of this life’s work and serve as many people as possible,” said Anderson.
Baum said her role will be to enable Anderson and Paltrow to realize their vision to grow the company in different areas. She said Tracy Anderson has revenue streams in many areas, ranging from the 90-Day Method to a lower-range sold by big-box retailers to, eventually, a streaming-video product that can be offered internationally.
“Millennials over the next several years will have some real muscle,” said Baum. “Exercise is much more of a ritualization to them — their technology, food and clothing. This is Tracy. Her brand is so uniquely poised to cover all these areas immediately. [She] brings a real authenticity to what so many brands are missing. She’s a style-setter. People in the gym take pictures of her because they love her look,” said Baum.
Baum said they’re looking into designing a clothing line they would sell in a high-end retailer and on her Web site.