CRISTINA VENTURA

Founder & CEO

Cristina Ventura has been working in Luxury, Retail and Technology for the past 20 years. She is Catalyst Advisor for The Lane Crawford Joyce Group, responsible to forge connections with thought leaders, disruptors and game changers around the world and beyond retail, to bring knowledge and create a diverse network for the Group, stimulating ideas and new ways to invest and partner. She is leading internal innovation programs and thecage.io, the ignition program that offers intensive mentorship and in-house business opportunities to start-ups, with the aim to get investment and commercial agreements with the Group and the industry.        

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Cristina has been working in Luxury and Retail for the world’s most prestigious luxury brands as LVMH, Gucci, Prada and Apple, and she represents an international understanding of luxury, strategic planning, creativity and innovation.

Before joining LCJG, Cristina has been leading Apple’s team and high growth expansion in Hong Kong and China, the fastest and largest growth market for Apple globally. She grew her team to over 1,500 members covering the markets of Hong Kong and South China, which made an important contribution to Apple’s $8.8 billion revenues in the region.

Previously, Cristina was Regional Retail Director at Prada Group, where she was responsible for the business development of Prada, Miu Miu and Car Shoe brands, covering 12 countries and over 100 locations with 1,500 employees throughout the Asia Pacific Region, and was involved in the preparation of Prada’s IPO in Hong Kong. Previously, she was the Operations Director for Gucci Europe & Middle East, and worked for several years at Louis Vuitton Fashion Group in Europe and Asia, where she was responsible for business development, marketing and operations. She started her career at Louis Vuitton London through a Leonardo da Vinci grant from the European Union.  

Cristina studied Communication Sciences from Ramon Lull University in Barcelona and Milano, where she earned the Erasmus grant. She studied at Harvard Business School in the General Management Program, at the Stanford Executive Program, the Young Managers Program at Insead in Singapore and Paris, and the Senior Executive Program for China at Tsinghua and CEIBS, Singularity University, Venture Capital & Investment program at Stanford, and the Global Executive MBA at IESE.  

She has participated as a Retail & Luxury specialist and keynote speaker at global events at HBS, MIT, LBS, IMD and INSEAD, and is currently teaching at MBA classes in Hong Kong and Shanghai at HKUST, PolyU, IESE, CEIBS, and her Harvard Case Study: “Leading Innovation in the Luxury Industry” by Professor of Leadership & Innovation Linda Hill.

She has been selected by the government as Business Senior Advisor to foster foreign investment and commercial development, and to be Ambassador of Barcelona Tech City, to represent and grow Barcelona’s Digital & Tech sectors. She is LP investor at Galdana Ventures fund I & II, VP at Anthill Ventures, Muse Capital, and through Ventura X Ventures, an active impact investor and advisor.

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Cristina founded www.LUXARITY.com, a social venture with the vision to inspire a Conscious Living. Its mission is to build a community that shares the R.A.W. SDG values of Responsibility, Awareness & Wonder by selling curated pre-loved luxury goods, receiving donations, collaborating with strategic partners and giving all the benefits back to the community through grants. LUXARITY has been acquired by LCJG and is the first social venture to implement Blockchain technology to transform the future of luxury, retail and social impact ecosystems.

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Cristina is a certified instructor of Yoga, Meditation and Reiki and started SiliconBali.io decelerator. 

She speaks English, Spanish, Catalan, Italian and French. She is an Officer of the Harvard Business School Alumni in Hong Kong and involved with several charity projects, including Community Leaders of Tomorrow, the HUB HK & Myanmar, and Bye Bye Plastic Bags Indonesia, to support sustainability, education and innovation.