Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Party for Life to Honor Vera Bradley's Founder
October 3,
2018 by Jane Chero in Business Strategy, Designer Weekly, Industry 
Barbara Bradley Baekgaard, founder of Vera Bradley, will be honored with Gift for Life's "Chuck Yancy Lifetime Achievement Award" at Gift for Life's 27th Anniversary Party for Life taking place on Monday, Feb. 4, 2019, at Stage 48 in NYC, during the NY NOW/NSS/SURTEX tradeshows.
Baekgaard co-founded Vera Bradley with Patricia Miller in 1982, and has served since then as a member of the company’s Board of Directors. From 1982 through June 2010, Baekgaard served as co-president of the company; and in May 2010, she was appointed chief creative officer.
From the outset, Baekgaard has provided leadership and strategic direction in the brand's development by providing creative vision to areas such as marketing, product design and assortment planning and to the design and visual merchandising of the company's stores.
In 1994, she established the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer, which has raised approximately $27 million to date for breast-cancer research, and for which she serves as a board member. She is also a member of the Indiana University Simon Cancer Center Development Board.
The 2019 Party for Life will also feature dinner, cocktails, music, dancing, a silent auction, and the opportunity to network with industry peers.