Geoffroy van Raemdonck, former chief executive officer of the Neiman Marcus Group, has joined Verneek, an AI tech company that helps retailers and brands deepen their customer engagement and helps shoppers discover products.
Van Raemdonck has joined as both a member of the advisory board and a strategic investor.
Verneek credited van Raemdonck for “shaping and accelerating the transformation of some of the world’s most recognizable brands across the full spectrum of global premium, luxury and multibrand retail. Van Raemdonck steps into Verneek as the company accelerates its growth in redefining end-to-end retail operations and customer experiences.”
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Van Raemdonck served as NMG’s CEO for nearly seven years until Saks Global bought the business last December. He has been serving as a senior adviser to the Boston Consulting Group. Prior to the Neiman Marcus Group, van Raemdonck was an executive at Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren.
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“I became familiar with Verneek when I was leading the Neiman Marcus Group,” van Raemdonck said. Along with his team, he met with Verneek’s CEO and cofounder, Nasrin Mostafazadeh, who has 21 years of experience working in AI, as part of the process of evaluating technology partners. “We decided to work together, but by the time we made the decision, we had to put it on ice because the deal was approved by the FTC,” with Saks Global given the green light to acquire NMG. Van Raemdonck felt that Verneek would have been a great partner for NMG, having done the due diligence.
“Consumer demand in our industry is changing and now the industry has the opportunity to do things better,” van Raemdonck said. “There is so much friction with multibrand retailers. We don’t know our customers that well. Systems are antiquated, and AI provides solutions that were not possible before. I believe AI is a formidable force to improve the consumer experience and the efficiencies of consumer-driven companies.”
He also said that Verneek is “an AI native” company and not one migrating to AI, and that it is “industry specific,” focused on retail and the consumer experience through retail. “Once you partner with Verneek and augment with the data, every touchpoint with the consumer will be enhanced.” He also said “the beauty of Verneek is that it is a domain-specific model, and not a large language model.
Through its AI-native operating platform, Verneek transforms enterprise data into vertically integrated custom solutions for front- and back-office retail functions. Van Raemdonck joins at a pivotal moment, as retailers prioritize AI to respond to shifting consumer behavior while dealing with issues surrounding inventory, merchandising, store operations, marketing, clienteling, e-commerce and other areas.
“Retail is being rewritten through AI. Consumer shopping behavior is shifting rapidly and so are their expectations,” van Raemdonck said in a statement. “I am excited to invest in Verneek and join its advisory board to contribute to shaping the future of retail through Verneek’s transformational technology benefiting retailers, brands and consumers.
“Verneek is partnering with some of the world’s most recognizable brands,” he said. “The differentiated value is in providing a unified AI-native solution across all customer touchpoints.”
Van Raemdonck transformed the culture at NMG by, among other things, strengthening brand experiences through a strategy that was called “retail-tainment,” providing stylists and selling associates with tools to communicate with customers in different ways, and navigating NMG through a bankruptcy and the pandemic.
Verneek’s CEO and cofounder Mostafazadeh, said in a statement: “Geoffroy is known for leading iconic brands through very complex transformations. 2026 will be defined as the year of AI for shopping. Geoffroy’s timely counsel and deep industry relationships strengthen our commitment to ensuring that retailers can implement AI-native solutions that drive top-line growth and curtail cost structures, while profoundly enhancing customer experiences.”
Other members of Verneek’s advisory board include Karenann Terrel, a former chief information officer of Walmart; Kathy Waller, a former chief financial officer of Coca-Cola; Colleen McKeown, former chief human resources officer of Prologis and Zulily.