Carol Lavin Bernick is CEO of Polished Nickel Capital Management, a privately held company that manages diversified investments and owns operating companies in retail and professional sports. In her prior business career, Carol spent 37 years in key executive roles at the Alberto Culver Company, a manufacturer and marketer of international beauty brands including TRESemme, Alberto VO5, Nexxus, St. Ives and Soft & Beautiful and was also the parent of Sally Beauty Company, the largest distributor of professional beauty supplies in the world, until the two companies separated into free-standing public companies in 2006. Early in her career at Alberto Culver she created iconic brands such as Static Guard and Mrs. Dash, among others. Carol led the consumer products business for over ten years and succeeded her father as Executive Chairman of the company in 2004. In 2011, she initiated and oversaw the sale of the company to Unilever. Among her various community commitments, Carol is chair elect of Tulane University. She is a board member, and immediate past chair, of Northwestern Memorial Healthcare, a board she served on for over 23 years. She also served on the board of Northwestern University, including 10 years spent on the Executive Committee of the Global Advisory Board of the Kellogg School of Management. Carol is on the Executive Committee of the Chicago Community Trust and she founded the Friends of Prentice, a volunteer group of executives and professionals that has raised tens of millions of dollars for Chicago’s Prentice Women’s Hospital to benefit infant and women’s health. She is also the founder of Enchanted Backpack, a charity formed in 2018 to serve under resourced schools in the Chicago area. Enchanted Backpack annually provides school supply essentials, recreational materials, books and winter coats to over 20,000 pre-kindergarten through 8th grade students. In addition, Carol heads her family’s foundations, which focus primarily on education, healthcare, women’s issues, and the prevention of childhood drowning. Carol has been honored by a number of civic and charitable groups and was perhaps most honored by having been named National Working Mother of the Year by the Moms in Business Network. Carol has three married children – two of whom are Tulane graduates — and eight grandchildren ages five and under. She recently authored Gather As You Go: Sharing Lessons Learned Along The Way, a book featuring over 300 stories that share wisdoms gleaned from her professional, philanthropic and personal life experiences. In addition to its retail sales, over 18,000 copies of Gather As You Go have been distributed to universities, nonprofits, corporations, and education-based organizations across the country as an expression of her hope that its lessons will have an impact on the lives of students and executives. Net proceeds from the sale of the book support Enchanted Backpack.