John grew up in a family built on an entrepreneurial spirit. His mother, Kathleen Cecilian, has helped to create powerful brands for some of the most respected master-planned community developers.
Before starting Cecilian Partners, John spent seventeen years in retail management and strategy working for a variety of global lifestyle brands during a time of hypergrowth and emergence. He has been a leader and key contributor in the development and North American expansion of several iconic brands including Abercrombie & Fitch, AllSaints, Michael Kors, Quiksilver, Under Armour and Rapha. John’s had P&L oversight over $150MM working in major city centers and regions nationally for these brands. He is an expert in commerce strategy, customer experience, and the recruitment and training of teams and people.
For years, John gleaned insights into the broken nature of the customer journey for community developers and production home builders. He understands how to solve the opportunity in the marketplace and believes he has assembled and continues to build a team of outside industry experts to help overcome the customer obstacles plaguing this category of real estate.
John holds a Master of Business Administration in Systems Thinking and Global Finance from Villanova University, and earned his Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Psychology from Duquesne University. John is an active member of the Urban Land Institute and the Community Development Council (CDC) Gold.
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