925-299-4450
LAUREN ZASLANSKY CONNER
Partner - COOs2GO
"Always seeking multi-functional solutions by asking the right questions, respecting opinions, and driving teams to perform their best!"
Lauren brings to our clients deep experience in consumer products and services, targeting customers from cradle to grave, literally. With over 10 years of experience at The Walt Disney Company, she held various roles in the Consumer Products and Games Division, including global finance for toys, table-top and interactive game licensing, and business development. As Director of Strategic Marketing, Disney Baby, she oversaw the online launch of a $1BN+ retail sales addition to the International Disney consumer products portfolio. By collaborating across the different divisions, she helped drive the development of the website, retail, and CRM strategy. This balanced long-term affinity growth and short-term sales support to optimize scaling.
She then moved onto MGA Entertainment, as Vice President of Ecommerce Business Development. Lauren led Little Tikes toy business including direct-to-consumer sales and operations, retail account management, and digital marketing. By combining data analysis, key account management, and a customer-first mindset, Lauren drove world class customer experiences and 3X revenue growth.
Most recently she was a co-founder and COO of GatheringUs, an end of life business dedicated to bringing people together after the loss of a loved one. At the onset of the pandemic, she oversaw the creation of a technically stellar and empathetic virtual memorial services organization, including a (30-person) team, training program, and business processes, to support more than 100,000 people in grief. She was instrumental in selling the brand and exiting at the end of 2022.
Lauren supplements her career with steady non-profit board and community work. Most recently, she was the Co-President of Burbank Temple Emanu El, where she served as acting Executive Director through the COVID pandemic and beyond. She joined the board as treasurer in 2018 and is currently the development chair. Previous board work includes ACEing Autism (supporting a therapeutic tennis program for children with autism) and Inner Circle Foster Family and Adoption Agency, in various capacities. In addition, she was the Project Manager of her class at Leadership Burbank, a city-wide program with leaders from non-profit, government, and for-profit organizations.
Lauren brings more than 25 years of diverse operational management experience to our clients seeking strategies and a hands-on approach to achieving them. She works with founders and executives to grow and scale their businesses by developing solutions that consider all aspects of the organizations and integrate them effectively.
Lauren helps organizations navigate the complexities of change, while paying attention to the details that matter. She brings a unique "spectrum-wide view" to her clients, where she sees the whole picture and understands the personalities and support needed to create impactful change. Lauren thrives on the delightful tensions that arise in the business world. Vision versus operations, finance versus creative, and the exhilarating balance between an entrepreneurial spirit and structured methodologies. Her focus is to help organizations achieve balance and growth, by quantifying and articulating their strategies, harnessing their human capital, and developing systems and processes that drive success.
She loves data, both financial and customer, and also understands that data is only part of the story. Clients rely on her to provide well-rounded and insightful strategic recommendations, with the project management skill-set to execute them. Following the theme of balance, Lauren is an east coaster, who has spent close to half her life on the west coast (cue Neil Diamond “L.A.'s fine, but it ain't home / New York's home/ But it ain't mine no more”). She lives, works and plays in Burbank, CA with her husband, two sons and two dogs, Fezzik and Iggy (Pup).
Lauren graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Communications and Columbia University with an MBA in Management.
323-422-1386