About Andrea
Andrea Abrams is a 25-year retail industry veteran with extensive experience in physical retail, as well as technologies for physical and virtual retail expansion. Andrea is a C-level global executive with a broad background in cross border expansion strategies and partnerships. Being an Argentinian-born American and having lived and worked in multiple countries in Latin America and Europe, Andrea is fluent in English, Spanish and Italian.
Andrea is the founder of international advisory services firm Abrams Global, and co-founder of Interconnected LLC alongside former DSquared2 executive Rigo Lora. Interconnected is a business accelerator platform connecting best in class businesses with talent and opportunities. Interconnected’s family of companies is comprised primarily of tech-focused businesses, mostly working to provide digital solutions for both physical and digital fashion and retail, to improve the customer journey, inventory planning and the way products are presented. Interconnected also focuses on lifestyle and entertainment brand partnerships.
Andrea is on the Advisory Board of retail technology company Guesst Software and the Advisory Board of fashion blockchain company Lukso. Andrea has advised prominent retail clients such as Saint Laurent, The White Company, Regatta UK, and Etam Groupe on their international expansion strategies, including partner sourcing, franchising and real estate. She has also advised prominent retail and mixed-use projects in Canada, UK, France and the US with their International merchandising plans, with a focus on cross border and new concept tenants. As part of her international merchandising work, Andrea joined Triple Five’s “American Dream” project in 2017 as an international retail advisor.
Andrea previously spent a large part of her career in senior positions with US retail REIT General Growth Properties (NYSE: GGP at the time - now part of Brookfield Properties), the second largest shopping center owner at the time, where she was involved in launching GGP Ventures/GGP International, with transactions in Turkey, Brazil and Central America, and taking over development and asset management responsibilities for a $5 billion land and mixed-use portfolio upon GGP's acquisition of Rouse Companies in 2004, which included development and asset management responsibilities of prominent master planned communities and town centers. As part of her work in mixed-use, Andrea co-led the re-zoning and redevelopment of the 62-acre Ward Village in Honolulu, Hawaii, and served on the Executive Board of The Woodlands Company (TWDC) in Houston, TX, a Joint Venture of GGP and Morgan Stanley at the time.
Andrea ran US operations for London-based retail agencies Lunson Mitchenall and Time Retail Partners between 2013 and 2016. She has been a member of ICSC, BCSC and ULI. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame in the US, where she majored in engineering and architecture and was the recipient of the Alpha Rho Chi medal.