THE PRINCIPALS

Chesie Breen brings 30-plus years of industry expertise and is considered the go-to resource in the luxury lifestyle, design, media and real estate spaces. A consultant to Jamestown/The Boston Design Center, she creates programming and marketing strategies and is Editor-in-Chief of ID BOSTON magazine. Breen has helped build the careers of highly respected names in interior design including Bunny Williams, David Kleinberg, Cathy Kincaid, and Nina Campbell. She has developed strategies for leading brands like Leontine Linens, QUADRILLE, Neiman Marcus, Swarovski, Baccarat, and Rosewood Hotels & Resorts.

Clients appreciate her wide network of industry access, acumen for content development, and solid relationships with top editors at shelter and lifestyle magazines. Editor-at-Large for Hearst Design Group for ten years and currently a contributing editor at ELLE DECOR, Breen recognizes what decision-makers look for when scrutinizing projects. She’s at the forefront of the changing landscape of digital media and is well-schooled in the new reality of balancing editorial with the matrix of social media, and digital marketing. Breen is equally valued for her relationships with top publishing houses, helping clients navigate the process of book development, production and securing a publishing house. She orchestrates book contracts, guides clients through production, and spearheads national media campaigns and book tours.

In 2015, Breen joined forces with fashion industry and luxury lifestyle public relations veteran Ellen Niven to form NivenBreen, where the two have combined their complimentary expertise and pooled resources into a modern business model servicing an international roster of A-List clients.

Breen founded Lyford Cay Design Weekend and has chaired multiple events for Nantucket by Design benefiting the Nantucket Historical Association. Committed to advancing the careers of young women, she has served as National Director of the Hockaday School Alumnae Board. Breen recently joined the Board of New York School of Interior Design.

Ellen Niven has developed unique expertise across M&A, strategic branding, customer acquisition, marketing & communications and public relations in her three decade career working with many of the world’s leading luxury companies. As a consultant to investors in private equity as well as luxury brands, she has advised Armani, Prada, John Lobb, St. Louis Crystal, Pratesi, Valentino, J. Mendel, M Missoni, Worth, PIRCH, VBH, and Vhernier, amongst others.

Her previous executive marketing roles include senior leadership positions at Asprey as Global Chief Marketing Officer, at Valentino as EVP Marketing and Communications, and at Hermes as Director of Public Relations, before founding her own consultancy to focus on advising leading brands. As an Operating Partner at Sciens Capital for six years, Niven reviewed potential acquisition targets in the luxury sector including accessories and fashion houses, home design, wine, and fragrance. At Asprey, she worked alongside the CEO and creative director on initiatives to grow the business, overseeing brand development and product positioning, visual merchandising, strategic relationships, marketing, communications, and the development of affluent consumers worldwide.

Niven served as SVP Global Brand Development at Meritas, the international education company owned by Sterling Partners, overseeing international brand strategy for its network of schools worldwide for the year leading up to their acquisition. She consults on a project basis for some of the companies in the portfolio of L Catterton, the world’s largest private equity investor in consumer growth companies with over $14 billion under management.

Throughout her career she has established long-lasting relationships with outside firms, charities, social influencers and industry players to help initiate image brand-building programs and strengthen brand outreach, bringing clients access to her 30 years of experience and industry contacts. She also has helped recruit creative directors, CEOs, heads of retail, outside creative services companies, and facilitates strategic introductions to industry leaders on behalf of senior C-level executives at a number of firms.

In 2015, Niven co-founded NivenBreen with industry veteran Chesie Breen to partner on projects and clients primarily focused in the home and lifestyle spaces. She has run two retail antique and design shops in Locust Valley, 96Forest and StudioBelle. Niven is on the masthead of House Beautiful as a contributing editor, and is vice-president of the Board of the Boys Club of New York.

THE TEAM

Coco Van der Wolk has been a valued member of the NivenBreen team since May 2018. Prior to joining the company, she worked for The Communications Store (TCS), a leading strategic development and communications firm headquartered in London. Upon their expansion into the US market, she was one of TCS’s first hires in the New York office. While working in the Luxury Lifestyle department, she also supported the beauty and fashion teams. 

At NivenBreen, Coco has married her experience amplifying and developing the voices of luxury brands with her affinity for interior design. Coco graduated from The University of Virginia and spent her childhood between Gulf Stream, Florida; Richmond, Virginia; and Osterville, Massachusetts. Today, she lives in New York City.

EXTENDED TEAM

NivenBreen takes a SWAT team approach to every project, using our thirty plus years of industry connections to align our clients with the very best photographers, stylists, website developers, graphic designers, producers, and copywriters to ensure each initiative is executed by the very best talents in the industry. Our long-standing relationships deliver access at the highest level while keeping teams lean and efficient.