Q&A: Talking to New Canaan Library about Sunday’s Talk with David Jaffe

New Canaan Library’s “Conversations with Business Leaders” series connects New Canaanites who lead large companies, with fellow residents, for a talk, question-and-answer session and gathering.

New Canaan’s Hazel Hobbs, who chairs a committee that finds speakers for the series, said the general idea is for these prominent community members to talk about their business experiences. Past speakers include Chase Carey (News Corporation) Jeffrey Immedlt (GE) and guest speakers George Bodenheimer (Disney Media Networks and ESPN) and David Calhoun (The Nielsen Company).

At 5 p.m. on Sunday, the library is presenting New Canaan resident David Jaffe, whose rise in retail from within Dress Barn 22 years ago (he became CEO 10 years in) to his current position as president and CEO of parent company Ascena Retail Group Inc.—a specialty retailer of apparel for women and tween girls that does $5 billion annual in sales and has nearly 4,000 stores in the United States and Canada—is an inspirational story, said library Director Lisa Oldham.

A father of four in town who serves as a trustee on the Connecticut Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, among other interests, Jaffe’s background includes business degrees from Wharton (go Quakers) and Stanford, Chemical Venture Partners and Merrrill Lynch.

We put a few questions to Oldham about Jaffe, the series and what attendees may expect out of Sunday’s talk and reception.

Here’s our exchange (register here for the event, titled “Thriving in Challenging Times”).

New Canaanite: New Canaan among other things is a town of professional people, and a good portion of those are running their own businesses or they’re in leadership positions where they work. Saturday’s speaker, town resident David Jaffe, certainly seems to have a great story that spotlights an entrepreneurial spirit, including his re-imagining of Dress Barn. Talk to us about the “Conversations with Business Leaders” series itself and its appeal to New Canaanites.

Lisa Oldham: The conversations series now in its sixth year, and organized since the beginning by Hazel [Hobbs], throws a bright spotlight on individuals from our town who are exceptional in their chosen field. New Canaan is a special place which has a wealth of incredibly talented people making this home. We also have a population that is truly interested in learning about all manner of topics—just last week another of our special, Salant media series was over subscribed in the Lamb room. So the intersection of local talent and a keen audience make this special annual lecture a fantastic event on the annual calendar.

Tell us a little more about Jaffe himself. I saw from your press release that he’s involved in the Connecticut Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and I’ve read elsewhere that he’s served as a trustee at New Canaan Country School and been involved in the Food Allergy Initiative. So he sounds like just a really interesting guy, professional accomplishments aside. What sort of a chance will attendees have to interact with Jaffe and put questions to him?

There will be a dedicated Q&A after the talk and a reception to follow. David and his wife and family are, as you note, very active and generous in a variety of philanthropic pursuits.

You mentioned that Jaffe’s talk will touch on not just surviving but accelerating through the economic downturn. Based on that and his prominent position in the fashion world, who do you think will be most interested in attending the Jaffe talk?

I think David’s talk will be interesting to people of all interests, but particularly those with an interest in leadership, strategic thinking, and also those interested in the fashion industry. We are very hopeful that local students who are thinking about university and career will come out to listen to David as this talk is likely to be inspirational.