Dan Hess
Founder & CEO
Dan has covered the retail sector for institutional clients since 2001 and has built a strong reputation in the buy-side community. He is considered an expert and thought leader in the retail space, and is well-versed on the operational, merchandising and financial aspects of the space. Dan does not make buy/sell recommendations, but he does help clients understand what is happening in real time from every angle, whether it’s bottom-up or top-down. Since founding Merchant Forecast in 2001, he has developed a strong track record of predicting key inflection points in the industry. Merchant Forecast has industry-high renewal percentages because Dan and his team add value by sticking to what they know: retailing. Many of the nation’s top institutional investors count on Dan as a key resource and on Merchant Forecast as a critical part of their investment process.
Before founding Merchant Forecast, Dan spent 14 years in senior level retail merchandising roles, including Director of Marketing for Macy’s East and a member of Federated’s Merchandising Steering Committee. Prior to starting Merchant Forecast, Dan founded Body & Soul, a specialty intimate apparel chain catering to urban ethnic consumers, which was sold to Urban Brands Inc. Dan holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania.
Jessica Bornn
Senior Merchant
Jessica Bornn joins Merchant Forecast with a background as a luxury fashion and department store senior merchant. She has worked as a consultant in the luxury industry at The Luxury Institute. Jessica then leveraged her merchandising background to become an equity analyst. She was most recently at Sterne Agee, where she covered footwear, apparel, & broadlines. Prior to that she covered specialty retail at Wachovia Capital Markets. She has taught as a part-time faculty member at Parsons The New School for Design. Ms. Bornn holds a BS in Consumer Science from The University of Wisconsin, Madison.
