David Olsen

David joined Highlander in 2019 and leads Highlander’s efforts in sourcing investments in the beauty and personal care industry and plays an integral strategic role in these businesses post-close. He also works closely with Highlander’s existing CPG-oriented businesses in the areas of product development, branding and channel expansion with an emphasis on digital excellence.

David has been a leader in the digital retail space for 20 years. Since 2016, and just prior to joining Highlander, he served as the CEO of private equity-backed Cos Bar, where he brought his digital and e-commerce expertise to transition and grow a traditionally brick-and-mortar beauty retailer into an omnichannel business, while remaining true to its luxury DNA. Prior to Cos Bar, he launched the beauty and grooming businesses at Net-A-Porter and Mr. Porter as Global Vice President, growing those businesses by triple digits annually during his tenure. He originally founded and was the CEO of an e-commerce cosmeceutical business, DermTeam, which he later sold to DermStore, where he went on to lead business development, buying, and operations before selling the business to Target in 2012.

David holds an M.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Miami Business School and received his J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law after graduating Cum Laude. He also received a B.A. History from the University of California, Berkeley.