Arie L. Kopelman

Kopelman was the recipient of the Fragrance Foundation (FiFi) Hall of Fame Award in 2005, and has been awarded three CFDA awards. In 2000, he was awarded the "Living Landmark" award by the New York Landmarks Conservancy.

From 1994 through 2017, Kopelman held the position of chairman of the Winter Antiques Show in New York City. He is credited with turning the show around by adding new leadership and infrastructure, and bringing new dealers into the fold.

In January 1989, Kopelman was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.

In 1985 the owners of Chanel, Alain Wertheimer and Gérard Wertheimer, hired Kopelman as Chanel Inc.’s president and chief operating officer at their headquarters in New York City. At that point, Kopelman already had a 14-year-long working relationship with Chanel through DDB, where he had crafted advertising campaigns for the brand. Over the next 19 years at Chanel, Kopelman grew the brand to expand its core retail, fragrance, cosmetics, skin care, eyewear, and accessories businesses, transforming Chanel into a company earning multi-billion dollar revenues. At the outset of Kopelman’s career with Chanel, the brand had two standalone boutiques and its annual revenue was reported at $357 million. By the time of his retirement, there were 17 brick-and-mortar boutiques just in the United States and in 2014, Chanel reported annual sales in the area of $7 billion.

Arie L. Kopelman (born September 23, 1938) is an American businessman and philanthropist. He served as the President and COO of Chanel from 1986 until 2004, when he retired and was succeeded by former Banana Republic President Maureen Chiquet. Kopelman remains at Chanel as Vice Chairman of the Board.