Rosie de Boer

Technology Consultant at URBN (Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie Group, Free People & Nuuly)

Speaker

Rosie Posthuma de Boer is a retail technology leader and consultant with over 15 years of experience working across global fashion and retail organisations. After starting her career on the shop floor, Rosie began her retail head office career in buying at 21 years old, progressing quickly into leadership roles during an exciting period of growth for Urban Outfitters in EMEA. During this time she contributed to a wide range of strategic projects across buying, sourcing, design, and planning, including being instrumental in the launch of franchise and wholesale channels, before moving into technology leadership.

Rosie later became Head of Technology at URBN (Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People), where she led large-scale transformation projects across planning, buying, sourcing, design, and supply chain. Working closely with teams in both the US and EMEA, she built a reputation for connecting technology, commercial, and creative departments to ensure complex systems and processes translated into tools that buyers, designers, and merchandisers could actually use.

In 2025 Rosie founded AROSE, a consultancy that helps retailers and creative businesses embrace technology without losing their creative edge. Alongside her consultancy work, she continues to advise URBN on a part-time basis while supporting a growing portfolio of clients, from start-ups to established brands. Her focus spans system implementations, supply chain communication tools, and training programmes that strengthen digital and commercial literacy across teams.

Rosie is passionate about customer experience and fashion product in its own right – retail obsessed, you might say. She has always believed that technology only creates value when it enhances the customer journey and enables teams to deliver great product. As one of the youngest members of the leadership team at URBN, she often acted as a bridge between technology departments and creative teams, helping each side understand and benefit from the other. She has seen first-hand how cultural shifts – from generational expectations in the workplace to changing customer behaviours – shape the way technology is adopted and scaled.

At AI in Retail, Rosie will join the closing panel on talent, culture, and the skills gap in AI adoption. She will bring her perspective on how retailers can align people, processes, and platforms to make AI successful – not just by building new systems, but by creating environments where teams are empowered, skilled, and inspired to use them.