"It was nice to deal with something a little more sexy like the fashion industry as opposed to investment banking," said club member Carolyn A. Cassidy '99.
"Bloomingdales has a lot of history and [Traub] has been credited with a lot of its success."
Other attendants said Traub, who is a former Crimson executive, revealed opportunities with which they had not been familiar.
"The internal structure of the retail industry is really different from other businesses," said Beini Zhou '00.
"But what I learned is that if you want to succeed in any kind of business, the best strategy is change."
But Traub, who has recently published a book on his business experiences, said that the retail industry was not significantly different from other financial ventures.
"The skills that make one successful in the retail industry are the same skills that make one a successful entrepreneur: creativity, drive, energy and intelligence," he said.