Nicholas Stone
Mr Nicholas (Nick) James Stone is a native of Melbourne Australia who moved to New York City in 2010. He is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Bluestone Lane, an Australian-influenced lifestyle and hospitality brand based in New York, NY.
Nick envisioned Bluestone Lane whilst attending Fordham University Business School in New York, with the idea of providing a premium cafe experience that’s readily found in his former hometown of Melbourne Australia. Since opening in July 2013, Bluestone Lane has become one of the fastest-growing premium café brands in the United States, having opened in excess of 75 locations across 9 States (including as the first Australian brand to open a retail location within a NY/NJ metropolitan international airport).
Bluestone Lane has grown to employ over 800 staff, with revenues exceeding US$85.0m per annum and has signed a transformational global partnership with Hilton Hotels Corporation. Bluestone Lane has raised significant growth capital from some of the world’s preeminent real estate and hospitality investors, of which Nick has exclusively originated and closed all financing rounds. However, arguably Nick’s greatest business achievement was successfully navigating the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nick joined Bluestone Lane as its full-time Founder & Chief Executive Officer in June 2016, having spent 10 years as a Corporate Finance Director with ANZ Banking Group Limited (“ANZ”) and UBS Investment Bank, advising and financing some of the world’s largest multinational corporations. From 2011 – 2016, Nick was responsible for leading ANZ’s corporate finance division in America & Europe and was a member of ANZ’s EMEA Executive Leadership Team.
Prior to banking, Nick was a professional Australian Rules Football (AFL) player for 6 seasons, having been selected in the 1999 AFL National Draft from Wesley College, Australia (High School). Nick played for the Collingwood Football Club, Hawthorn Football Club and St Kilda Football Club.
Nick was a 2019 Finalist in EY’s Entrepreneur of Year New York. Nick has been recognized as one of World’s Young Leaders of the Future and has been featured in the New York Times, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Forbes, GQ and Vogue USA. Nick has been a featured guest on +30 podcasts and is a current expert judge on Gordon Ramsay’s Foodstars on FOX and an American Express ambassador, including as the business expert on brand building and business scaling.
Nick holds a Bachelor of Business (Banking & Finance) degree from Monash University, Melbourne, a Master Degree in Applied Finance from FINSIA, Melbourne, a Graduate Diploma in Management from Melbourne Business School, Melbourne and Executive Diploma in Treasury from the Fordham University Graduate School of Business, New York. Nick lives in California with his wife Alexandra and three young children.