Ronnie Rothstein

CEO Kleinfeld Bridal

Last Reviewed: September 28, 2026

Executive Summary

Ronnie Rothstein is CEO and co-owner of Kleinfeld Bridal, the Manhattan wedding-dress salon that became nationally known through TLC’s “Say Yes to the Dress”. He bought the business in 1999 with retail executive Mara Urshel, now Kleinfeld’s President, and the actor Wayne Rogers, and has run it as CEO since. He came to bridal retail from outside it: a Wharton graduate who practised law in Miami, held management roles at the Eden Roc Hotel in Miami Beach and spent the 1980s and 1990s running a boutique investment bank. Under his ownership Kleinfeld left its Brooklyn roots for a 35,000 square foot Manhattan flagship and became the setting of a long-running television series.

Career Highlights

• Practised law in Miami, Florida, after graduating from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
• Held management positions at the Eden Roc Hotel in Miami Beach.
• Ran Perry Rothstein Partners, a boutique investment banking firm providing capital, business strategy and consulting, with Los Angeles-based partner Arnold Perry during the 1980s and 1990s.
• Bought Kleinfeld Bridal in 1999 with Mara Urshel and Wayne Rogers, and has been CEO since.
• Took part in planning and building the Manhattan flagship that Kleinfeld moved into in 2005, and in expanding the brand nationally and internationally.
• Appears in “Say Yes to the Dress”, which began filming at Kleinfeld in 2006.
• Announced in January 2026 a partnership placing Generation Tux’s first Manhattan showroom inside the Kleinfeld flagship.

Professional Journey

Rothstein’s early career was in law and hospitality. After graduating from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania he practised law in Miami, and held a series of management positions at the Eden Roc Hotel in Miami Beach. Through the 1980s and 1990s he and his Los Angeles-based partner Arnold Perry ran Perry Rothstein Partners, a boutique investment banking firm that provided capital, business strategy and consulting services to companies.

Kleinfeld came to him as an investment. The business had been founded in 1941 by the Kleinfeld family as a single Brooklyn storefront with three dressing rooms, and had changed hands twice in the 1990s: sold by the family to Michel Zelnik and venture capitalists in 1990, then acquired by Gordon Brothers Capital in 1996. In 1999 Rothstein bought it together with Mara Urshel, a luxury retail executive who had spent two decades at Saks Fifth Avenue, and Wayne Rogers, the actor known for M*A*S*H. Rothstein became CEO and Urshel President, and the company describes the two as devoting all of their time to running it.

The largest change of their tenure was the move to Manhattan. In 2005 Kleinfeld opened a renovated 35,000 square foot store with 28 dressing rooms and some 1,500 designer sample dresses, a project the company says both owners were involved in planning and building. The following year TLC began filming “Say Yes to the Dress” there, and Rothstein appears on the show. The company also credits the pair with expanding the Kleinfeld brand nationally and internationally.

Kleinfeld has continued to add to the flagship. In January 2026 it announced a partnership with Generation Tux, which opened its first Manhattan showroom on the store’s second floor to sell and rent suits and tuxedos. Rothstein, announcing it as CEO, said the arrangement brought “high-quality menswear and dedicated service under one roof”.

Education

The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Kleinfeld states that he graduated from Wharton but does not name the degree or year.