William Christopher "Chris" Strohm
Mobile 479-***-****
Rogers, AR 72758 *****.******@***.***
Residence 479-***-****
Top-Tier Sales & Operations Management Professional
With Extensive Experience & Expertise In:
Customer Logistics ... National Account Management ... Supply Chain
Management
Senior-level sales and customer logistics professional responsible for
building and managing the relationship between the $12B Cadbury Division of
Kraft Foods and Cadbury's premiere national account, $405B Walmart and
Sam's Club. Logistics management expert who uses extensive experience in
sales, customer service, manufacturing, purchasing, warehousing, packaging,
and transportation to envision and create mutually-beneficial initiatives
to strengthen the on-going value of the business cooperation for both
Cadbury and Walmart.
Seasoned analytical thinker who championed and implemented a unique
inventory management/stock replenishment program that increased Cadbury's
sales $500K year-to-date and is projected to add $1.5M in incremental sales
per year, with even higher annual sales benefits to retail market partner
Walmart/Sam's Club. Operations management expert who introduced and
championed the utilization of the "Cost to Serve" methodology with Welch
Foods, Inc., to focus the company on improving profits by managing the
costs of doing business with customers. Recognized by colleagues for his
unwavering honesty and integrity, exceptional leadership and inter-personal
skills, proven negotiating prowess, and the ability to create a continuum
of innovative approaches to improve revenues and profitability.
Relationship Management ... Performance Management ... Strategic Account
Management Profit Improvements ... P&L Management ... Negotiations ... Team
Leadership & Motivation
Process Improvement ... Change Management ... Project Management ...
Strategic Planning
Team Building ... Training & Development ... Executive Presentations ...
Strategic Sourcing
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
NYSE:KFT Kraft Foods, Cadbury PLC Division, Bentonville, AR . 2006-Present
(Formerly Cadbury Schweppes)
$40B Kraft Foods acquired $12B Cadbury in February of 2010 creating the 2nd
largest food company in the world. The Cadbury Division of Kraft Foods is
the largest confectionary company in the world.
Customer Logistics Manager, Bentonville, AR
Charged with senior-level sales responsibility for management of all supply
chain and customer logistics to grow the $300M Walmart and Sam's Club
account that represent about 25% of Cadbury's total US sales. Calls on
clients' Replenishment Managers to maximize sales and manage key
performance indicators that are important to the customer including
replenishable in-stocks, inventory turns, retail inventory productivity,
must arrive by date, on-time delivery, and reduction of retail store-level
inventory. Creates a strong partnership with key internal colleagues to
maximize collaboration on packaging and product needs to maintain market
leadership.
. Instrumental in the implementation of a new inventory/automated
reordering process that increased sales to Walmart $500K year-to-date
and is projected to increase annual revenues by $1.5M.
. Utilized extensive merchandising and packaging expertise as member of
team that formulated an innovative method of displaying boxed chewing
gum that is projected to decrease inventory by 40% and increase store
facings by 30%, substantially changing the way boxed gum is sold.
. Key player in developing improved gum packaging design that reduced
the cost of displaying gum at the cash registers by $1.7M.
. Employed seasoned customer relationship management skills to
continually grow mission-critical revenues and profits from Walmart
and Sam's Club while managing the potential effects of turnover of 19
Replenishment Managers at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club since 2006.
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William Christopher "Chris" Strohm . *****.******@***.***
Welch Foods Inc., Concord, MA . 2004-2006
$700M Private growers cooperative with approximately 1,000 employees that
sell Concord (purple) and Niagara (white) grape juice products.
Manager, Customer Logistic Solutions
Senior sales responsibility for selling logistic solutions to about 30
customers in the drug, mass, club, value, DSD, and food services segments
than represented one-third of total revenues. Member of Special Markets
Team who led key customer meetings to leverage strong service metrics,
discuss value added opportunities, and understand implications of new
customer logistic initiatives.
. Introduced and implemented a "Cost-to-Serve" process that caused the
company to analyze and determine the cost of selling to each customer
from a supply chain perspective, enabling the company to increase
profitability by improving transactional efficiencies.
. Spearheaded the relocation and re-engineering of the Logistics
Coordinator Department from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts. Hired and
trained new employees and completed the successful relocation within 6
months.
Clorox Sales Company, Alpharetta, GA . 1994-2004
NYSE:CLX Leading manufacturer and marketer of consumer products with FY
2009 revenues of $5.5B.
Specialty Channel Supply Chain Manager, Alpharetta, GA
Customer Service Team Leader, Norcross, GA
Materials, Quality, & Purchasing Manager, Pearl, MS
Production Supervisor, Pearl, MS
Promoted through positions of increasing responsibility in production,
materials, quality and purchasing management, and customer service to
become Specialty Channel Supply Chain Manager with responsibility for 32
major customers in the drug, home and hardware, dollar, convenience,
department specialty, and military channels. Created and implemented
innovative supply chain solutions to increase sales and reduce operating
costs.
. Saved over $200M annually by developing a single-point pricing
strategy in the drug channel that reduced pricing deductions and
improved business processes from the customers' perspective.
. Key player in achieving a 30% growth in sales from key customers in 2
years by co-developing an innovative quarter pallet display chassis in
the home and hardware channel.
. Reduced Clorox warehousing and transportation costs by collaborating
with value channel customers to develop a unique distribution network.
. Sold customized backhaul program in the dollar channel that yielded
over $1M of annual revenue to customers and created high-levels of
customer satisfaction and loyalty.
. Directed 12 Order Management Specialists and Continuous Replenishment
Analysts as Customer Service Team Leader.
. Administered a $15M purchasing budget and sourced products both
domestically and internationally.
. Spearheaded quality improvements and delivered cost savings of $800K
by partnering with vendors on quality and cost initiatives.
. Led and directed a production workforce of up to 100 employees.
. Improved production efficiency from 55% to 85% by training and
empowering production operators and the maintenance group.
Career Notes: Additional management experience as Plant Manager, Hickory
Springs Mfg. Co.; Plant Manager, Thonet-Madison Furniture Industries;
Production Supervisor, Pilliod, Inc.; and Branch Manager/Customer Sales
Manager/Production Manager, with Carpenter Company.
EDUCATION & CREDENTIALS
BBA, Management
Mississippi State University,
Starkville, MS Page 2