Merchandising Professional

Top-performing multi-channel retail merchandising executive. General management expertise in a wide range of business functions including: e-commerce, merchandising, inventory management, operations, strategy development, promotional management, vendor relations, negotiations and financial management. Proven track record of delivering high level P&L performance, market share gains and building high-performance teams.

Professional Experience

BEST BUY CORPORATION – Minneapolis, Minnesota (1994 – 2018)

Vice President Ecommerce Category Management (2015 – June 2018)

Senior E-Commerce Leader of Bestbuy.com responsible for $3.0+B in online revenue and expanded profitability. Led high performing leadership team with 6 direct reports and 75-person team.

Corporate officer participating in several cross-functional leadership teams including corporate compliance committee, business IT prioritization team and Diversity and Inclusion team.

Led team responsible for comprehensive online customer experience. Categories included: appliances, home theater, digital imaging, gaming, entertainment, connected home and services. Efforts were highly collaborative with key organizational constituents including merchandising, marketing, technology and fulfillment.

Developed online category strategy and business plans to deliver revenue and margin targets and represented the strategic category needs to influence technology and process roadmaps.

Lead site merchandising and optimization inclusive of providing insights and taking actions leveraging site analytics.

Vice President Merchandising – Entertainment & Car Electronics (2012 – 2016)

Merchant and Supply Chain Leader for Best Buy’s $6B Entertainment & Car Electronics businesses which include Gaming, Movies, Music, Musical Instruments and Car Electronics.

Led a 70-person merchant, demand planning and space team representing domestic revenues of $6B in all channels; instore and online.

Directed business operations, strategy development, planning, assortment optimization, pricing strategy, P&L management, financial management, marketing integration, and talent development.

Led teams in the development of annual/long-range category planning for retail and digital channels.

Integrated all functional capabilities supporting the Entertainment group in the execution of operational plans and delivery of performance goals. Functions included: Marketing, Supply Chain, Retail Operations, Dotcom, Strategy, Customer Insights, Services, and Finance.

Developed and managed executive level vendor relationships and lead all major negotiations.

Led the merchant organization through major operational transformation initiatives in the Movies/Music and Gaming businesses, which drove annual cost savings of $100M and incremental revenue of $300M.

Vice President Merchandising – Portable Electronics (2010 – 2012)

Merchant Leader for Best Buy’s $5.5B Portable Electronics business which included Digital Imaging, MP3 Players, Headphone, Speakers, and Car Electronics.

Led a 25-person merchant team responsible for assortment, promotion, pricing, vendor strategy and management in all channels; instore and online.

Led teams in the development of long range business plan for each category that dramatically grew market share in the headphone and Digital SLR category by over 300bps, developed a Joint Venture in the Commercial Car business with Car Toys and launched the action camcorder (GoPro) category.

Primary leader responsible for driving the business performance management, financial forecasting and budgeting process including the entire P&L view of the category.

Responsible for team leadership, management and talent development of over 25 merchants.

Leader of the cross-category merchant leadership team which provides direction and guidance in the areas of global vendor standards, merchant talent management, training and development, system and tool development and merchant business rhythms.

Merchandising Director – Digital Imaging (2007 – 2010)

Drove Best Buy’s fast growing and highly profitable $3B Digital Imaging category which included digital cameras, camcorders, flash memory, accessories and services.

Developed the assortment, vendor, promotional and pricing strategy for the $3 billion Digital Imaging business and lead the team to significant increases to all measureable performance metrics.

Produced significant market share gains in all DI categories for three consecutive years.

Developed three-year category strategy that provided for continued operating profit growth in a declining market. Increased assortment, space and inventory investment in fast growth DSLR and Lens category while optimizing the mix of declining categories like compact cameras and traditional camcorders.

Aggressively grew private label business in cameras, camcorders and a wide range of accessories to give Best Buy exclusive, differentiated product with enhanced profit margins.

Participated in the merchant talent development working team which developed and implemented a Merchant skills foundation and career progression that is being utilized today.

Additional Best Buy Work History

Merchandising Director – Video Games (June 2005 – March 2007)

Business Team Leader (Director) – Home Theater Source (April 2003 – May 2005)

Senior Buyer – Digital Camcorders and Accessories (July 2001 – March 2003)

Senior Buyer – Computer Peripherals and Accessories (April 2000 – June 2001)

Senior Buyer – Printing Consumables and Office Suppliers (June 1999 – March 2000)

Buyer – Computer Peripherals (February 1998 - June 1999)

Buyer – Computer Software (August 1996 – February 1998)

Space Management (September 1994 – July 1996)

Education

Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Marketing Education – Minor – Business Administration

University of Wisconsin – Stout

Professional Affiliations

Entertainment Merchants Association - Board of Directors (2014 – 2017)

Consumer Electronics Association – Automotive Electronics Division – Board of Directors (2012 – 2013)

UW – Stout Retail Merchandising – Industry Advisory Board (2006 – 2010)

Co-Founder and President – Cooking 4 A Cause – (2013 – present)

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