Marketing & Branding Executive Leader

Michele Barbone

**** ****** **., ************ **, 19103. 215-***-**** . ********@*****.***

Summary:

Executive Consultant with experience partnering with a Senior team, Board members and Private Equity Partners. A seasoned leader for 20+ years who is able to grow and manage new and existing business entities. Accomplished in the digital arena and able to lead strategy, development and operational processes. Skills include expertise in marketing, E-commerce, design oversight, advertising, PR, organization structure, team building, staff management, supply chain optimization, cost reductions, merchandising, product development, licensing, planning, reporting and analytics. Career is comprised of working with large public department and specialty stores, small companies and mid market privately held companies as well as digital start-ups. Employment history includes Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Urban Outfitters, Inc. Anthropologie and Terrain divisions, Destination Maternity, Rodale Publishings rodales.com, abc Carpet & Home, Simon Pearce, Lenox Corporation and more. Category experience in Women’s apparel, outdoor fitness apparel, accessories, beauty, jewelry and home.

Experience:

Tilt 23.4 LLC., Consulting, Phila PA 2011 - Present President & Owner

Providing expertise, guidance and solutions in marketing, merchandising, planning & analytics, design direction, trend forecasting, product content, business strategies, E-commerce initiatives and more.

● Vivienne Tam, a women’s luxury fashion collection named after owner & designer Vivienne Tam, NYC Created a line plan for the Spring 2012 Collection and assisted in merchandising the line to optimize wholesale revenue.

● Terrain; a garden, home and outdoor lifestyle brand, a division of Urban Outfitters Inc., Philadelphia, PA Developed a women’s accessory business, recommended an assortment and vendor base to complement Terrain’s indoor/outdoor lifestyle. Successfully launched the accessory business in all channels, and created a process and format from which future buyers could operate. Project resulted in a 65% sales increase .

● abc carpet & home; a private luxury home furnishing & lifestyle brand, headquartered in NYC Engagement to assist in transitioning my former responsibilities as General Mgr. to new team while website platform upgrade was in progress. Result: a smooth transition, successful upgrade, uninterrupted workflow .

● Elie Tahari; a global luxury lifestyle brand, fashion clothing & accessories, operated in NYC Led merchandising team resulting in a successful launch of the Fall 2017 collection.

● Krain Enterprises, a private outdoor advertising & sign company based in Philadelphia, PA Worked with the team to redesign their WordPress website. Created a Marketing Strategy to increase customer base and revenue.

● Madeline Weinrib, a private design and textile company based in NYC Work Experience:

Lenox Corporation, Bristol PA 2017 - 2019

Private Equity company specializing in producing high quality pieces for the table, the home and all gift giving occasions. Corporate brands include Lenox, Dansk and Reed & Barton plus established licensed brands Kate Spade and Marchesa. Chief Marketing & Merchandising Officer

New leadership role created to plan, direct and coordinate market research, advertising, pr, design oversight, product development & assortment, branding and national marketing for wholesale, retail and E-commerce channels. Managed all licenses including Disney.

● Managed design, merchandising, marketing, product copy, visual merchandising and showroom management teams.

● Lead first and second qualitative market research projects

● Developed marketing strategy that focused on digital vs. print advertising, social media engagement, an increase in traffic and customer acquisition.

● Created brand guidelines and brand content to be shared both internally to employees and to external partners

● Improved Product Development timeline, process and assortment with focus on consumer needs and casual lifestyle which resulted in better adoption rates

● Initiated change within the organization to break down silos and invoke an omni channel point of view.

● Improved P&L via better license agreements, sample cost reductions, target marketing, reduction in agency fees.

● Strategic partner with sales team creating all collateral, marketing materials and was an active partner with all vendors. Simon Pearce, Windsor VT 2015 - 2016

Private mid market glass & pottery manufacturer selling product through wholesale, retail and E-commerce channels. Executive, Vice President of Merchandising & Planning Engaged as lead Merchant to develop a merchandising, planning & marketing strategy for Simon Pearce Wholesale, Retail and E-commerce channels. Reported to CEO.

● Management/Provided Leadership at an Executive level: developed strategic plan for the Board.

● Omni-Channel Marketing Strategy Development: improved process, created a monthly calendar.

● Mitigated Wholesale Sales loss: repriced line to meet customer demands, improved costs, provided a larger assortment that better met the demands of the consumer.

● Improved Retail Customer Experience +15% Sales: monthly planograms, improved visual presentation, aligned messaging with website, improved inventory content by store

● Planning/Reduced inventory by 10%: improved inventory composition, managed inventory to plan, monitored manufacturing with VP of Production

● Merchandising/ Improved GM by 1.5% via IMU: recruited buyer, integrated communications with design, created a line plan that aligned with sales plan, directed product assortment abc carpet & home, NYC 2013 - 2016

Private luxury home furnishing & lifestyle brand. Operating retail stores in NYC, Delray Beach FL and online. General Merchandise Manager & Director of E-commerce Lead the home division and reported to President and owner/ Creative Chairman. Responsible for P&L overseeing Retail & E-commerce Merchandising, Strategic Planning, and Inventory Control. Managed 23 people: merchant’s, web operations, photo studio crew and copywriting.

● Improved Retail Sales +15%: 30% increase in non furniture as a result of improved supply chain, product content and inventory management.

● Increased E-commerce Sales +45%: developed and implemented new operational process for the website. Timeline for getting new product on line shortened from 2 months to 3 weeks.

● Reduced Inventory Shortage: Spearheaded a program to monitor process, identified weakness, shortened reconciliation timeline, hired outside firm to perform stock inventory.

● Successfully managed platform upgrade to Magento 2.0

● Worked with former President to develop a more robust design/contract business. Rodales LLC, a Division of Rodale Inc., Emmaus, PA 2012 - 2013 Private US publisher of health and wellness magazines, books & digital properties. Executive Director of Merchandising, Rodales.com

Key member of the team that successfully launched Rodale Publishing Company’s first online shopping experience. The focus was on health and fitness to align with key magazines including, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Runners World, Bicycling

● Developed organic /sustainable assortment, planning strategy & reporting, merchandising strategy for the following categories: outdoor apparel, Women’s apparel & accessories, beauty, food, wellness, and home.. Anthropologie/Urban Outfitters Inc., Philadelphia, PA 2007 - 2011 Anthropologie is a specialty chain selling women’s wear, shoes, accessories, home, wedding & cosmetics. Director of Women’s Apparel & Accessories, E-commerce & Catalog Managed E-commerce & Catalog merchandising. Accountable for 82% or $700 million sales volume.

● Consistently achieve sales and margin goals year over year Destination Maternity Corporation, Philadelphia PA 2003 - 2007 The world’s largest designer and retailer of maternity apparel now based in Moorestown, NJ. Vice President & General Merchandise Mgr, A Pea in the Pod and Mimi Maternity Managed $260M in combined sales and oversaw a 32 person team. Responsible for P&L.

● Promoted from Divisional Merchandise Manager. to General Merchandise Manager. to VP/GMM Saks Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 1996 - 2003

Buyer, Suits & Dresses, Buyer Bridge Collections, Sr. Buyer European/US Advanced & Contemporary Collections

● Consecutively met and often exceeded sales, gross margin and inventory turn expectations. Macy’s, New York, NY 1987 - 1996

● Achieved career progression from Sales Associate to Senior Buyer. Education:

Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY

The Masters of Arts Program: Italian Renaissance Art History Program with study in Florence, Italy. Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA

Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts: Minor in Italian Studies. One year at Dickinson Bologna, Italy Program

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