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Laura E. Solomon

Email: adc886@r.postjobfree.com • Phone: 610-***-****

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Macy’s, New York, NY

Director of Buying, Home April 2019 to present

Director of Planning, Ready-To-Wear July 2016 to March 2019 Responsibilities

· Forecast demand on a rolling 18 month basis by taking into account both historic and recent trends, seasonality, and changes in promotional activity

· Purchase finished goods to achieve appropriate inventory levels, satisfy demand, and constantly communicate anticipated changes with production teams from private label and market vendors

· Negotiate pricing on finished goods and plan promotional activities to support margin goals

· Lead a team of four analysts to manage both stores and digital business with annual volume of $350 million

· Point person for all relationships with vendors, site merchandising, data science, financial planning, marketing, and field teams

· Partner with data science team on all distribution strategies

· Advocate for all region, climate, volume group, and channel strategies during the product development process and execute those strategies during market

· Focus on customer experience, especially online, by directly controlling site navigation, product images and descriptions, expanded drop-ship assortments, and tailored pricing strategies Achievements

· Promoted to buyer

· Nominated by my VP as the RTW expert to finalize, test, and implement a new company-wide demand planning tool

· Created an excel based template used by the entire RTW division to summarize key metrics of each buy and trained all planners on use

· Consulted for the data science team to provide a planning point-of-view on a new tool which more accurately helps to determine appropriate buy quantities before company-wide implementation

· Demonstrated ability to manage talent in the company’s best interest: Trained, mentored, and eventually promoted four different analysts to their next roles. Successfully exited two underperforming analysts from the company without incident and reassigned a third analyst to a better fitting role within the company.

· Increased sales for my RTW business in Spring 2019 by 8% over previous year and achieved 800 basis points of margin improvement above plan by tailoring assortments to customer preferences and redistributing unproductive inventory

· Grew 2018 Cashmere business 7% over previous year with margin improvement of 140 basis points and grew the 2017 Cashmere business by 4% over previous year with margin improvement of 500 basis points by executing a new tiered pricing strategy based on extensive location level analysis

· Met sales plan and increased margin by 200 basis points for Spring 2018 across entire area of responsibility, mainly driven by an aggressive digital strategy

Macy’s Merchandising Group, New York, NY

Brand Manager, Ready-To-Wear December 2014 to June 2016 Associate Brand Manager, Ready-To-Wear June 2013 to November 2014 Responsibilities

· Focused on brand strategies that influenced the entire development process from concept of the line each season, through market, to the end of the life of the product

· Involved as necessary in managing projects for the entire Charter Club RTW brand (annual sales volume of $270 million)

· Created seasonal strategies to maximize sales and margin, and forecasted demand by category

· Guided product and design teams to develop the line, keeping in mind sales and margin goals and needs by channel, region and size range

· Partnered with buying and planning teams during market to build well-merchandised assortments that tied back to demand forecast and the strategic direction of the brand

· Analyzed business trends weekly at the SKU level, regulated promotions, recommended reorders, and ensured all learnings were used to make smart decisions during the development and buy process

· Developed demand forecasts at a SKU level for all replenishment programs, communicated with production to ensure sufficient supply, maintained a relationship with and handled all negotiations with suppliers Page 2 of 2

Achievements

· Received a promotion to brand manager, picking up one direct report

· Won “Office of the Year” award for special size performance in 2016 based on increased sales, margin, and turn Ross Stores, Inc., New York, NY

Associate Planning Analyst, Licensed Apparel December 2011 to May 2013 Location Planning Analyst II, Licensed Apparel August 2010 to November 2011 Responsibilities

· Managed businesses with annual volume of $85 million and mentored two entry-level analysts

· Forecasted demand on a rolling 18 month basis and developed strategies to achieve margin goals

· Constantly reviewed and assessed the health of 100 classes and recommended and executed plan revisions if necessary

· Partnered with VP and buyer to identify business opportunities and risks

· Produced and presented monthly and quarterly reports to executives that outlined the performance of my business Achievements

· Received a promotion to associate planning analyst

· Nominated by my VP to create and help implement a product comparison report for the company

· Proposed and implemented a hierarchy restructure in order to gain better visibility to growing classifications

· Researched missed opportunities and received an investment from my VP to grow my business

· Streamlined a monthly report process for my division by creating an excel tool

· Trained new hires from many departments on multiple aspects of the business such as retail math theory and excel Loehmann’s, Inc., Bronx, NY

Planner, Ready-To-Wear April 2010 to July 2010

Associate Planner, Ready-To-Wear June 2008 to March 2010 Responsibilities

· Managed businesses with annual sales volume of $46 million

· Forecasted demand on a rolling 18 month basis

· Determined inventory plans for the chain and its 60 stores each season

· Assessed performance of every purchase order on a weekly basis and adjusted strategy as necessary

· Participated in weekly open-to-buy meetings with buyers, planning directors, and executives Achievements

· Received a promotion to planner and was assigned to handle additional volume

· Restructured the petites assortment to better suit our customer which generated an increase in fall 2009 sales versus fall 2008

· Increased gross margin for all of my products for the year ending in January 2009 versus the year ending in January 2008 EDUCATION

Boston University, Boston, MA Graduated May 2008

B.A. in Economics

Cultural Experiences Abroad: Study Abroad Program, Barcelona, Spain January 2007 to April 2007 COMMUNITY SERVICE/ACTIVITIES

New York Cares September 2008 to September 2013

Study Now Play Later Program at the Children’s Aid Society’s Dunlevy Milbank Center

· Assumed project leader role in 2010

· Participated in weekly volunteer activities with approximately 150 children between the ages of 5 and 10 including tutoring, homework help, computer learning, field trips, and physical education activities Big Sister Association of Greater Boston September 2007 to July 2008 Sigma Delta Tau, Alpha Xi Chapter at Boston University Proficient in MS Excel, MS Power Point, MS Word, MicroStrategy, JDA, Atlassian Jira, PIM systems Experience with Tableau and forecasting systems

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