Sally Gearhart

Walnut Creek, CA *****

Ph: 925-***-**** e-mail: hwg4mv@r.postjobfree.com

CAREER SUMMARY

A sales and strategic sourcing professional with expertise in procurement and technical knowledge of packaging. Maintained strong relationships with R&D, plants and suppliers. Ability to engage and lead cross-functional and cross-business unit teams. A proven negotiator, closer and contract manager. Excellent communication skills and trained/skilled in all Microsoft programs (Excel, Word, Powerpoint), Outlook and Time Management. Possess an analytical mindset, trained in business school to research, analyse, and interpret data and make solid conclusions. Developed action plans and reported clearly to key stakeholders. Sales experience lends years of relationship development and a key understanding of customer service.

2013 -present

Contractor Packaging Procurement &Sales

*Elvie International project manager sourcing for packaging

*UC Berkeley procurement in student housing sector

*Container company business development using Sales Force

2011-2013

Cosmogen. Director of Sales Cosmetic Packaging Western & Central U S

2010-2011 Fernqvist Labelling Solutions

Sold pressure sensitive labels & printers in Northern California market

2003 -2009 American Fuji Seal Western Regional Sales Manager

Sold shrink sleeve labels & microwaveable labels to food and beverage markets

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE PROCUREMENT 5+ YEARS

Clorox Oakland, CA Purchasing Manager Resin and Resin Based Packaging 2000-2003

Nestle USA Glendale, CA. Category Manager, Plastic Packaging 1998-2000

Purchasing manager for the largest commodity within Clorox, plastic resin for Glad products and Clorox bleach bottles and supporting packaging.

Saved millions annually through strategic sourcing practices and incorporating upgrades in needed technology

Managed commodity resin price fluctuation to stabilize packaging spends and company stock price.

Transitioned plants to new improved resins by using flexible packaging technical skills.

Procurement team lead on launch of new product introductions, including Glad-ware, Liquid Clorox 2, Hidden Valley Ranch/KC Masterpiece, and the redesign of the Cat Litter bucket containers.

Responsible for largest spend of all resin based packaging cross-divisionally within Nestle USA (Beverage, Chocolate, Culinary, Food Service, Ice Cream, and Nutrition). Included were flexible packaging, bottles, caps, injection and thermoformed containers.

Used Strategic Sourcing to determine vendor selection and to appraise their capabilities and price/cost competitiveness.

Negotiated and re-wrote contracts to prevent losses and stock fluctuation and devaluation.

Tracked plastic resin markets and reported to corporate management trends and financial impacts on packaging costs.

Project management team participation. One task was to have a new supplier of large containers retrofit an existing plant to shorten shipping distance and allow a JIT delivery program, saving freight and warehouse space.

Utilized modern procurement bid tools such as Procuri and on line auctions.

Used cost modeling to determine cost of resin and packaging to control supplier margins and margin creep.

Proficient in Microsoft programs such as Excel, Word, Powerpoint and Outlook.

SAP, MRP and ERP trained.

Worked with supply chain to ensure supply assurance and quality standards.

Generated monthly reports, allowing management to understand the resin and packaging markets and the impact they have on supply assurance and total cost to the products manufactured.

EDUCATION

Masters of Business Administration, Pepperdine University

Bachelors of Science, Agricultural Business, Iowa State University

Graduated with Honors; Phi Kappa Phi; Gamma Sigma Delta

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE SALES 15+ YEARS: Plastic packaging and capital equipment sales and leasing

Norse Dairy Systems (former division of Nestle Ice Cream). Columbus, OH. Regional Sales Manager 1996-1998

Alcan/Pechiney/American National Can Co., Chicago, IL. Sales Manager, Plastic/Laminate Tubes/Bottles, Flexible Films 1986-1996

Multi-million dollar territories in flexible films, bottles and caps, plastic and laminate tubes and shrink, microwave, IML, cut and stack labels.

Accounts included: Nestle, Clorox, Safeway, Conagra, Hormel, Dial, Bolthouse Farms, Darigold, Mary Kay, Helene Curtis, Giorgio, Redken, Merle Norman, Blistex, and Amway.

Markets: Food, Beverage, Dairy and Ice Cream, Industrial, Cosmetic, Pharmaceutical

Sold labeling application equipment and leased ice cream novelty manufacturing equipment in manufacturing plants. Presented financial analyses and points of competitive differentiation.

Printing proficiency in rotogravure, flexography, offset lithography.

Technical expertise in packaging manufacturing and new packaging development.

Acquired new accounts to grow territories by multi-million dollars at all assignments

Grew existing business by 10’s of millions of dollars at key account

Regained accounts that had left by re-establishing credibility of the company image and deliverables

Responsible for placement of filling equipment with a packaging tie-in to ice cream novelty producers.

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