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James P. Birt

**** ***** ****** ***** • Liberty Township, Ohio 45011

513-***-**** (home) • *********@*****.*** 513-***-**** (cell)

Objective: I am seeking a senior sales & marketing management position in a growth –oriented company, where I can apply my 25 years of experience in managing sales teams; penetrating large accounts; developing marketing programs and introducing successful new products.

Professional Skills & Accomplishments:

• Sales Management

• 25 years of sales & marketing management and broker management experience in the foodservice, retail and industrial segments.

• Experience with Fortune 500 companies ranging from Ocean Spray Cranberries (& Pepsi-Cola) to Tyson Foods (Hudson Foods) to start up companies, HealthPro Brands (a spin-off from Procter & Gamble)

• Large Account Penetration

• Established relationships with Sysco, US Foodservice, GFS, UniPro, Frosty Acres, Sam’s, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Costco, Circle K, 7-Eleven, Aramark, Compass, Sodexho and large end users.

• New Program/Product Introduction

• Multiple successes introducing Ocean Spray (Pepsi-Cola), Pierre Foods (a division of Hudson Foods) & Tyson and other products into the convenience store, mass merchandiser, foodservice, retail/grocery and health & hospital channels.

• Sales Team Training & Development

• Repeated successes hiring, building and training national and regional account teams and broker teams to serve retail, foodservice and institutional channels.

Employment History

Director of Sales HealthPro Brands 2006-2009

• Instrumental in building foodservice and industrial segment for P&G spin-off

• Hired and trained broker sales force of 30 organizations

• Developed Sales and Marketing plan to penetrate education, foodservice, hospital, national accounts and Jan/San channels and a redistribution program with Dot Foods.

Regional Sales Manager Townsends, Inc 2003-2006

• Increased sales by 800% in first year

• Established new relationships with Sysco, US Foodservice, Steak’NShake and others

• Managed 11 broker organizations

Regional Sales Manager Coastlog Industries 2002-2003

(Company went out of business in 2004)

• Hired, trained and managed 15 broker organizations and 2 district managers

• Introduced new line of shelf-stable, milk and juice products to hospital and school systems.

Regional Manager Willow Brook Foods 1994-2002

(Spin off of Tyson, MCMI and Hudson Foods)

• Responsible for P&L, management and hiring of brokers in seven states

• Developed sales relationships with Sam’s, BJ Wholesale Club and Costco.

• Managed retail national account coverage of Kroger, Winn-Dixie, Topco, President’s Choice (Loblaw), Safeway, and others nationally.

• Managed start-up division (National Sales Manager for Pierre Foods, Hudson Foods) that established relationship with Southland Corporation, increasing sales by 180% vs previous year. Managed regional managers and new product venture team that included product development and marketing managers.

National Accounts Manager Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc 1986-1994

• Managed seven Pepsi Cola accounts managers covering convenience and petroleum channels.

• Developed and implemented “NFL Program” promoting Ocean Spray, Frito-Lay and Pepsi in 50,000 convenience stores.

• Established account relationships with Southland Corporation (7-Eleven), Circle K, Marriott, Aramark, McLane, Core-Mark, and VSA/Vistar.

• Developed business segment within the Business & Industry feeders, Vending, & Convenience Store segments. Managed key account manager and support staff.

Education & Training:

• Bachelor of Science Degree, Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

• Master's degree course work Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

• Executive Management Training - University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

• Total Quality Improvement System-Organizational Dynamics, Plymouth, Massachusetts

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