Leadership Profile
Global CEO with high effectiveness in the management of design, merchandising, production, sales, marketing, and finance functions. As a purpose-driven leader, nurtured staff to increase responsibility and build organizational talent, which led to dramatic increases in stakeholder value. Produced proven results by establishing strategic direction and scalable growth along with production efficiency which achieved record EBITDA for such iconic companies as Liz Claiborne, Hudson’s Bay Company, and the Tamara Mellon brand. Experienced in operational leadership as well as board positions and consulting roles.
Expertise
Strategy, Private Equity, International Development, Retail Industry, Multi-Location/Channel Strategy, Board Experience, Retail Growth, Brand Management, Mergers and Acquisitions, E-Commerce/Digital MarketingCRM/Loyalty, Global Sourcing, Manufacturing, Organizational Structuring
Professional Experience
G2 Capital Advisors, Boston, MA
Managing Director, 2016-Present
· Created value through thoughtful leadership and strategic direction on a project to project basis for companies that are experiencing stagnant growth, financial challenges, channel conflicts, operational inefficiencies, sourcing limitations and organizational structure issues.
· Aligned the largest textile recycling company in North America with a largely publicly traded apparel company to create a green sustainable initiative encompassing both the eastern and western hemisphere.
· Evolving a strategic direction for a children’s apparel company that operates in the mass market channel and creating a new financial model for them to operate within.
NYC Alliance, New York, NY
President/COO, 2014-2015
· Coordinated daily operations and drove strategic direction for a private label woman’s apparel company that performed design, product development, sourcing, manufacturing and logistics.
· Managed operations inclusive of sales, marketing, merchandise planning, logistics, sourcing and production. Achieved a 16% increase in bookings for 2014 and a forecast increase of 12% for 2015.
· Reorganized the design group and production team and implemented a product development team.
· Developed a new calendar inclusive of all processes for sales, design and production.
The Tamara Mellon Brand, New York, NY
Co-Founder, President/CEO, Board Member, 2012-2013
· Established and implemented the strategic direction and vision of the Tamara Mellon brand with a multi-channel approach, including retail, wholesale, e-commerce, and international markets.
· Managed the day-to-day responsibility for all operations, both in the US and internationally, inclusive of sales, marketing, legal, finance, merchandise planning, logistics, sourcing and production.
· Partnered with factories in Italy and Asia and local factories for sample production and small orders.
· Arranged supply chain and logistics with third party providers in the US and in Europe.
· Developed e-commerce strategy and launched multi-national websites, merchandising architecture, and digital marketing, including social media and blogging.
· Located and built-out office space in New York, Paris, London and Italy.
· Recruited 22 professionals internationally to support ready-to-wear, shoes, and handbag categories, including design, production, marketing, sales, operations, finance, and merchandise planning.
· Directed all financial activities including budget management, currency hedges, and wire transfers.
· Shipped $4.0 million in the first quarter of shipping, beating plan by 60%.
Hudson’s Bay Company, Toronto, Canada/New York, NY
President/COO, Specialty Retail and Global Sourcing, 2009-2012
· Oversaw HomeOutfitters and Fields businesses and built a global sourcing organization across all of Hudson’s Bay Company— Lord & Taylor, Hudson’s Bay, Zellers, HomeOutfitters and Fields.
· Retooled management team at Home Outfitters to bring lasting improvements in marketing, store operations, localized planning, financial disciplines, product procurement and created a brand architecture by category.
· Instituted business disciplines and created process maps and calendars to optimize buys and maximize direct import opportunities at HomeOutfitters, increasing private label from 14% to 29% of sales.
· Completed store productivity analysis and reflowed stores to ensure consistency by product category which drove the dollars per square foot up 19% in 2 years.
· Restructured the management team in the Fields business and created a new model emulating the general store concept across the 169 doors.
· Selected and oversaw implementation of comprehensive company software; established a financial tracking tool to capture YOY cost savings due to a new global sourcing model.
Loyaltex Apparel Inc., New York, NY
President, 2008-2009
· Managed daily operations and drove strategic direction for this trading and sourcing company that performed product development, sourcing, manufacturing, and logistics for its customer base. Developed new customers whose goals and values are strategically aligned.
· Oversaw product development for men’s and women’s across all classifications with a focus in denim.
· Managed key account teams in both men’s and women’s servicing Aeropostle, Destination Maternity (Pea in the Pod, Mother Works, Oh Baby), Avenue, Alfred Dunner, TJX, Sanmar and Dickies.
Liz Claiborne, New York, NY/Hong Kong
Managing Director—Business Development Asia/Corporate SVP Global Sourcing and Manufacturing (2005-2008) Group President (Brands) (2001-2005), President (Apparel) (1998-2001), VP/GM (Liz & Co., Liz Golf) (1997-1998), VP Sales (Liz Sport & Liz Golf) (1996-1997)
· Resided in Hong Kong (2005-2008) and explored business opportunities for LCI Brands while strategically realigning ten Asian offices (1550 associates) and operations
· Successfully managed the global sourcing and manufacturing of approximately 40 brands ($4.7 billion) – apparel, non-apparel, cosmetics and fragrance—in the LCI portfolio.
· Negotiated a Joint Venture contract with Lane Crawford to bring freestanding Juicy Couture stores to Asia; Opened 14 Juicy Stores in 14 months- Oct. ‘06 through Nov. ‘07, (stores performed 40% ahead of sales plan for ‘07) with 21 new stores scheduled in ’08 & early ’09.
· Re-engineered Asia operations by closing offices, building new strategically located offices in Shenzhen, China and Bangalore, India, co-located associates at strategic vendors, and reduced headcount which saved $22 million.
· Reorganized the sourcing and manufacturing world into global teams ($16mm savings).
· Led a strategic reorganization that realigned the Liz Claiborne division structure and created a customer centric sales organization maintaining $1B business.
· Launched and nourished several Brands under the LCI portfolio e.g. Liz Golf ($40mm), Tapemeasure ($35mm), Intuitions ($25mm), LIZ, and Swe.
· Drove double-digit growth in sales and operating profit in the LCI group (2001-2004).
· Reorganized and realigned division structure by consolidating Liz sport, Liz wear, Liz & Co and Liz Collection into one brand to have a lifestyle collection at retail.
· Launched “Liz Qwik” from concept to market in <12 weeks, generating $26 million in year one.
· Successfully reversed a three-year decline in the Liz Sport business, achieving $450mm; grew the business from $179 million to $236 million by adding a “Separates” item category.
· Started the Liz Golf business and grew it to $40 million through a grass roots marketing approach and differentiating product for green grass shops vs. department stores.
Nygard, Gardena, CA
Vice President Sales and Marketing, 1992-1996
· Opened approximately 500 doors including Dillard’s, Saks Inc., May Company, and Belk Stores.
I.B. Diffusion, Chicago, IL Vice President Sales and Marketing, 1987-1992
· Grew the company from $45 million to $87 million while managing 36 salespeople and six offices.
· Developed a private label program for Spiegel and Casual Corner adding $12 million in sales.
Levi Strauss (Division—Koret of California), San Francisco, CA Senior Account Executive, 1982-1986
Education
Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI BA in Business Administration, Economics Concentration
Continued Education/Professional Development
Postgraduate work: Courses at both MIT and Harvard
Center for Creative Leadership, Colorado Springs, CO
Leadership Development Programs
Board Positions
Jersey Battered Women’s Service, Board of Directors, 2004-2005
American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, Board of Directors, 2006-2007
StyleHop, Board of Directors, 2008-2010
Tamara Mellon Brand, Board of Directors, 2013
Colton Dane, Advisory Board of Directors, 2014-2015
Growth Doesn’t Mean “Grow Your Expenses”
Situation
As Liz Claiborne went into acquisition mode to become more diversified and to grow top line and bottom line numbers it also grew its back-end operational expenses. As new companies were acquired, the cost of running back-end operations swelled to over 5% from historical numbers of 3.5-4%. Liz Claiborne was having great success in its business model but had lost sight of some of the complexity that comes with acquisitions. It seemed that every time a new company was acquired, new employees and more offices in Asia were added. The symptoms were significant and were growing: Liz Claiborne Inc. was experiencing missed delivery dates for several of its brands, and margins were going in the wrong direction with no accountability; in addition, there were multiple product development issues and adversarial relationships between the US and Asian operations. Since some of the brands were based on the West coast, the time difference from Asia was as much as -15 hours, making the challenges even more acute.
Strategy and Execution
Clearly, the company needed to become a global organization working together instead of operating as different divisions in opposition to each other. A multi-prong approach would be necessary, focusing mostly on finding more synergy, cost benefit analysis by business unit, and communication processes to promote unity and efficiency.
· Drove more communication and better collaboration between the US and Asia operations; this included videoconferencing and frequent summary emails
· Devised ways to use technology to enhance collaboration and deliver better product
· Shattered old paradigms by implementing a scorecard system for vendors to determine which ones were able to work with designers directly, bypassing Asian offices and improving efficiency
· Reworked the calendar to reduce product development time
· Formulated a long-term plan to consolidate Asian offices and maximized job responsibilities while eliminating duplication across the sourcing and manufacturing organization globally
· Analyzed, reorganized, and re-engineered back-end processes for efficiency
Results
· New communication processes resulted in face-to-face interactions, reducing errors and helping meet deadlines
· Reduced overhead in global operations by eliminating costs in the supply chain
· Back-end costs were reduced to 4% after implementing the comprehensive supply-chain strategy
· The supplier base was reduced from 650 to 425 for 38 brands over 2.5 years
· Altogether the supply-chain strategy resulted in a cost savings > $30 million in a three-year time period
Drive for Results
Situation
The Hudson Bay Company had not been profitable over the course of the past several years. The company was comprised of a mass retailer, two department stores, home stores, and a general store. When you benchmark them against other conglomerates or their competitors by channel in the retail space, their private brand penetration was roughly 5.5% versus the competition at 22 to 30% depending on the channel. It is very difficult to compete on an EBITDA basis when you are comparing apples and oranges. For example in the department store channel create your own private label for men’s and for women’s apparel inclusive of denim and separates, as well as children’s.
Strategy and Execution
· Set goals to develop home-grown brands in high-performing categories for each store banner; held buyers accountable in monthly meetings for their private label brand penetration
· Drove newness and differentiation for each banner vs. their competition
· Reorganized product development teams by banner and by category based on expertise
· Implemented calendars, processes, and timelines based on product category instead of for an entire collection, saving production lead time
Results
· Private-label business grew collectively from 5.5% penetration to 13% in one year for the Hudson Bay Company
· Improved EBITDA for Hudson Bay by $30 million in the same time period, with EBITDA for Home Outfitters improving by $6 million alone
Empowerment and Delegation Build Successful
Organizations
Situation
The fashion industry has some of the longest lead times in creating product. In general, development calendars are anywhere from 42-52 weeks from inception to actual delivery to the retailers floor or stockrooms When product is being developed this far in advance trends can be missed, which in turn affects bookings and ultimately customer orders. The company needed to implement a program to capture more business that was current and relevant.
Strategy and Execution
To capture missed trends and opportunities that have arisen in the past 3 to 6 months an initiative needed to be formulated to get developed products from concept to market in a six to eight week time frame.
· Started a program called LizQuiks to achieve these goals
· Aligned with key department store buyers and divisional merchandise managers wielding influence in their organizations
· Built a team using innovative thinking to incorporate design, merchandising, sales, and production
· Worked directly with a limited number of vendors and bypassed Asian offices
· Drove decision to air product and eliminate putting it on vessels to satisfy the initiative’s guidelines
· Developed a packing-tape system to fast-track this product through both company and retailer distribution centers
Results
· Achieved over $100 million in sales over 18 months
· Extra profits allowed business growth of 10% in the first year and 5-7% annually for subsequent years
Launching a Brand takes Passion, Trust & Commitment
Situation
Fashion designer Tamara Mellon wished to launch a complete lifestyle brand comprising shoes, handbags, and an apparel collection in a nine-month time period, an undertaking unheard of in the fashion industry. Hiring design talent, merchandisers, manufacturing, technical expertise, and financial support had all been put on hold due to legal documents not getting signed in a timely manner. While there were numerous conversations about launching only shoes, or shoes and handbags (Tamara was the cofounder of Jimmy Choo shoes), Tamara was insistent on launching the full collection including apparel.
Strategy and Execution
Given the abbreviated timeline that Tamara and the board had agreed on, there were many matters to deal with from legal entities (trademark and other IP issues), setting up offices overseas, establishing relationships with factories, hiring talent, designing the product and building out an aggressive marketing and PR launch.
· Analyzed the competitive landscape and the challenges and opportunities presented
· Constructed a unique, competitive business model differentiated from the rest of the market
· Implemented calendars, processes, and timelines based on product category
· Created a revenue strategy with the US comprising about 50% and the rest coming from the European, Asian, Russian, and Middle Eastern markets
· Devised marketing strategies that were customer-centric and built with the customer life cycle in mind:
· Generating brand awareness, leading to consideration, trial, satisfaction, and finally loyalty
· In the pre-launch phase the focus was on building brand awareness
· Established budgets for all areas: design, marketing, talent acquisition, supply chain, office space (US and abroad), and all the other areas of the business
Results
· Shipped $4 million at wholesale in nine months through various channels, which was $2 million above plan
· Managed expenses effectively so that expenditures were $400,000 less than plan (5.9 million vs. 6.3 million planned)
· Improved quality (produced in Italy vs. competitors in Asia) with lower price points as compared to designer competitors such as Jimmy Choo, Gucci and Manolo
· Provided a strong price/quality proposition with apparel featuring high quality fabrics sourced in Italy
· Presented a more dynamic point of view than other entry price point designers focusing on apparel and adding shoes and accessories as an afterthought
