Aaron Marker Email & Phone Number

Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States

Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States

Northern Indiana & Northwest Ohio

Ace Hardware Corporation is a hardware cooperative based in Oak Brook, Illinois. It is the world’s largest hardware retail cooperative, and the largest non-grocery retail cooperative. • Act as the liaison between the 46 Ace retailers in Northern Indiana and Corporate. • Keep retailers abreast on vendor changes in tools, electrical, plumbing fittings, etc.• Assesses retailer needs, market conditions, and identifies strategies to maximize retailer sales and profits. Coach retailers on why and how to implement recommended voluntary actions. • Maximize Ace wholesale growth. • Consult with retailers to ensure fundamental business and retail techniques are executed. Examples include gross margin, cash flow, expense management, return on investment, customer service, brand management, advertising, merchandise mix, plan-o-grams, labor optimization, inventory management, etc. • Serve as the corporate liaison to retailers to assure successful retailer loyalty, and coordinate the execution of corporate initiatives & programs. • Lead and influence retailers with regards to retrofits, relocations, expansions, branch locations, and owner succession planning. • Served as KPI Captain 4 times since 2015 in development of new merchandising initiatives.• Assisted as temporary District Manager in open territories 4 times since 2015, gaining knowledge of Ace retailers throughout the Midwest. • New locations since 2015 include: o Stickley Ace Hardware – Bremen, IN o Teghtmeyer Ace Hardware – Culver, IN o Hobart Ace Hardware – Hobart, IN • Store remodels since 2015 include: o Teghtmeyer Ace Hardware – Syracuse, IN o Monticello Ace Hardware – Monticello, IN o Teghtmeyer Ace Hardware – Auburn, IN o Stickley Ace Hardware – LaGrange, IN

Northwest Ohio

Do it Best Corp. is a hardware and building materials cooperative that provides retailers collective buying power along with the retail systems & services needed for success. • Consulted 72 independently owned hardware stores, home centers, and pro yards that represented over $52,000,000 annual volume. The primary goal was to help grow their business, and provide the knowledge & tools to compete. • Responsible to grow territory through both existing Do it Best Corp. retailers, and through prospecting new customers. • Worked closely with store owners and managers on projects including, growing market share, business consulting, training on new programs, advertising coordination support, succession planning, and building new stores. I successfully assisted five Do it Best retailers in building new ground-up locations. o Zettler Hardware - Powell, Ohio o Washington Hardware - Sunbury & Pataskala Ohio o Downing's Hardware - Mechanicsburg, Ohio o Boliantz Hardware - Shelby, Ohio o Orme Hardware – Newark & Arcanum Ohio• Managed and built solid working relationships with Do it Best Corp. employees, retailers, prospects, and vendors. This included the coordination of Area Meetings, wherein the retailers received training, and had the opportunity to network with one another, vendors, and Do it Best Corp. staff. • Mentored new Territory Managers, and provided training during bi-monthly regional field training meetings.

Fort Wayne, Indiana Area

• Presented extensive training on new CRM software at the National Sales Meeting. Along with other Project Leaders, we were responsible for the software education and support of over 100 sales staff. The new software helped to make call reports, weekly scheduling, and information retrieval more efficient for the field staff & management. • Planned, organized, and implemented store conversions at a rate of one store per day in 2003. • Managed 22 retail consultants on conversion projects for the Sales Department. • Assisted in development of new proforma program, which was still used by field-staff in 2014.