Brad Culen Email & Phone Number

Vernon Hills, Illinois, United States

Key member of centralized Pricing Leadership team responsible for the development of overall pricing and promotional strategies with a particular focus on competitive benchmarking and price alignment. Work closely with internal businesses, online partners, IT, retail services and other key internal and external partners.

Chicago, Illinois

Responsible for design and implementation of a centralized corporate pricing strategy. Devise and develop pricing programs consistent with firm’s long-term growth strategy. Analyze and review pricing proposals and renewals and recommend pricing strategy and levels. Work closely with internal businesses, online partners, IT, retail services and other key internal and external partners.

Naperville, Illinois

Naperville, Illinois

Greater Chicago Area

High performing contributor on a key, multi-million-dollar project ($75M+) for field and corporate office systems to deploy a changeover of current systems for back-end operations and front-end deliveries (POS), creating rollout and business process plans and testing of integrations.Responsible for all aspects of post-sale services such as home delivery, installation, product repair, and Protection Agreement administration.Manage pricing strategies for L&G, Home Appliance, and Tools BusinessDesigned and developed and installation program from scratch that led to a comp sales increase of 18% and generated $7M in installation revenuesCreated and implemented of a new national delivery program that generated $700K in delivery revenue and commission Oversaw P&L statements line-level overheads with yearly budget of $7M+ with a goal of a 10% reduction year-over-year by putting action plans and processes in place to support 900+ stores.

Hoffman Estates, Il

In this role, I am in charge of the strategy development, ideation, planning, and execution of initiatives for all loyalty and affinity programs for Customer Experience Operations including the Member Services Associate (MSA) Member Loyalty Program. I collaborate cross-functionally with business units to understand customer purchasing habits, and use that knowledge to create, design, and implement services and solutions to meet customer needs and maximize profitability. I develop business cases to optimize member loyalty strategies that maximize revenue and ROI.My particular focus is on the MSA Member Loyalty Program that has an MSA Associate at each store (Sears and Kmart) to ensure Shop Your Way members are aware of member benefits. I direct an $1.8M budget, 15 staff, and s cross-functional team of more than 75 Associates, including Corporate Associates and Store Associates.• Initiated, designed, developed, and launched Shop Your Way MSA program from scratch.• Orchestrated the program rollout from 1 pilot store to 15, and in the process of expanding to 50 stores.• Increased members' annual average incremental spend by $1.2K.• Doubled frequency of member trips from 6 to 12 at Kmart and 4 to 8 at Sears on an annual basis.• Improved member margin by 7%.• Developed and launched Personalized Deals Pricing Program resulting in sales increase of 5% per member and increased frequency of trips by 50% at 5 Kmart locations.• Raised store sales at the 15 locations an average of 6%; Oak Brook Sears store sales increased from $20M to $22M as a direct result of the program.• Directed team that developed branding and marketing plan and campaign.• Oversaw team that designed process, developed training materials and KPIs, as well as KPI status reports, technology solutions, monitored metrics, execution, and results evaluation implementing any necessary changes.

Hoffman Estates

During this time, I concurrently and successfully fulfilled 4 roles: Store Closing oversight, management of Sears Holdings Sample Store that generated $1M margin annually, RFID rollout to 223 stores, and stock replenishment at 750 Sears’s locations in the U.S.I was in charge of strategic planning and execution for closing stores, managing the Sample Store, RFID rollout, and directing the replenishment process for 750 stores. Managed $25M budget for closing 100 stores (Full Line and Auto Centers), and $6M budget for RFID initiative, 7 direct reports at the Sample Store, as well as more than 600 Associates on an indirect basis.• Reversed 4-year downward sales trend from $850K annually to $1.2M at the Sample Store.• Cut variable expenses from $185K to $144K.• Five Associates were promoted.• Developed and launched RFID initiative to 223 stores; spearheaded team of 500+ Associates responsible for designing, developing, and executing this process.• Boosted store sales in RFID lines by 9% at the 223 stores.• Reduced labor expense at the RFID stores by 17% due to improved efficiencies directly related to the technology implementation.• Improved sell-through of Non Productive Inventory in RFID lines from 55% to 85%.• Increased Store-In-Stock % in RFID lines from 80% to 98%.• Raised Floor-In-Stock % in RFID lines from 77% to 99%.• Reduced in store replenishment expense by 7% while improving efficiencies of processes and in-store execution of process.• Chosen to direct the Unit Closing Team of 100+ Subject Matter Experts from each related business function, including Human Resources, Logistics, Procurement, Liquidation, Marketing, Store Execution, and Licensed Business. • Defined and executed national strategy to determine which stores to close.• Saved on average $30K to $50K per store ($300K - $500K) out of allotted $25M budget for costs to close 100 stores; closed all stores on-time. • During closing process, improved store margins an average of 8%.

I was in charge of pricing strategies for Home Appliance, Lawn & Garden, Seasonal, and MyGofer businesses across Sears and Kmart stores and online sales. I was accountable for determining pricing for these product lines. I conducted market tests and analyzed results. I developed and implemented new operational processes to track pricing insights and performance while continuously improving on pricing processes, reporting, and tools. I directed a $2M budget and 3 Associates.• Drove an incremental $22M in margin for Home Appliance, Lawn & Garden, and Seasonal lines.• Reduced operational expenses by $22M, and boosted sales by 7% and margin by 4%.

I specialized in developing and recommending pricing strategies for 32 Sears' business units that increased sales performance and gross profits. I oversaw change initiatives, prepared project plans, and contacted necessary parties to create road map for various projects.

During this short timeframe, I provided analyzed data from the store level for use in marketing campaigns for 33 Sears and Kmart locations. I synthesize conclusions into recommendations that I presented to managers and business partners.• Served as a team leader for automation, stream-lined processes, and technical best practices.

I am most proud to have transformed the Region from worst overall performer to the top performing region in 5 metrics, achieving improvements ranging from 21% to 32% and reduced expenses by 22%. Created performance Scorecards for 123 Sears’ stores in the Region that enabled identification of sales and profit increase opportunities.• Sales in the Region increased 3% versus 7% decrease company-wide, and achieved margin increase of 2%.

In 10 months I improved store sales by 11% from $15M to $16.5M which met the plan. I directed operations for $15M store and managed diverse staff of 160.• Raised EBITDA from -$500K to $1M, cut expenses from $2M to $1.5M and exceeded all performance goals.

I managed the Bolingbrook location and 40 Associates for 2 months and improved drive-thru ranking from #38 to #5 out of 42 stores. • Created customer email database marketing program over 2 months that was implemented company-wide. • Raised customer satisfaction from 60% to 71%.• Created and managed Steak N Shake’s Summer Internship Conference. This was a two day event where 35 interns from across the country presented their summer projects, interacted with members from senior management, and attended classes that were designed to enhance each intern’s professional growth and development.

Mba, Marketing & Management

B.S., Business Management

Education record