Part-time data and analytics consulting for small to medium CPG companies.

Develop sales information, category management, forecasting, and S&OP capabilities for start-up pet food company.KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTSDeveloped initial S&OP process for company including sales and operations teams and senior management. Lead and manage monthly review of overall sales performance, previous month forecast accuracy, and 90-day production forecast. Design, maintain, and modify forecast model. Process has resulted in fill rate improvement of nearly 20 percentage points and forecast accuracy greater than 85%.Constructed new annual planning model to estimate annual demand based on base distribution and velocity, anticipated new retailer distribution, expected trade and marketing programs, and new item distribution. In 2016, monthly actual sales were within 15% of sales predicted by new model, an approximate 20-point improvement versus the previous planning model.Currently implementing cost-effective Excel-based trade management system. Working with developer to setup customer and distributor mapping and existing trade plans, and with our sales team to develop most efficient trade plan upload process and post-event analysis templates. Initial goal is to reduce trade spend by at least 2% of gross revenue.Collaborate with sales and marketing VPs to create new fact-based selling presentations. Negotiated new contracts with IRI, Nielsen, and SPINS to obtain more robust point-of-sale data coverage. Created initial weekly and monthly sales reports and category review templates.

Managed all sales management, planning, forecasting, and reporting activities.KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTSLead monthly S&OP process with sales and operations teams to review business performance, promotion calendar, and 3-month frozen production forecast. Developed forecast improvements resulting in average forecast accuracy of greater than 80% on all frozen items and 85% on top 10 best-selling items.Oversaw demand forecast for new 20 item dry grocery business established in late 2012. Created new model using store count and velocity per store as key inputs to estimate demand as new customer acceptances received and additional items launched. Model accuracy consistently greater than 80%.Worked with regional sales managers to develop 6-month trade plans. Developed event volume forecasts, entered and managed plans in Trade Pro trade management program, and estimated event ROI.Managed over 10 monthly and weekly performance reports for sales team and broader Van’s organization. Prepared ad hoc reports and analyses on as-needed basis. For example, created model and reports to identify and communicate largest revenue opportunities for both frozen and dry grocery businesses from filling distribution gaps.Worked with regional sales managers to develop fact-based sales decks and presentations for retailer meetings and trade shows.

Lead 3-member Nielsen on-site team supporting Supervalu Marketing organization. KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTSLed creation of brand review for Supervalu’s $3B + Private Brand portfolio. Integrated POS and panel data in analysis of top 4 Private Brands. Created Private Brand reporting dashboard in Excel to enable monitoring and analysis of Private Brand performance on an ongoing basis. Developed additional reports to monitor conversion from Supervalu banner brands to new Essential Everyday brand.Developed analysis templates and reports to support Supervalu shopper marketing programs. Created standard methodology to analyze impact of shopper marketing programs on base volume and quantify additional lift compared to feature and/or display events to justify additional investment in shopper marketing events.Worked with Supervalu Reporting and Analytics team to develop integrated reporting dashboard to integrate Nielsen information with other syndicated data resources and internal data warehouse information.

Managed and optimized utilization of all syndicated marketing information resources within WhiteWave Foods.KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTSNegotiated syndicated research contract price reductions resulting in nearly 25% savings from 2008 to 2011. Expanded scope of syndicated budget management to include Dean Foods research contracts.Assembled analysis of international health and wellness trends for key retailer presentation. Compared and contrasted domestic health and wellness trends with trends in Europe and Asia. Presentation key in demonstrating company’s leadership in health and wellness knowledge.Increased usage of complete syndicated information portfolio (IRI, Nielsen, Yankelovich, NPD, Mintel, etc.) within WhiteWave organization. Managed the creation of syndicated resource summary and usage guide and presented capabilities overviews at several sales leadership team meetings.

Lead the development and implementation of analytics and forecasting capabilities within Pella Corporation. KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTSManaged implementation of Cognos-based enterprise planning system across organization. Consolidated planning information from six product divisions and nine channel teams into one centralized, web-based application. Developed applications for both current-year forecast tracking program and three-year strategic planning process. Reduced average plan publication time from 4 hours to 30 minutes.Analyzed NFO survey data from 1,100 replacement window purchasers. Developed specific recommendations for each geographic region to demonstrate differences in window purchasing behavior. Findings integrated into sales branch marketing planning process. Additionally, performed cluster analysis on same data to segment replacement market into different consumer personas as part of Pella.com website redesign.Developed Excel-based forecasting system to predict year-end sales for 70 individual sales branches. Using Excel Visual Basic macro code and regression analysis add-in, created repetitive modeling platform to automatically generate year-end forecasts and quality control reports in under 10 minutes.

Modeled and analyzed disaggregate store scanner and household panel data to develop consumer insights.KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTSManaged development of Kraft Trade System - a centralized base volume forecasting, promotion optimization, and trade management system. Developed SAS-based baseline unit forecasting program, coordinated data flows between ACNielsen and Kraft, assisted in development of incremental calculation engine with CAS, and negotiated contract details throughout development period.Completed Shelving Standards and Principles analysis. Developed regression-based store-week-level data model to determine lift advantage of one shelving arrangement over another (i.e. vertical shelf arrangement versus horizontal.) Analyzed eight different product categories and identified category lift opportunities of 2%-10%. Performed ANCOVA analysis on in-store test results to evaluate if change in sales rep strategy impacted overall company sales. Determined sales rep strategy change did not adversely impact dollar and unit volume and recommended implementation given other efficiencies generated by test strategy.

Analyzed scanner and panel data to assist in cross-category business decision-making.KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTSAnalyzed 52-week performance of Shave Preps category to identify drivers of dollar share changes. Using regression analysis, determined that presence of new high-priced segment was important driver of share decline. Incorporated brand shifting panel data to support initial analysis.Developed methodology to calculate impact of trade cannibalization on new product launches. Using scanner data, analyzed over 15 prior launches to determine percentage of new product distribution points that were incremental to category and percentage gained at expense of existing products. Identified swapping occurrences that lead to over $4 million in total new product forecasting errors. Created pricing simulation tool to assess impact of eliminating price rollback program in Wal-Mart. Determined that eliminating rollback would have minimal dollar share impact on own brand and would grow $65MM category by nearly 1%.

Performed advanced quantitative analysis for key clients in Consumer Packaged Goods industry.KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTSConstructed 53-item new product database for cookie and cracker manufacturer. Assembled new product performance analysis using database information.Performed price elasticity analysis for vegetable processing company. Demonstrated how raising prices on inelastic products would yield over $100,000 in additional profits.