Empowered, results-oriented senior executive and a key member of the management team leading the development, implementation and communication of the overall strategic vision for The Art of Shaving within the wholesale channel. I lead the team in the consistent execution of the evolving strategies that achieve and exceed the overall business plan. As the leader of this group I am focused on bringing innovation in the men’s grooming categories, and responsible for developing, coaching and motivating team to achieve operational excellence and ensuring that all business opportunities are maximized to their fullest potential.Strategic Leadership & Management:Lead the development of long-range merchandising, planning & marketing strategies for wholesale. This includes the strategic vision, business strategy and assortment planning across the channel. • Communicates strategies to executive leadership team ensuring agreement with, and support of, the strategies and that they are properly aligned with the company’s overall strategic plan.• Creates a culture of innovative and disruptive thinking. Challenge the team to be thoughtful risk takers based on market insights, consumer trends and company objectives.• Coaches and guides team on development and execution of new retail/wholesale “test/learn” partnership concepts providing guidance to determine and evaluate the success criteria needed in order to validate long – term growth potential from learning.Talent Leadership & Management: Empowering, genuine, direct and collaborative leader with proven ability to identify and develop outstanding talent and build successful teams that deliver results• Develop and coach management team for continuous skill improvement.• Holds team accountable for performance management and development. Providing constructive feedback and establishing standards for performance.

· +$500M in annual sales volume.· drove regional sales and profit plans to budget through successful leadership,organizational plans, customer service & development and execution of all regional merchandising and planning strategies, consistently across all stores in the Southeast region· Maintained strong understanding and management of the business by effectively developing and utilizing sales reports to assess departmental results; Developed specific action plans directly related to business development and growth in the region with special focus on “Must Win” stores (total 10 stores of 90 represent 30% of ttl regional volume)· Lead and directed the development of departmental level sales goals and actions plans for direct reports and store teams increasing their business acumen as it is directly tied to measurable results· Developed several reports that had been adopted by total company and used in all regionsas a “best practice”· Consistently and effectively communicated the company objectives to all store teams through organized and scheduled conference calls and email communication· Established strategic goals both short and long term by gathering pertinent business, financial, service, and operations information; Identified and evaluated trends and options choosing a course of action, defining objectives and evaluating outcomes· Evaluated and made adjustments to space in stores for specific businesses by analyzing space productivity and profitability and work with HQ to delete, add and/or adjust specific department inventory levels

Partnered with the GPM in the development and implementation of planning and gross margin strategies, new business initiatives strategies to planning team to meet and/or exceed sales, margin and turn targets. Provided guidance to assist in the development of inventory strategies and regional assortment building blocks and worked in partnership with the DMM of Center Core on overall financial performance of the division. Developed a collaborative team culture within my planning pyramid.• overall responsibility for $300M in annual sales volume and pyramid of 12 associates. Area of responsibility included Fine Jewelry, Jewelry, Watches, Accessories, Outerwear and Ladies Swim. Pyramid head count included 12 associates. • Merchandise planning; long-range planning, pre-season planning and in-season management of OTB (topside and by location) for both stores and ECOM. Developing seasonal classification strategies to drive sales and increase inventory productivity. • Collaborated with both direct reports and merchant teams to identify product needs at store level and strategize necessary action plans needed to drive results.• Partnered with store and regional teams to identify specific market localization opportunities and implement strategies to address needs via merchandise assortment, inventory levels, product placement and regional pricing strategies.• Executed, reviewed and presented financial analysis and action plans to President, GMM and CFO at monthly business reviews with action plans to achieve expected results.• Proactively managed performance of planning team direct reports. Set high performance standards and provided necessary and constructive feedback to elevate performance expectations.• Strengthened staff through continual training and development to increase skill sets and raise business acumen.

Partnered with the GMM in the development and implementation of merchandising & gross margin strategies, new business initiatives and key item strategies to merchant team to meet and/or exceed sales, margin and turn targets. Provided guidance to assist in the development of Merchandise Strategies and Assortment/Category development and worked in partnership with the DVP of Planning to maximize overall financial performance of the Women’s Shoe Division. Built a collaborative team culture within my merchandise pyramid by fostering high levels of engagement, coaching and cross-functional collaboration• Overall responsibility for $200M in annual sales volume, +50 stores including ECOM. Pyramid head count included 14 associates.• Managed monitoring process for inventory aging for business area and implemented action plans in partnership with DVP of Planning to stay within corporate standards.• Provided guidance to Buyers to ensure merchandise strategies and assortment plans meet divisional objectives and align with customer and store needs by implementing “good, better, best” strategy.• Attended relevant trade shows, markets and events to observe and to stay current on market trends, gather product information, select merchandise and establish business relationships.• Fostered strong relationships with key vendors to ensure partnerships that deliver strong financial results.• Partnered with GMM to build advertising vehicles that enhance the overall brand, drive customer traffic and deliver ROI.• Influenced and approve advertising strategies/ proposals from buying staff challenging page productivity and ROI.• Reviewed and approve inventory management and profitability strategies/proposals from buying and the planning team.• Focused on developing and maintaining bench strength and sharing succession plan strategies with GMM and HR.• Built a high quality merchandising team by developing partnerships, leading, coaching and providing constructive feedback.

As Senior Merchandiser, I led the development of seasonal line plans for Neckwear and over saw the full life-cycle development for the upcoming season. Responsibilities included overseeing numerous brands (approximately five to six different brands) and also manage Merchandisers and/or Assistant Merchandisers. • Developed, managed & merchandised specific brands assigned. This includes managing the product development lifecycle from concept to completion. Collaborated internally and externally with design, sales, customers and licensors to analyze and create commercially successful, brand appropriate product.• Worked closely with Sales to enhance understanding of targeted consumer groups, competition and retail distribution.• Helped guide the Design team into saleable products that fit into customer specific needs based on current selling trends seen in the market.• Analyzed past figures/trends to anticipate future needs for product assortments and competitively shops, identify trends and business opportunities. Collaborated closely with Design team on material selection and line architecture.• Ensured financial goals were met by identifying target first cost (total cost to create finished goods ready for sale in the marketplace), issuing product requirements including initial margin goals to suppliers, designers and sourcing team. Managed daily communication with overseas offices to negotiate costing and delivery of new products.• Managed workflow to meet development calendar deadlines to ensure timely delivery of samples and coordinates approval processes when working with retail partners and Licensors.• Participated and presented concepts and finished product lines to customers, senior management, sales and licensors.

Divisional Merchandise Manager | Director of MerchandisingPerry Ellis & Cubavera Retail Stores, Miami, Florida Partnered with the President in the development and implementation of merchandising & gross margin strategies, new business initiatives and key item strategies to merchant team to meet and/or exceed sales, margin and turn targets. Provided guidance to assist in the development of Merchandise Strategies and Assortment/Category development and worked in partnership with the DVP of Planning to maximize overall financial performance of the Perry Ellis Retail Stores and to develop a collaborative team culture within my merchandise pyramid.• Developed and communicated strategic visions and goals, and customer and marketplace perspective, to respective cross-functional partners• Led the team on monitoring inventory aging for business area and taking urgent action in partnership with DVP of Planning to stay within corporate standards.• Provided guidance to Buyers to ensure merchandise strategies and assortment plans meet divisional objectives and align with customer and store needs.• Provided guidance and direction with the open to buy process to buyers.• Attended relevant trade shows, markets and events to observe and to stay current on market trends, gather product information, select merchandise and establish business relationships.• Fostered strong relationships with key vendors to ensure partnerships that deliver strong product and financial results.• Reviewed and approved promotional strategies/ proposals from the Buying staff.• Reviewed and approved inventory management and profitability strategies/proposals from Buying/Planning team.• Focused on developing and maintaining bench strength.• Built a high quality merchandising team by developing partnerships, leading, coaching and providing constructive feedback.• Facilitated team environment between Buying, Planning, Marketing and Private Label organizations.

Buyer Men’s Shoes, Lord & Taylor, New York • Annual volume of $21.0m • Financial responsible for achieving all sales, margin, turn and shortage expectations • Move the business by developing compelling and focused assortments with an emphasis on both key items and fashion trendsBuyer Men’s Neckwear | Accessories | Lord & Taylor, New York • Annual volume of $19.0m • Responsible for the overall sales and profitability of neckwear and accessories. • Developed private label programs in neckwear with mills in Italy • Developmental responsibilities included training staff of two assistants