Festival Foods is a Wisconsin company that employs more than 8,500 associates and operates 34 full-service supermarkets.• Developed a multi-year, strategic roadmap yielding year-over-year ROI growth and cost containment. Delivered a comprehensive digital roadmap and e-commerce strategy resulting in over $115 million in additional annual revenue. • Initiated the company’s first comprehensive security and PCI-compliance programs resulting in zero security… Show more Festival Foods is a Wisconsin company that employs more than 8,500 associates and operates 34 full-service supermarkets.• Developed a multi-year, strategic roadmap yielding year-over-year ROI growth and cost containment. Delivered a comprehensive digital roadmap and e-commerce strategy resulting in over $115 million in additional annual revenue. • Initiated the company’s first comprehensive security and PCI-compliance programs resulting in zero security breaches.• Implemented an IT Steering Committee to align IT with business units, enabling delivery of value-based initiatives. Increased business growth and agility with significant store growth and $140 million in sales. • Transformed IT culture to one based upon authenticity, caring, collaboration, compassion, honesty, and open-mindedness, resulting in value-based solutions and seamless delivery. • Re-engineered department structure to better serve and support the business’ evolving technological needs.• Lead Digital Transformation of Festival’s brick and mortar footprint by using technology to accelerate an omnichannel vision and pursue improved revenue streams and new business models. Show less

I gained Board approval for solutions key to growth + revenue potential for this $12B, Tier 1 home improvement retailer. Via restructure + an offshore recruitment/retention strategy, I shaved $24M off the budget. Today I manage a $90M IT budget + team of 300+An advocate of IT policies, procedures + ITIL-based standards, I introduced a PMO + IS steering committee that reduced work backlog + delivery times >45%, and ensured corporate goal alignment. I replaced servers with reliable… Show more I gained Board approval for solutions key to growth + revenue potential for this $12B, Tier 1 home improvement retailer. Via restructure + an offshore recruitment/retention strategy, I shaved $24M off the budget. Today I manage a $90M IT budget + team of 300+An advocate of IT policies, procedures + ITIL-based standards, I introduced a PMO + IS steering committee that reduced work backlog + delivery times >45%, and ensured corporate goal alignment. I replaced servers with reliable, scalable cloud-based architecture. HIGHLIGHTS:RETAIL SALES: Led Omni Channel retail strategy yielding $500M/year sales. Digital enhancements included data mining management software, SEO-web promotions, iOS/Android compatibility, upgraded store WiFi + 3D modeling kiosks. NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE: Increased new business initiative agility + accelerated TTM by converting IT legacy network infrastructure to ACI as part of a hyper-convergence architecture strategy. BROADBAND: Supported 3X growth + availability cost-effectively via the development + implementation of large-scale broadband, VSAT, 4G + MPLS network models. TELECOM: Reduced enterprise-wide operating expenses and improved collaboration capabilities via Cisco VoIP + TelePresence implementation.TRANSPORTATION, LOGISTICS + WMS: Saved $90M/annually via a roadmap for tech upgrades + IoT integration to logistics, transportations + WMS including AI-Automated Guided Vehicles.LABOR SCHEDULING: Generated $80M annual savings via a $2M Store Labor Scheduling System implementation.PRODUCTIVITY: Enhanced e-discovery, collaboration + disaster recovery via Windows 10 + Office 365 implementation. MDM: Simplified + secured mobile application management on enterprise + BYOD devices by deploying a MaaS 360 Mobile Application Management solution.SECURITY: Sustained a Zero-Breach environment via PCI-compliant, NIST-based cybersecurity framework, data governance, network + application security testing programs. Show less

I rebuilt the IT organization for this $4.2B U.S. operator of restaurants and 38K employees –building a cornerstone IT environment within 16 months that supported an interruption-free $29M HQ relocation, the company going public, and its acquisition of 300+ new stores.Along the way, I overcame entrenched leadership resistance to increased budget and IT advancements – ultimately managing a $45M budget and team of 125.HIGHLIGHTS:- Upgraded >400 POS systems in 6 weeks… Show more I rebuilt the IT organization for this $4.2B U.S. operator of restaurants and 38K employees –building a cornerstone IT environment within 16 months that supported an interruption-free $29M HQ relocation, the company going public, and its acquisition of 300+ new stores.Along the way, I overcame entrenched leadership resistance to increased budget and IT advancements – ultimately managing a $45M budget and team of 125.HIGHLIGHTS:- Upgraded >400 POS systems in 6 weeks. Simultaneously trained >2,500 managers re: security compliance.- Saved $5M by developing + installing a labor management system, production + forecasting processes.- Reduced IT operating costs $1.5M/year via renegotiated service, maintenance + software contracts/SLAs.- Built case for $9M increased funding that covered enterprise-wide CRM, a $7.4M ERP implementation + end-of-life data center HW/SW replacement. - Established and chaired an IS Steering Committee that developed company’s first IT Strategy Plan featuring ROI accountability and customer satisfaction requirements. Show less

I ensured technology integration throughout 2 major acquisitions that added 1000+ stores to our portfolio for this $3.2B auto parts retailer with extensive distribution + warehousing facilities. Saved $4.4M via voice + data contract renegotiations. Reduced FTEs via data center automation.Through IT upgrades, automation and vendor negotiations within the confines of a $50M budget – the 200-member team under my leadership contributed to significant improvements in revenues margins and… Show more I ensured technology integration throughout 2 major acquisitions that added 1000+ stores to our portfolio for this $3.2B auto parts retailer with extensive distribution + warehousing facilities. Saved $4.4M via voice + data contract renegotiations. Reduced FTEs via data center automation.Through IT upgrades, automation and vendor negotiations within the confines of a $50M budget – the 200-member team under my leadership contributed to significant improvements in revenues margins and expense management.HIGHLIGHTS:- Saved $1.2M in telephony and $3.2M on data via contract negotiations. - Designed and implemented voice and data LAN/WAN, and RF for several different 500K+ square-foot distribution centers. - Automated facilities using start-of-the-art sortation and warehouse management systems.- Reduced operating costs without interrupting 24/7/4365 data center operations by upgrading >200 AS/400 servers.- Provided a competitive advantage and supported mission-critical store inventory applications by implementing MQ Services for store OLTP applications in a 3-Tier client-server architecture.- Installed data center automation for job scheduling, tape management, and report distribution – reducing FTE’s while improving overall system throughput and moving to a lights out computer operations environment. Show less

My efforts supported 2X revenue and store growth via the concept-to-execution implementation of a cutting-edge BI/Data Warehousing solution – enabling targeted merchandising and marketing for the first time for this $9.3B grocery/convenience/fuel station chain. In this role, I managed a $20M budget and a team of 60.In addition, I implemented a Decision Support/Executive Information System to support strategic decision making, and developed and implemented IS Standards and… Show more My efforts supported 2X revenue and store growth via the concept-to-execution implementation of a cutting-edge BI/Data Warehousing solution – enabling targeted merchandising and marketing for the first time for this $9.3B grocery/convenience/fuel station chain. In this role, I managed a $20M budget and a team of 60.In addition, I implemented a Decision Support/Executive Information System to support strategic decision making, and developed and implemented IS Standards and Procedures that integrated quality, timelines, and security into all aspects of IT application development.HIGHLIGHTS:- Reduced IT Help Center calls 57% by implementing application quality testing and regression testing using IBM Rationale and Load Runner.- Conducted JAD sessions for large-scale application development – resulting in, among other applications, a new Merchandising System.- Improved enterprise-wide efficiencies via business process engineering and streamlining and automation across accounting, store operations and warehouse management. Show less