What we do.We partner with growth-minded leaders driven to develop innovation capability that increases the pace and availability of breakthrough innovation in CPG, Retail, and QSR organizations.Our approach.We bring together the best in innovation practices. From the speed and grit of start-ups to the complexity and strength of large organizations. We teach and mentor sustainable skill development needed to solve your innovation and operational challenges. Our proven programs and innovation toolkits are grounded in Design Thinking, Human-Centered Design, and Lean Startup. We understand that culture trumps strategy every time, so we design solutions that honor your culture, develop capability, and enable you to achieve more, sooner.About the founder.Prior to founding SPARK Dennis lived the reality of an innovation leader, practitioner, strategist, teacher, operator, and people developer. Dennis launched and grew the innovation program at one of the world’s most innovative retailers. Dennis has also served in diverse leadership roles in CPG, Retail, and QSR. His diverse experience includes Academia, Editorial, Start-ups, Specialty, and Fortune 200 companies.

Provide editorial guidance and input. Innovation Leader is a media and events company that has built the largest network of corporate innovators in the world. Its mission is helping them to deliver more impact in their organizations. Provide editorial guidance and input. Innovation Leader is a media and events company that has built the largest network of corporate innovators in the world. Its mission is helping them to deliver more impact in their organizations.

A proven leader who has continiously grown my role, function, scale, and scope to benefit the enterprise by transforming the innovation process, building the innovation team, and creating growth and development opportunities for Starbucks Partners.Transforming the way we innovate; Starting in 2009 with the development of the Global Testing Protocol designed to provide the organization with the facts needed to make informed decisions for new products, programs, and processes. Continuous improvement in test strategy, rigor, tactics, and analytics has enabled the organization to know more sooner and improved the quality of our decisions and results.Initiated and launched the 'program development' function. Designed on Lean Start-Up and Human Centered Design principles this function/team leads and executes the rapid innovation model for key strategic initiatives.Leader of Concept Innovation. Dedicated to the discovery, design, development, and introduction of new Break Through innovations that elevate the Starbucks Experience for our customers and partners.Creator of the Ops Innovation Labs. These labs bring diverse teams together to rapidly problem solve through experimentation, simulation, and prototyping for equipment, operational processes, and user experience. Built and developed a strong ops innovation team by bringing together what may have seemed like unrelated teams and functions together under one cohesive innovation strategy. This team is built on diversity of thought, experience, and expertise. A key innovation strategist on highly complex 'big bet' business problems and opportunities

Elevate role from U.S. accountabilities to Global accountabilities. Expanded the Starbucks Testing Protocol to global markets. Developed and implemented enterprise standards and strategy to improve the innovation process Consults with global markets, acts as the enterprise level subject matter expert Introduced new innovation strategies and competentcies across global teams

Developed, implemented, and actively manage a program with the objective to increase speed to market. Directed by Sr. leadership to “change the way we innovate”. Assembled a team of highly motivated members focused on achieving measurable results. Program operates both inside and outside of the company infrastructure. Developed innovative strategies and tools to validate operational feasibility, customer validation, partner validation, quality sustainability, and equipment validation in our retail stores. Program launched in the U.S. in 2008, since launch I have led the program expansion into Japan and the UK.

Developed, implemented, and lead the Starbucks Retail testing strategy and protocol for the US market. Objectives; through testing and validation we will provide the organization with the facts needed to make informed decisions. Improve the way we innovate. Improve business results • Testing strategy for products and programs, including process, standards, operational tactics, and reporting• Product & program development, executes various tests for products and programs, provides fact based reporting, improves decision making• Consults on testing strategy and implementation for international markets • Increase speed to market, developed a rapid testing model that enables instant access to markets• Developed and manage a program designed to bring program owners closer to the customer and inspire innovation

This position was in addition to my current role as the director of the rapid test store programLed the operational development and implementation of a new labor management system for all company owned retail stores. Implementation is Global in scope and will revolutionize the way Starbucks plans, schedules, and manages labor. Also leads the Labor Solutions team responsible for ensuring the accuracy of labor standards and practices throughout North America. Led the development of improvements to the U.S. labor strategy. Accountable for developing new labor metric standards, reporting, and strategy

Directed the operational strategy to improve the Starbucks food program, streamline food operations, inventory, and distribution. Part of the team that developed the hypothesis and implemented the food and distribution strategy for North America

Directed the Operations in Manhattan, Westchester county, Hudson Valley region, and Fairfield county, Ct.Led operations for 130 stores. Led a team of 10 district managers. Executed the accelerated growth strategy by opening 36 stores in a two year period. My region led the US in ‘QASA’ audits. The ‘QASA’ audit measures store cleanliness, environment conditions, and partner knowledge. I believe this is representative benefit of focusing the team to consistently executing at a high level. This focus enabled the team to led the region in sales growth and customer satisfaction scores. In addition to Dir., of operations I took lead for several key initiatives in New York cityPoint person for "Renew New York". Acted as the liaison between Operations and Construction to coordinate and expedite the renovation process. Implemented changes to improve the organizational process within the construction dept. Led a team of highly qualified partners from different departments for contingency planning for the Republican National Convention in New York City in the post 9/11 environment. Plans were all inclusive. Security and safety of our partners and customers, continuing operations, distribution of goods, and crisis management. Planning included meeting with vendors, and government officials in the Police dept. and the Office of Emergency Management. Our team decided early on to take a positive and proactive approach to our actions. Operations lead on the cross functional team charged with developing and implementing the “Union” strategy regarding the IWW during the summer of 2004 in NYC

Dean & Deluca is a world renowned gourmet food retailer based in New York City. Dean & Deluca’s retail operations include retail food markets, cafes, wine bars, wine retailing, catering, gifts and personal services.Additional responsibilities included store design, store construction, and loss prevention 4% reduction in salary and wages. This has been accomplished through training and development of store management. Implementation of time and attendance software. Labor rate management and streamlining operations. 8% reduction in total operating expenses. First aggressive goals were established for all operating expenses; next those goals were communicated throughout the company. Store management received training and weekly guidance on expense reduction. Several programs have been put into place here. Each store has assigned a “Supply Captain “to take on the responsibility of supply control. All service contracts were reviewed and renegotiated. Improved Gross Margin. Completed a review of all direct delivery vendors to our cafes. Reduced the number of vendors from 27 to 8. This process lowered our food cost into our cafes by 14%. The consolidation of vendors helped us to renegotiate lower costs, improve quality, and service. Established new standards for vendors to follow. Reengineered our Catering dept from top to bottom. Made the process more customer friendly. Reorganized catering associates to enable them to focus on customer service and suggestive selling. Consolidated the procurement process and standards to enable us to leverage the size and strength of the brand to improve the quality of ingredients purchased and the cost. Catering sales increased 29%. Designed and constructed a full service commissary in NYC to service all café operations and catering. This enabled us to reduce food cost, reduce labor, and improve quality control of all ready to eat foods sold in our cafes. Led the expansion of 10 new stores

Pathmark is a regional supermarket company located in the NortheastLed a group of high volume stores in the NYC metro area. Annual sales in excess of $500M. Responsible for all P&L accountabilities for a group of 18 stores in the highly competitive New York/New Jersey area Led the company in store sanitation ratings for 2000.Led the company in GREAT service ratings for 2000.Served on several committees addressing many different aspects of our business

Developed and implemented a marketing and merchandising strategy that out performed same store sales and increased net contribution to over 27%, establishing new standards for sales and profitability in the company.Excellent leadership skills. I have created a highly motivated sales force that is customer driven, cost conscious, and willing to take the risks needed to be successful. Upward evaluation among the best in the company.

Store manager of high volume supermarkets