Jerry Edwards Email & Phone Number

Baltimore, Maryland, Us

Sales Team LeadershipRetail Customer Development & ChampionAnnual Customer Planning & DeliveryStrategic Long Range Planning

Irvine, California, Us

Interim role to integrate, train, recruit CPG business development talent and implement leading sustainable approaches within an existing sales staff and entrepreneurial company culture to accelerate growth in underdeveloped retail channels. This work entailed an organization-wide focus on customer benefits and data-driven category thought leadership, hiring and training for collaborative customer relationship selling, establishing systems and price packs for profitable revenue growth management, coaching for professional development and team selling, and ensuring cross-functional demand communication for high service levels.

Bridgewater Township, New Jersey, Us

Reporting to the President of $380M perishable meat business, responsible for Sales and Sales Strategy functions across all channels/all products, preserving Natural Channel leadership following the acquisition by Hormel Foods involving Swander Pace Capital. Lead Sales organization of 35 employees to grow all channels simultaneously through disciplined pricing architecture.• Profitable Sales Growth: Challenged by buyers’ comparisons to new parent company, held low trade spending levels <6.0% through detailed Sales team training and keenly articulated trade spending strategies with ROI criteria.• Business Development: grew retail grocery distribution after Avian Influenza outbreak by recalibrating priorities against core items and emphasizing categories gaps with expandable supply. Grew TDP in the US Food +10%, maintained #1 share in Natural, established new channels in ecommerce +40% and Foodservice +50%.• Sales Team Leadership: in a delicate post-acquisition transition, provided Top Customer engagement, Sales team development, mission emphasis and frequent cultural efforts to retain over 95% of sales team for 5 years.• Customer Partnership: facing private label proliferation within our oldest, most developed customer, Whole Foods/Amazon, used team selling in strategic planning forums to deepen the branded partnership, expanding into regenerative agriculture pilots and raw protein supply to grow branded sales +20%.

Bridgewater Township, New Jersey, Us

Established a disciplined Customer Marketing, Category Management, and Customer Service team to interface between a field team of 23 direct sales people and all HQ functions to coordinate supply and demand for a highly perishable/highly variable portfolio of co-packed premium meat products across 10+ categories. Results: Grew sales +22% CAGR, fill rates +98%, shrink <0.5%. Acquisition by Hormel Foods in 2015 for $775M.• Building Sales Strategy Capabilities: equipped with new syndicated selling tools, created new fact-based selling materials that supported rapid distribution growth in a grocery channel governed by strict category reviews.• Building Customer-centric Mindset: reorganized inside sales personnel to a high performing support team by clarifying roles, elevating technical skillsets and inspiring a culture of cross-functional collaboration supporting fast growth, compelling consumer insights and 98%+ service levels. Vendor of the Year at Target in 2015.• Supply Chain Optimization: despite raw supply shortages and vagaries of live animal farming, developed the planning and communication protocols to address retailers while maximizing focus on expandable growth categories. • ERP Success: migrated from legacy information systems to Microsoft Dynamics AX. Worked closely with IT and third-party vendor to customize To-Be process for Trade Promotion Management to maintain low trade spend levels.

Helped emerging, green, mission-based companies model growth strategies and understand trade investment ROI while I sought the right company for a permanent leadership role. Successful business is our most powerful catalyst for change and I find it especially gratifying to assist green, mission-based companies accelerate their results and influence.

Burlington, Vt, Us

Reporting to the CEO of $150M business, established HQ Customer Marketing capabilities and disciplines to support rapid growth for the leading “green” brand of household and personal care products with over 100 SKUs competing in 7 categories across both mature and emerging customer channels through a 14 person team. • Sales Growth: Delivered rapid growth in three years from $60-$150M while holding trade rates flat, maintained 99.6% product availability and achieved strategic partnerships with Whole Foods, Target, and eCommerce in its infancy• Selling Discipline: following years of missed growth opportunities with category review windows, implemented Operation Fastart that equipped field sales with trade plans and selling tools with 6 months lead time that supported +20% TDP expansion.• Data-driven Analytics: to complement ecology-based stories with fact-based benefits, championed investment in syndicated data going from 10 retailers to 100 retailers/markets for opportunity gap analysis plus a Synectics TPM software rollout that allowed detailed account-level demand planning and financial forecasts.• Customer Insights: to avoid errant planning assumptions in the AOP, implemented key customer planning that ensured realistic tactical plan assumptions that were grounded in timely marketplace dynamics that enabled +25% CAGR.• Cultural Evolution: evolved a mission-based Natural channel low-key culture into a customer service-oriented sales support team through a combination of coaching and strategic hires successfully leading to growth in sales & morale.

Chicago, Illinois, Us

Manage the sales planning, co-marketing, and and analytical support functions for full ConAgra Foods product portfolio across Eastern US retailers.

Chicago, Illinois, Us

Manage all sales planning and trade spending for venture brands and acquisitions.

Chicago, Illinois, Us

Integrate brand strategies with marketplace dynamics to build and implement a trade promotion plan across 13 states responsiblefor $300M in sales.

Chicago, Illinois, Us

Manage broker sales team to exceed business plan for customers representing $300mm annually in 13 NE states.

Chicago, Illinois, Us

Manage all sales planning and trade budgeting to exceed business plan for Healthy Choice flagship brand with $400mm annual sales.

Purchase, New York, Us

Managed all sales-related initiatives for Ready-to-Eat Cereals through a 5 manager staff responsible for $700M.

Purchase, New York, Us

Handled all sales-related initiatives for Cap'n Crunch and LIFE cereals through a 9 member matrix of field-based trade marketing managers.

Purchase, New York, Us

Working as a liaison between HQ and Field Sales Leaders, I devised, aligned, and coordinated Sales Planning and Scorecarding activities for the Western half of the US in order to exceed quarterly and annual financial objectives.

Purchase, New York, Us

Purchase, New York, Us

Purchase, New York, Us

Purchase, New York, Us

Purchase, New York, Us

Mba, Management, Entrepreneurship

Bsba, Business Administration