J. Nicholas Cortese Email & Phone Number

Atar Gold and Phyto-Lux is a start-up indie brands created by Teri Donnelly, a celebrity stylist, platform artist and fashion designer. Teri was inspired by ancient Egypt attars, the essence of plants, woods and flowers. Atar Gold is a luxury retail concept which I brought to market. I position the brands as Eco Chic and they qualified as a Vegan Personal Care line due in part to the formulas all based on ecologically friendly plant stem cell science and plant products. I opened Whole Foods, Kroger’s, ULTA, Neiman Marcus and other finer department stores. We are very strong on Social Media, Amazon, Amazon Prime and the new Amazon Indie store division plus our own e-commerce store and others which spearhead our move to direct-to-consumers marketing and sales.Leveraged organic and paid Social Media as a primary platform resulting in +500% YOY search volume on Amazon, +70% in avg EMV on social (IG & FB), +300% in follower growth YOY on IG, and nearly 850M PR impressions in 2020 vs. PYI was negotiating a private label exclusive for Sephora.Strategic Planning, Account Management, Key Account Management, Business Development, Forecasting, Budgeting, Consumer Products, Beauty, Skin Care, Personal Care Retail Category Management, Sales /Marketing, P&L Management, Global Team Management

Managing Director//President North AmericaFrench headquartered prestige Retail consumer personal care, including skin care and cosmetics, wellness, vitamins & nutritional supplements all natural plant-based health and wellness brands. • French headquartered all-natural professional plant-based beauty, wellness, and personal care life-style luxury brands. The Brand portfolio consisted of Lierac Skin Care, Phyto & Phyto Specific Hair Care, Carone Prestige Fragrances and Subtil retail and professional hair color.• Achieved an excellent operational profit contribution increasing gross brand revenues by an average of 28.1% YOY for three consecutive years doubling annual revenue in 3 years against the direct-to-consumer distribution business plan.• Comprehensive P&L responsibility and cash management increasing revenue to $85M and improving EDITDA from a soft 7.9% to a consistent and increasing annual average of 16.9%• Successful placement into Sephora, ULTA, Bluemercury, and other selected brands into department stores and mass channels including CVS, Walgreens, and other regional food & pharmacy chains.• Opened forty-six exclusives strategically placed hybrid retail centers, store-within-a store concept, that only carried Ales branded products. Utilized strong Social Media, Influencers.

• Owned and operated independent global CPG retail/professional personal care, skin care and cosmetics business strategy consulting firm. Sales & marketing, operational planning, and distribution development offering clients a progressive broad spectrum approach including sales, marketing, branding, distribution, and eCommerce aimed at maximizing bottom-line go-to-market profitability and increasing brand or company market awareness with a profitable exit strategy.• Clients Included: The Spa, ECRU & Beauty Addicts (start-ups), NYX Cosmetics, Babo Botanicals, Grand Salon Retail Chain, ColorMetrics (start-up) Hair Care, Newell-Rubbermaid acquired hard-goods electronic styling tools, Obliphica Hair Care and Ales Group, France.Social Media/InfluencersRetail Sales and MarketingSocial Media MarketingeCommerceInfluence Utilization Financial Budgets and full P&L analysisDirect sales and/or distributor network sales management Private label development & implementationSupply Chain effectivenessManufacturing efficienciesIT system analysisDistribution Channel and Network strategy analysis Promotional initiatives Public Relations planningAdvertising tactics and sourcing Outsourcing opportunities Merger and Acquisition Due DiligenceDistressed Company Reorganizations and TurnaroundsTeam BuildingStrategic PlanningAccount ManagementKey Account ManagementBusiness DevelopmentRetail Category ManagementConsumer ProductsBeauty, Skin Care and Personal Care Product ManagementDyslexic Thinking

Responsible for developing sales and marketing strategies, objectives and tactics for the relaunching of a downward trending personal care professional and retail brands. Re-branded the division, Innovative Styling Option (ISO) targeting both high end salons and spas and OTC retail chains throughout North America. Focused on managing and maximizing the impact of luxury retail brands in sales, marketing, education Successful market turn-around and re-launch of downward trending luxury retail brands growing gross revenue annually by greater then 21% for consecutive years ensuring vertical and horizontal market share growth. This was accomplished through change management and divisional department reorganization, re-development of the sales and marketing departments, and upgrading wholesale and retail distribution. Increased revenue from downward trending $17M to over $35M in less than three years. Due to the success of my division M&A focused on the successful attainment of the $120M acquisition of Joico Laboratories and combined the new acquisition into my division for a total annual revenue of $150M Created and implemented sales operations for a new division – Custom Labs to improve utilization of manufacturing/warehouse facility in Rochester NY improving ROI on capital manufacturing equipment by 31% with private label filling and manufacturing when not in direct use by Shiseido branded products.Accepted a leadership role in the ISO 9000 - 2001 certification to improve manufacturing and efficiency eliminating defective percentages throughout the company

Responsibilities: Responsible for all Retail Distributor Sales and the sell through to consumers.Accomplishments: Developed and lead the marketing strategy of the new "Seven Separate Lines" creating the steps for Sebastian future omnichannel Exclusive distribution networks.Strategic Planning, Account Management, Key Account Management, Business Development, Forecasting, Budgeting, Consumer Products, Beauty, Skin Care, Personal Care Retail Category Management, Sales /Marketing, P&L Management, Global Team ManagementUtilize Dyslexic Thinking

Master Of Business Administration - Mba, Business Management & Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Studies

Bs, Economics - Business Management