Gregory Varanese Email & Phone Number

Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Greater Salt Lake City Area

Hired, on-boarded and product trained two new stores teams, the HQ and Traverse Mountain, Lehi location to prepare for the holiday season. Opened the Traverse Mountain and Trolley Square locations by designing the store layout, creating the fixtures and visually merchandising the space. Wrote and organized Standard Operating Procedures for all of retail and shop functions while Covid 19 shutdown all locations in early 2020.Responsible to P&L for multiple locations in my tenure, Campus HQ, Lehi, Trolley Square and the Park City location as well.

Reno, Nevada Area

Positively guided and influenced a customer experience department in constant transition. Mentored peer group by streamlining processes and provided templates for new Supervisors to utilize when on-boarding in a short amount of time. Designed and implemented learning modules and soft skills content such as conflict resolution, prioritization, how to have difficult conversations, strength finders 2.0 assessment, time management and situational role playing skills to support a common talent development approach across customer service and Reno warehouse for newly promoted leaders.~Responsible for development of future leaders within CX department by design, implementation and continual improvement of new processes and procedures for a role which monitors rep contacts and allocates resources appropriately, which allowed peers to dedicate valuable time to provide more constructive feedback to their work groups, in turn strengthening overall CX rep force.~Provided structure and organization to hiring team while full time position evolved by designing and implementing group hiring, interviewing templates and guides along with scheduling matrixes keeping everyone on the same page with interview times, available rooms and other scheduling logistics. ~Well-known resource for interviewing skills practice within the CX department for dozens of reps and lead reps alike, more than a dozen being promoted to new positions within the company.~Member of Emergency Response Team for Reno campus CX dept. that ensured OSHA safety protocols were being followed and employees health and well being safeguarded.

Greater Salt Lake City Area

The University of Utah has one of the finest outdoor recreation programs in the nation. Design coursework and facilitate the curriculum. This environment allows the opportunity to hone communication and problem-solving skills in a vertical world, using a 2-rope protection system.~Swiftly create an environment of trust with new students in unfamiliar surroundings, empower students to discover fortitude within themselves in stressful situations, aligning with the departments vision and mission statement through creating safe, lifelong experiential learning opportunities. ~Teaching the proper and safe use of canyoneering equipment and Leave No Trace ethics while being an instructor and guide for several hundred University of Utah students through the narrow slot canyons of Southern Utah.

Cottonwood Heights, Ut

Salt Lake City

Brought in to help company transition from a seasonal to year round business with the merger of Bikewagon.com. Designed store and bike/ski shop layout and created unique fixtures to display merchandise in a consumer friendly fashion. Responsible for hiring, on-boarding and conducting all systems and product training.

Salt Lake City Outlet Store

Created a retail environment that was innovative, unique, inspired, customer friendly, and reflective of the local community that brought the Patagonia story and mission statement to life. Upheld the company's mission by using the store as a theater to bring environmental and community issues to life through education and inspiration for customers to act.

Sandy, Utah

Oversaw and directed three Supervisors, an Administrative and Visual presentation specialist along with 10 full time and 50+ part time employees serving 3.4 million customers in Utah’s Designated Market Area (DMA), the largest in the United States, coordinated sales and payroll resources of over $34 million in 2012.~Project Manager for SAP conversion - Implemented and monitored early adoption of new mobile selling devices and SAP, a POS software transition, resulting in higher customer satisfaction survey results and increased productivity.~Learning and Development - Based on a need to fill a dozen entry-level management positions, created an Employee Supervisor Development Series, filling several vacant places within the first year of adoption.~Facilitated change in selling culture through positive feedback paradigm shift, producing the strongest employee survey results within company for two years in a row, 2011 and 2012.~Observed staff interacting with customers and provided them with real time, positive feedback leading to behavioral changes far exceeded performance metrics set.~2011 Store of the Year Award based on highest year over year increase in retail metrics; sales, memberships, payroll and customer service index performance.~Peer nominated Core Value Award for Balance four years in a row from 2006 ~ 2010~Peer nominated for highest level corporate award within the company, the 2011 Anderson Award, REI highest individual honor, based on living and representing all of the core values of the company: authenticity, respect, quality, service, integrity, and balance.

Denver Flagship, Colorado

Supervised Action Sports department, elected from outside the company which boasts an 87% hiring from within ratio, for this critical role. The store transitioned into the original power plant in Denver, tripling its square footage and quadrupling its employee base in the move.~Dramatically increased productivity, improved processes and fostered teamwork within four departments worked through community service projects and team building activities such as employee ski, hike, and mountain bike days.~Increased sales revenue by double digits in each of the four departments worked with an average of 300-350 employees as well as approximately $30-36 million in sales each year.~Hiring and training manager responsible for conducting all new hire orientations and on-boarding which included sales, product and customer service training, loss prevention, outreach and visual merchandising standards for approximately five hundred new employees.~Implemented Corporate Social Responsibility plan for Denver Flagship location, through mapping CO2 footprint of store, raising employee awareness of their CO2 emissions through air quality updates and commuter challenges, before REI had a national CSR policy in place corporately.

Denver, Co

Tom Sims was a pioneer in the snowboard industry, carving the way for this action sports brand to design, market and sell some of the most innovative snowboard hard goods and clothing apparel since the early 1970s.~ Serviced the Rocky Mountain region, including CO, UT, WY, NM and lower ID~ Support over 150+ accounts through sales and service along with on snow demos~ Managed and coached several technical representatives throughout the region~ Collaboration between 25 professional riders and engineering prototyping new designs~ Hosted special events and coordinated contests throughout Rockies

Woodinville, Wa

Denver, Co

Honors Bachelor Of Science (Hbs), Management, Magna Cum Laude 3.929

Activities and Societies: Honors College Think Tank on Astronomy member / Co-creator of Honors 3400 Planets and Pedagogy class / Helped.

Associate Of Science (As), Business, 3.93 High Honors

Activities and Societies: Phi Theta Kappa Honor SocietyPresident's List