Hilary O’Sullivan Email & Phone Number

Dublin, Ie

Dublin, County / Dublin Postal District, Ie

- Leader of the Buying & Merchandising, Central Functions & Sourcing stream of a business transformation programme centred around the implementation of the Oracle Retail software suite which has been delivered successfully August 2020. - Responsible for ensuring the programme delivers a solution that is fit for the future for Primark from a Buying & Merchandising perspective- Liaising with other stream leads in Finance, Retail and Supply Chain to ensure a co-ordinated, consistent end to end business solution- Direct and indirect management of multi-cultural, multi-disciplined IT and Business teams in different physical locations over both Primark and Supplier organisations- Ongoing communication and engagement with key stakeholders at all times throughout the life of this project to ensure continued support and buy-in and to make sure the programme delivery remains relevant in a fast moving environment- Consistent delivery to ensure key milestones are met- Identification of risks and management of issues- Key focus on business change and communication• Achievements:- Product owner of a bespoke purchase ordering system. Functional accountability for all business involvement including requirement definition, functional design and testing- Led the team to define all Buying & Merchandising business processes for the programme- Ongoing involvement in the definition and review of testing strategies, plans and execution- Development of a business communications plan to ensure key changes are communicated and embedded within the business- Directly responsible for leading the Buying & Merchandising business team in delivering a successful implementation of Oracle Retail Software suite and a bespoke Purchase Ordering system which has now been delivered successfully to the Buying community.

Dublin, County / Dublin Postal District, Ie

- Recruitment, development and coordination of the menswear department: responsible for Primark's trading across 5 different regions. These include Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France and USA.- Management and development of buying teams to build robust, valuable partnerships: allowing for greater flexibility and considerable success in the delivery of results against targets.- Hosting frequent meetings regarding planning and brand-development / range-building to ensure the financial maximisation across all regions.- Facilitating strong communication links and team cooperation between merchandising and buying departments.- Encouragement of collaboration across departments / RBO to maximise margins through economies of scale.- Regular liaison with the Buying Director regarding performance and strategic / business development.- Liaising with Design / PR in the promotion of high activity around social media / editorials. Achievements- Review of processes and procedures within team to identify areas of risk and opportunity, developing action plan to deliver increased profitability- Within the 1st two years of trading, Men’s Accessories/Essentials/Footwear delivered 219% increase in sales, 360% increase in sales profit. - Promoted to Buying Controller Jan 1st 2012- March 2012 took on responsibility for Men’s Knitwear/Woven, 55% of total menswear. - Successful launch of Menswear into new market France.

Dublin, County / Dublin Postal District, Ie

- Successfully launched Primark Footwear into the Northern Europe Market (Belgium), in addition to maximising current markets ROI / Spain / Portugal / Germany / Netherlands.- Implemented cross departmental moves to improve business performance, in addition to QA processes and testing standards across all suppliers.- Realigned and redefined the sourcing strategy to ensure that we were supporting relationships with key stakeholders such as partners.- Management of the Footwear team for Ladies, Men’s and Children’s shoes: reporting directly to the Trading Director.