James Ackerson is currently the COO of a construction company specializing in commercial HVAC Sheet Metal fabrication and installation. Previous to this role, Mr. Ackerson served as the Sr. Director of Distribution & Logistics at The Hartz Mountain Corporation. Mr. Ackerson also served as Sr. Director of Supply Chain Strategy and Operations for the 1200-store specialty retail chain - The Children’s Place, which also incorporated Disney Store, North America during his tenure. Mr. Ackerson has more than twenty-five years of experience in specialty retail/ecommerce and wholesale industries managing Supply Chain Distribution – inbound/outbound transportation (logistics), warehouse/distribution center operations, network facility design and optimization, warehouse management system and material handling equipment (WMS/MHE) implementation, store opening project management, and financial planning and budgeting. He has an MBA from Hofstra University with a major in Finance. Mr. Ackerson has extensive experience with selecting and project managing the implementation of state-of-the-art automated material handling equipment. He performs financial modeling and return on investment (ROI) analysis for capital investment projects and process optimization strategies. Mr. Ackerson is experienced with Supply Chain consolidation and transportation strategies.Specialties: Leadership Development, Facility Design including MHE Selection & WMS Implementation, Financial & Operational Analysis & Modeling (Budgeting/KPIs/ROI), Project Management (Store Opening/Facility Planning/Systems Integration), Contract Negotiation (3rd Party Services, Transportation), Short- & Long-term Strategy Development, Logistics & Transportation Modeling and Analysis, SOP Documentation, Process Flow Optimization - Retail & Ecommerce Fulfillment