Bringing Innovative Strategies to Transform Jewelry Businesses | Keynote Speaker | Operations Optimization ExpertWith over 30 years of experience in the jewelry industry, I am passionate about driving operational excellence and sales growth for businesses nationwide. Currently serving as an executive at Collected Concepts, I specialize in aligning operations, streamlining processes, and providing innovative solutions to enhance customer experiences and drive business expansion. As a keynote speaker, I have had the privilege of sharing insights at industry conferences and working closely with jewelry retailers nationwide to optimize their operations and boost profitability. Through full-service consulting, I lead businesses on transformative journeys, empowering owners to achieve greater success while enjoying newfound freedom. Let's connect and explore how I can help your jewelry business thrive!Jewelry Executive | Collected Concepts- Spearhead operations alignment and process streamlining initiatives to enhance customer experiences and facilitate company growth.- Lead industry conferences as a keynote speaker, sharing expertise in sales optimization, business leadership, marketing, special event preparation, and execution- Collaborate with jewelry retailers nationwide to train leaders and sales teams, optimizing business practices to drive sales and increase profitability.- Provide full-service consulting to guide businesses in achieving industry leadership and fostering growth.At Collected Concepts, where our mission is to bring you the ultimate training and marketing solutions from around the world. With over 35 years of experience, we've been "In the loop" and have collected the best strategies to help your business soar to new heights. But we don't stop there! We believe in taking a fresh perspective and finding new ways to "supercharge" existing ideas by looking “outside the box"

The True Gem started in 2016 as a passion project around shared values of creating a more ethical and forward-thinking space within the jewelry industry. Our mission is to build a community which changes the way the world sees jewelry through the power of integrity, sustainable and eco-conscious practices, and valuing people and the planet over profit.I began working with True Gem as a consultant in my last position and after several conversations and consultations, I was asked to interview for the position of CEO. We are here to disrupt how the traditional jewelry industry views business.As CEO my role includes embodying the mission statement while focusing on:▸Strategic Planning: I provide leadership for all aspects of The True Gem’s operations with an emphasis on long-term goals, growth, profit, and ROI by working closely with other executives to establish policies and actionable plans.▸Team Building: A core strength of mine is being able to motivate and “rally the troops.” Businesses ebb and flow. It’s my responsibility to keep morale high, accountability high, and sales growth high.▸Operations Excellence: I oversee all divisions of the company, employment decisions at the executive level, manufacturing, and anything needed to benefit the organization’s mission.▸Sales Planning: Measured, sustained sales growth with a passion for fulfilling our customer’s wants, needs, and desires will drive our business. I’ve focused on putting systems in place throughout the organization to meet those needs. ▸Customer Experience: We believe in people before profit and it’s imperative that we have systems, products, and people in place to service our customer in the best way possible. Inevitably sales growth follows.

Collected Concepts is focused on helping Independent Jewelers bring higher levels of success related to their training and marketing solutions. I worked previously with the owner of Collected Concepts during my time with Signet and, after several conversations with him, decided to come on board to lead business development opportunities.My role included:▸Retail Consulting: I worked directly with Independent Jewelry stores and chains on all aspects of operations management including people, training, inventory, vendor management, cash flow, and paying down debt.▸Social Media: I supported clients to grow their SEO and SMO while growing gross revenue. Primarily by introducing the concept of SEO and SMO and aligning them with nationally branded marketing we would bolster their online and social media presence to drive sales.▸Business Development: I would build special events specific to each of our clients while providing the cadence and support the execution. After COVID-19 hit, we pivoted these to execute online, in order to continuously support businesses. ▸Leadership: Our partnership developed “Think Tank” groups to assist in identifying industry trends, training, team development, events, sales, shared ideas, while assisting others with implementation of ideas and strategies to drive revenues.

The world’s largest retailer of diamond jewelry, I started with the company as a salesperson and worked my way up to management prior to being recruited to Lawrence Jewelers. I came back to the company as a District Manager when it was known as Zales and continued focus on growth, overall, more than 12 years leading and developing teams within Signet Jewelers.As RVP of Store Operations, I led all strategic initiatives including sales, customer service, operations, merchandising, project management, talent management, and retention for 166 stores with $350 million in annual sales. My role included:▸People Leadership: I led a team of up to 13 District Managers responsible for driving growth on the West Coast and in the Southwest. After my success on the West Coast, I was moved to the Southwest region to oversee operations and create growth. Trained and oversaw the development of future RVP’s and District Managers in order to have bench strength and develop thought leaders who wanted to grow in the business.▸Growth Leadership: We went from last in the organization to 1st within 6 months in all KPI metrics. We accomplished this through a collaborative approach and creating strategies that prioritized growth opportunities and developing behaviors to positively influence results.▸Business Development: We grew sales year-over-year by over $10 million by insuring we had the people and processes in place to run successfully through all 166 stores. I also supported our real estate tactics board to review and scout new growth opportunities and analyze existing stores determining the best strategy to maximize profit vs. expenses.▸People Development: I developed a Division of Responsibilities model for DMs to create more business ownership, manage workload, and develop themselves professionally. Overall, 10 Store Managers promoted to District Managers and a District Manager promoted to Regional Vice President.

➤ Led, developed, mentored, empowered, and collaborated with 7 District Managers to develop the regional action plans that optimized store profits, created long-term growth, and achieved the corporate strategy, delivering results in all 5 standards.➤ Took a well-planned, systematic approach to implementing strategy that was created in collaboration with the DM team, ensuring that profitable repair margins were maintained and that all controllable expenses were managed, contributing to the overall profitability of the company.➤ Delivered top results for Q3 and Q4 by developing district leaders, leading the region to #1 for FY'17 year-end for the Dallas brands, resulting in winning the Q3 incentive and a trip to Cabo as a VPRO.➤ Actively developed next-level leaders with the Top 20 strategies being led by an invest DM and having a DM lead a group of invest Manager candidates in Special Events, while continually looking for new, innovative ways to develop all team members to achieve all career aspirations.➤ Leveraged comprehensive jewelry knowledge of both the Dallas and Akron brands to help synergize all areas of the organization, introducing the harmonized Assistant Manager role, the Manager-in-Waiting role, and the introduction of an audit program to the Dallas VPROs.➤ Was asked to take on additional responsibilities in January '17 within the Real-Estate and Training departments, contributing the company's growth across multiple avenues, while serving as a pioneer of change for the organization as a whole.

I led all phases of financial performance for the Detroit and Arkansas markets. I’ve always been one to wonder if success can be replicated and I was given the chance to do that after successfully leading the Detroit market and turning around a struggling Arkansas market.My role included:▸Business Development: Leading both districts in sales for 9 years while finishing in the top 5 for the organization while elevating average store sales by more than $700k. The Arkansas market was a complete turnaround going from a market of 0/5 in KPI’s and within year 1, to the market landed 4/5 in standards by year 3.▸People Development: I introduced our top Store Managers to the District Management trainee role and promoted 2.▸Process Improvement: I led regional technical training for a new POS implementation and utilized my leadership experience to facilitate training to stores around sales, customer service, and management training while monitoring performance and providing behavioral-based feedback.▸Talent Planning: I created a strategy to assess and develop our internal talent and upgraded the strategy by using a bottom-up approach while developing behaviors that deliver a branded guest experience.

➤ . This role was responsible for all areas of running a small 4 store chain. These responsibilities include all areas of people management, merchandise control including lp and buying of product, replenishment for the chain, and driving profitable sales by managing discounts, and buying right to exceed margin goals.