John Atkins Email & Phone Number

United States

United States

IndiePet is the only organization that is tightly focused on strengthening the approximately 8,000 independent and neighborhood pet retail locations serving pets and pet parents in North America.

North Branford, Connecticut, United States

CT Gardens, LLC dba Smithland Pet Center and Smithland Pet & Garden Center is a private-equity owned, Pet Specialty / Lawn & Garden retailer serving communities in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

United States

Support-4-Retail, LLC provides consultative, subject matter expertise and business transformation consulting to retailers, software providers, consumer products companies and private equity firms interested in, supporting or serving the Rural and Outdoor Lifestyle retail channel.Led a strategic business process improvement exploration project for Duluth.

Irving, TX

• Selected to form and lead the company’s Enterprise System Applications Service Delivery function. This team of Neiman Marcus and Infosys associates provided the production support, and quality assurance for the.
• Received NMG’s IT STAR award in Q2 FY’18. Achieved 82.9% reduction in P1/P2 events H2 FY’18.
• Team achieved a 45% reduction in P1/P2 events during the 2018 Holiday season.
• Successfully transitioned the QA function for this portfolio to an Infosys T.C.O.E. model in 2018.
• Partnered with the IT Security team to implement new processes to improve compliance to PCI and IT General Controls.
• Served key leadership role delivering 33% reduction in application-related Priority Incidents-FY’19.

Irving, Texas

• As Director, Merchandising Systems, I led a talented team of retail IT professional in the delivery of technology-enabled business solutions in support of America's foremost luxury retailer. My team of more than fifty.
• Joined the company six weeks prior to the company's implementation of a very challenging Oracle RMS ERP implementation.
• Led the performance testing work stream and identified serious performance issues with a critical custom application. Partnered with the system integrator to remediate these issues prior to go-live.
• Assumed leadership of the NMG-One project and third-party production support teams thirty days post go-live during "Hyper-Care".
• Played key leadership role in the post-go-live planning, project management, and remediation efforts during the "hyper-care" and stabilization phases of this transformation project.Oracle Retail | Project Management |.

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Support-4-Retail, LLC provides consultative, subject matter expertise and business transformation consulting to retailers, software providers, consumer products companies and private equity firms interested in, supporting or serving the Rural and Outdoor Lifestyle retail channel.Significant experience in the Store Operations, Merchandising, Marketing.

Idaho Falls, Idaho

• As Chief Operating Officer, I collaborated in the strategic planning process and provided leadership for project planning and execution of the Store Operations, Distribution, Merchandising, and Marketing business.
• Grew Sales by 65% and net profit by 30% by leveraging market demand and execution of an omnichannel, growth and transformation strategy.
• Planned & opened seven new stores with updated floor plans and shopping experiences, improving product adjacency and emphasizing core business strengths in new markets, generating millions in new retail sales.
• Relocated three and renovated three existing stores producing higher than average comp-sales for the group.
• Generated 60% of 2014 same-store sales increase, through a strategic business analysis, category management and remerchandising and marketing effort that increased emphasis on core-growth product categories.
• Implemented competitive pricing strategy in advance of a competitive invasion by a national retailer to protect market share.

Dallas/Fort Worth Area

• As CEO / COO of this St. Paul MN-based retailer-owned purchasing cooperative, We developed and executed a new vision and strategy in collaboration with shareholders. Led four senior managers, 25 direct reports and.
• Grew revenues by 40% and member billed purchases by 102% through effective execution of transformation initiatives and a multi-year strategic planning process.
• Achieved record dividend for stockholders in first full year of leadership and achieved targeted financial results for seven consecutive years.
• Introduced innovative purchasing & marketing programs, generating tens-of-millions in new business value for vendors and members after re-focusing the company.
• Transformed the company's event marketing & management processes to ensure the best value for stakeholders resulting in consecutive sold-out shows.
• Overhauled company's strategy, governance, disaster & risk mitigation processes to ensure relevance and viability for the long-term benefit of the company's membership.

Greater Atlanta Area

As Director, Merchandising Operations, I collaborated on and played a key role in a very small team responsible for project planning & staffing, financial budgets and business cases for the company's planned SAP "Core Retail" Project. I collaborated with IT HR to recruit, build and organize a team that ultimately implemented SAP Retail in THD’s Canadian.

Greater Atlanta Area

As Senior Manager, Information Technology, I provided leadership for continuous improvement and Business Relationship (BRM) initiatives as the primary liaison between the Finance-Information Technology Team and the Accounting & Finance business units. Essentially, I provided strategic consulting, developed business cases and project planning that solved.

Greater Nashville Area, TN

• I transitioned to head TSCO's IT team as a VP with CIO responsibilities, through a turnaround effort after difficult enterprise-wide SAP 4.0b retail implementation. I led cross-functional teams in project planning.
• Led strategic project planning and execution of technology, enabling business processes in a very difficult ERP post “go-live” business environment.
• Upgraded virtually the entire system architecture to achieve a 99.9979% service level.
• Supported 30% growth or 112 new stores in one year as a result of an unplanned acquisition.
• Implemented Decision Support System, revolutionizing merchandising and tactical reporting that directly supported two-year 57 basis point improvement in inventory turnover.
• Implemented Gift Card program, generating $1M in new revenue in first quarter of origination.

Greater Nashville Area

• I was promoted to Merchandising Division VP, to lead the $271M Farm Products Division. Led and developed four merchandising teams responsible for planning & executing merchandise planning, marketing and supply-chain.
• Grew sales by $100M with improvements in gross margin and inventory turnover through successful product, marketing, branding and merchandising strategies.
• Leveraged trend analysis to re-merchandise virtually the entire division's assortment, increasing comp-store sales 18% in one-year period leading to market leading positions in the Fencing, Pet & Companion Animal.
• Collaborated on the launch of the “Producer’s Pride” and repositioned DuMOR private label livestock/equine feeds while implementing a new vendor partnership and supply chain with Purina Mills driving millions in new.
• Provided strategic Product Management support for the Blue Book catalog and launch of the company’s omnichannel marketing strategy recording the first ecommerce driven sales transaction in 1997.
• Played leadership role in negotiating $20M in new vendor marketing funds over 18-month period.

Greater Nashville Area

As the first Division Merchandise Manager for Tractor Supply in many years, I developed and provided leadership to a cohesive and collaborative team of talented buyers responsible for the overall merchandising, marketing and supply-chain strategy for the Farm related businesses for the company.Product Sourcing & Purchasing | Retail | Merchandise Planning |.

Nasville

• Managed the product and vendor sourcing, pricing, promotion and replenishment processes for combinations of the Apparel, Footwear, Toys, Lawn & Garden, Outdoor Power Equipment departments.Selected Achievements
• Rebranded entire Huskee line of outdoor power equipment, resulting in double-digit sales gains; and positioned Tractor Supply among top ten category retailers
• Implemented big & tall strategy in apparel and footwear business, achieving #2 ranking for lines in 1993.Buying | Softlines | Hardlines | Price Management | Supply Chain | Promotions | Master Data Management | Vendor.

Springfield, Missouri Area

Provided the day-to-day leadership to four Department Managers and the successful operation of the Fishing, Camping, Hunting and Marine departments at the company's flagship store after its first major expansion into 140,000' square feet. Served as the store's SME on the company's implementation of the JDA Software MMS AS400 Merchanding & WMS solution.|.

Springfield, Missouri Area

Provided leadership for the daily operation of the Hunting department. Responsible for product sourcing, pricing, promotions and replenishment of the Firearms, Ammunition, Reloading and non-catalog accessories merchandise required for retail.Store Operations | Buying | Firearms | Ammunition | Reloading Components | Leadership | P&L Management | Staff.

Various

Operations Assistant ManagerSports / Auto Department ManagerLoss Prevention Manager

Master'S Degree, Business Administration And Management, General, B

Received my Executive MBA from Owen at Vanderbilt University.

Six Sigma Greenbelt Certificate Program

Undergraduate Courses, General Studies

Took core undergraduate coursework

Undergraduate Coursework, Business / Economics

Undergraduate Business Courses

Undergraduate Coursework, Business

Activities and Societies: Pi Kappa AlphaUndergraduate Coursework