• Communicate clear vision and visual merchandising expectations to the field • Partner with planogram company to develop and update planograms and floor layouts• Partner with outside marketing company to develop pricing visibility tags, special order signs and other POP needed for the redemption area• Oversight of 60 remodels to the redemption area• Partner with buyer to develop trend right assortments to meet company objectives• Managed the new store opening setup procedures and conference call process for redemption for over 80 new stores to date• Develop and implement merchandising guidelines company wide for redemption• Designed new and innovative fixtures and displays to make the store experience engaging and customer focused.

• Worked closely with senior management to develop and lead long and short-range strategic planning and vision for department • Responsible for roll out of centralized purchasing company wide• Responsible for roll out of the planogram process company wide• Developed standardized footprints for redemption area• Managed the corporate redemption team• Achieved sales, gross margin and profit goals through oversight of product creation, selection, price, merchandising and inventory control to maximize the company’s return on investment and space in stores.

• Developed, led and executed the merchandising strategic vision for Rent- A- Center which has 3000 locations and annual sales of $2.8 billion. • Served as liaison between Advertising/Marketing, Purchasing, Inventory Control, Development and Operations for multiple brands.• Project management responsibility on cross functional team which included senior management, key internal departments and outside design firm to develop a new store design for the core brand which started nationwide roll out in 2010.• Worked with internal and external partners to ensure timely, accurate and relevant product information on the websites for multiple brands through the writing of product features and benefits, adds/deletes and product category management.• Identified the need and developed a Merchandising section on the company intranet which allowed stores easy access to merchandising policies and recommendations.• Communicated clear vision and merchandising expectations to the field.• Conducted monthly merchandising review and analysis of competitor’s stores and e-commerce sites.• Toured stores and provided feedback to corporate and field partners via store visit reports on needed presentation adjustments and process improvements.

Strategically managed and held full responsibility for bottom-line factors, including company vision, long range strategic planning, purchasing, merchandising, inventory control, product development, marketing, budgeting and B2B development for the largest scrapbook store in the United States which had annual sales of over $2.5 million. Fostered a team atmosphere through training, coaching, mentoring and motivation for over 50 full and part time employees.Developed strategic supplier partnerships by decreasing the supplier base from over 300 suppliers to 100 core partners resulting in a decrease to administrative costs and an increase in gross profit of 9.8%. Negotiated ongoing discounts on over 80% of merchandise which in turn produced a 56.8% gross profit compared to the industry average of 47%.Negotiated free freight with over 75% of vendors which in turn produced a 2.1% freight expense compared to the industry average of 8% which realized the company a cost savings of over $75k annually.Developed store design and product strategy for start-up company. Created strategic merchandising and promotional plans utilizing market, consumer and competitive insights.Responsible for assortment development, purchasing, inventory management and retail presentation of over 26,000 sku’s. Conducted regular reviews of competitor brick and mortar and e-commerce sites.Toured stores weekly with store managers to ensure that all merchandising plans were implemented and to receive associate input of customer feedback. Written up in many industry and consumer magazines including being inducted to the Craftrends “Independent Retailer Hall Of Fame” in 2006. Scrapbook Warehouse was one of only 2 stores in the craft industry to be inducted.

Managed all aspects of $80 million annual inventory control workload in the Home Division. Developed and executed bottom-up subdivision plans in both units and dollars by week to meet sales, gross profit, inventory turn, markdowns and operating profit targets. Coordinated merchandise production planning with suppliers. Analyzed promotional effectiveness of sales and marketing programs and vendor profitability. Assisted in the development of subdivision sales and profit plans. Expedited supplier shipping and negotiated vendor lead times.