After a several successful projects and taking on additional strategic project responsibilities as a Sr. Business Partner, I was promoted to a Consultant in Organizational Effectiveness. As a Consultant, I took on an elevated project leader role in the redesign of the Buyer training program (250+ buyers annually) to elevate the program quality and relevance, while increasing team member satisfaction and decreasing non-value added learning. In this role, I have led cross-functional project blitzes and work streams with responsibilities including: strategy planning, alignment with client goals, identifying and requesting project resources, managing budgets and resources, developing project timelines and key milestones, managing project team workload and providing performance feedback, informing key business partners and leaders on project progress and consulting on communication plans. Additionally, I manage relationships with two Program Managers, providing consulting support on instructional design strategies, program effectiveness evaluation and client communication.Achievements include: Creating the strategy, development and managing the execution of 3 project blitzes, 9 different project work streams, and the development of all new program content (300+ pieces of content); championed and created new tools and processes to document accountability and responsibilities across the work streams; consulted on project communication plans for SVP leaders, leadership committees, and project email updates.

As an Organizational Effectiveness Sr. Business Partner, I was promoted to develop, administer, and deliver training support to Merchandise Planning Business Analysts (MP BAs) and Merchandise Planning Managers.In this role, I was a selected to leverage my business knowledge and project management skills to lead the redesign of the MP BA new hire training program, the largest (300+ new hires annually) and the longest (14 week) merchandising training program. From strategy implementation to facilitator onboarding, I led my cross-functional project team in the development of over 200 new pieces of training content, as well as introduced a new training structure and approach, while reducing training time by 42% and improving the learners’ speed-to-competency. Additionally, I identified an opportunity to enhance the Systems Knowledge Assessment (SKA) that improved its effectiveness and functionality as a developmental tool, while reducing legal risk to Target, and reducing HR administration hours. Achievements include: Led and coached project team members on instructional design techniques and project strategy; managed project progress, budget, and key milestones; built extremely robust communication plans and developed communication tailored to SVPs, Managers and Analysts; led a global CFT to develop a new 4-hour Captivate assessment module and supplemental tools to aid managers in coaching and development; created storyboards and content scripts using Bergerac training techniques for new online company-wide training modules (5000+ views). As well, I facilitated training for over 300 MP BAs and over 100 Merchandising Managers and provided timely and actionable developmental feedback throughout their learning period.

I was promoted into the Merchandise Planning Manager role attributable to my strong track record for success, leadership skills, and talent and passion for developing others. In this role, I managed the inventory planning and supply chain flow for a $1.6B business and a team of 4 Merchandise Planning Business Analysts (MP BA) and 2 summer interns by providing motivational and developmental feedback focusing on professional and personal development. Beyond team development, I managed key vendor relationships and strategic supply chain initiatives with some of the largest global CPG companies. To improve profitability and inventory turnover, I created and collaborated with internal and external partners to gain buy-in for a new DSD (Direct Store Delivery) inventory tracking and financial management process to better manage receipt flow and unproductive inventory. My team was chosen to pilot for the company a new Target India collaborative ordering and instock trouble-shooting process. I led my team to share constructive and actionable feedback to enhance the process focusing on sustainability, scalability and trust.Key accomplishments include: Managed inventory and receipt flow to enable department to achieve annual sales, contribution dollars and contribution rate goals better to plan in 2011; developed 4 Business Analysts (BAs) to promotion readiness and on boarded 4 new BAs; successful implementation of the DSD inventory tracking initiative and reduction of $4.2M in unproductive inventory; Target India pilot feedback that resulted into process improvements for successful company roll-out of the process to over 90 merchandising planning teams; completion of Manager Training focused on coaching and development, Human Resources procedures, and Inventory Financial Management and Planning; Interview Certification.

Through my demonstrated problem-solving abilities and natural ability to strategize, I was promoted to a Six Sigma Project Lead, tasked with tackling a $25M unsaleable merchandise supply chain issue. In this role, managed a cross-functional project team of over 20 people and collaborated with key senior management stakeholders to determine root cause drivers of the problem. Using voice of customer surveys, Six Sigma tools, and multiple sources of data, I analyzed the problem, implemented a comprehensive statistical analysis and tests, and measured results to validate hypothesized improvements. Throughout the process, I managed key milestone achievements and communication plans to heighten project visibility/awareness and support process changes needed for success.I further developed my leadership skills and built my facilitations skills by consulting on and leading Six Sigma events across the Merchandising pyramid to tackle business problems from supply chain optimization to item profitability and process flow. Notably, I led a cross-pyramid team of 4 facilitators for a 30 person supply chain event, ensuring that that we aligned event deliverables with the client’s event outcome expectations. We produced both short and long-term actionable solutions for immediate implementation. As well, I further developed my talent management skills by coaching an undergraduate summer intern through a Six Sigma project and was responsible for all of her development feedback, performance reviews and extending a full-time job offer. Key Accomplishments include: Six Sigma Green Belt Certification; managed a Six Sigma project through all phases of DMAIC and implemented process change tests that resulted in statistically significant improvements in the unsaleable rate; developed, coached and provided motivational feedback for an undergraduate intern; facilitated 7 different Six Sigma events throughout the company that aligned with the clients’ expectations.

In November of 2008, I was promoted in position to Sr. Analyst, taking on new responsibilities of mentoring and developing new analysts and interns, as well as taking on a Division Transition Captain role. In this role, I led a team of more than 50 people through a 12-month transition process with effective and actionable weekly communication, developed new tools to improve processes through collaboration with process experts and ensured process sustainability and repeated success by sharing our division transition achievements and new tools with other division captains.Key Accomplishments include: led division to achieve all key transition milestones resulting in meeting all transition milestones on-time and improving instocks by 160bps; developed an inventory Presentation strategy and received Director support to implement it, resulting in $9.6M in annual average inventory savings; successfully mentored, coached and developed two Business Analysts in training to placement readiness and mentored 4 interns through a successful summer project with all 4 receiving full-time job offers.

I joined Target in June of 2007 as a Business Analyst. In this role I managed the inventory, allocation and supply chain flow of a $650M hair care business across 1600+ stores and 26 Distribution Centers. I was tapped for this position to apply my ability to solve complex problems, work in ambiguous situations and manage details to reverse a chronically out-of-stock and over-inventory category. By fostering collaborative relationships, applying my strong problem-solving skills, and enhancing communication with internal and external vendor partners, I was able to exceed inventory and instock goals in less than 3 months.My additional responsibilities included: forecasting demand for weekly ads, planning inventory for seasonal and salesplan events, managing vendor relationships and negotiating supply chain terms and strategies to grow contribution dollars. In this role, I managed and led inventory planning CFTs for key product launches and complex annual floor plan transitions. I developed effective inventory strategies that supported profitability and the guest experience through thoughtful and detailed new item forecasts and inventory exit strategies, resulting in markdown and contribution goals better to plan and new item instocks significantly above goal.Key Accomplishments include: achieved all performance metrics for instocks, promotions, contribution dollars and supply chain expenses in 2008; initiated a high/low volume salesplan set strategy to better allocate inventory and maintain instocks resulting in $1.5M incremental sales; negotiated new vendor casepacks for top unproductive items resulting in $700k annual supply chain savings.