Lead the Grocery, Refrigerated and Frozen businesses with accountability for long-term strategic planning and P+L management. Lead a total team of 70 team members, inclusive of the Grocery, Refrigerated and Frozen category merchant teams, Local and Emerging Brands team, and Center Store Inventory Planning Team. Serve as the business lead on enterprise assortment planning technology initiatives in partnership with Product Management, Tech, Amazon, enterprise business leaders, and Executive Team.

Led a team of nine with six category manager direct reports to drive the multi-billion dollar Dairy and Beverage business across all US and Canadian locations. Key decision maker in large scale organizational change by serving on several steering committees to elevate Whole Foods Market’s business to the next level. Successfully developed several direct reports to exciting new promotions. Increase market segment share successfully across business platforms by executing merchandising visions with marketing, promotional, and operational strategy support. Incubate small suppliers alongside Business Development and execute joint business plans with the largest suppliers in the organization to create differentiated and innovative assortments that define market trends. Act as business lead in new Assortment Planning Tool development by partnering with cross-functional data, tech, and merchandising operations teams.

Developed and executed merchandising strategies through methodical category management approach for Yogurt, Kefir, Milk, Milk Products, Eggs, and Plant-based Beverage categories. Successfully drove a pilot program in support of a category management transformation. Developed a direct report to a successful promotion. Negotiated COGS savings to target competitive price points. Partnered with cross-functional Space Planning, Pricing, Category Analytics teams. Aligned with Exclusive Brands team on RFP process across all dairy segments. Led Category Manager onboarding training as a representative of company transformation. Partnered with the supplier community to co-create and launch exclusive product innovations.

Performed category reviews for all Dairy and Frozen categories to achieve financial plan targets. Onboarded and mentored several new team members to be productive employees. Negotiated complex supply chains to drive efficiencies for private label bread and eggs programs. Created and launched exciting new exclusive innovations for the Mid-Atlantic region.

Executed assortments in partnership with operational partners, store team leaders, and store team members. Identified distribution consolidation opportunities. Closely monitored competitive pricing to remain market relevant. Facilitated out of stock tools to identify opportunity gaps. Managed inventory across several warehouses and distribution partners.

Developed product assortments for multi-channel execution in both brick and mortar stores as well as eCommerce platforms. Managed Open-To-Buy in alignment with imbedded Merchandising Planner. Exceeded sales, margin and turnover goals for several seasons. Developed and executed private brand assortments and items for unique differentiators.