Lesa Nelson Email & Phone Number

$1.4B (In-Store and E- Commerce), Children’s Apparel, Accessories, and Toys | 90+ Reports (Direct and In-Direct) | Portfolio of private and national brands, including Nike, Levi, Carters, Disney, Arizona, and Xersion | Merchandising | E- Commerce | Brick & Mortar | Product Development | Financials | Marketing. • Identified, championed, and capitalized on exclusive opportunity to create Disney brand “store within a store”, achieving double-digit increase in plan for 1st and 2nd years of launch and with plan to expand to additional stores. Networked and collaborated with Disney leadership to formulate financialstrategy, store count, store layout, marketing, and visual collateral.• Selected to lead corporate initiatives and projects, including transition to Oracle, “Back to School,” and “Special Sizes.”

$1.4B (In-Store and E-Commerce) Career Sportswear, Contemporary, and Dresses | 40+ Reports (Direct and In-Direct) | Portfolio included Liz Claiborne, Worthington, Joe Fresh, Nicole by Nicole Miller, Alfred Dunner, and Bisou Bisou | Merchandising | Finance | Supplier Relationship Management | Store Environment | Marketing.• Selected to serve on “Merchant Simplification Committee” as part of corporate transition.

$800M (In-Store and Enterprise) Petite and Women’s Size Apparel | 40+ Reports (Direct and In-Direct) | Product Development | Merchandising | Finance | Store Environment | Marketing.• Grew e-commerce to 36% penetration of online women’s apparel business by identifying opportunities to edit, balance, and capitalize on meaningful brands.• Drove category business growth by identifying opportunity to reach core customers and acquire new customers, rebalancing apparel assortment, then developed and executed plan (involving preprint, direct mail, and email) for women’s size target customers.

Women'S Apparel

$230M (In-Store and Enterprise Annual Sales) Exclusive private brands including East 5th and American Living Collection | 9 Direct and In-Direct Reports (Associate and Assistant Buyers, Assortment Planners, Merchandise Planner, Allocator, and Merchandise Assistant).• Grew market share and sales with double-digit improvements YOY.• Significantly increased gross profit (YOY) by identifying and building fashion pyramid.• Increased knit tops growth 35%+ YOY by capitalizing on key classification opportunities.• Successfully sourced and developed private brand internally by collaborating with international buying office and suppliers overseas.(Senior Buyer | JCP)

Women’s Apparel | 6-Direct Reports | Built/Executed Multi-Channel Marketing Strategies (Marketing Calendar Development, Promotions, Events, Direct Mail, E-Commerce, Broadcast and Magazine) | Strategic Partner to GMM and DMM’s.• Achieved sales gains 11 out of 12 months for women’s apparel business by establishing and executing promotional and branded marketing strategy to support key corporate events.• Contributed 10%+ increase in first-year sales plan for newly created “Women’s Apparel Fall Preview Sale” by building premiere marketing event, including collaborating with merchant team and creating clear strategy for divisional pricing and selection of “specials” for customer conversion

Men'S Accessories

Responsible for men's sleepwear, headwear, gloves, and hosiery. Successfully grew the business year over year. Managed and developed a team of 5 direct and indirect reports.

Men'S Sportswear

Responsible for men's sport shirts Private and National brands.

Chicago District- 29 Stores

Stores