Working as part of a small, experienced team has allowed me to develop skills in all aspects of the business including;- summarising submitted business plans, taking key information and transferring this into a manageable short presentation- carrying out due diligence on certain areas - mainly competitor activity - of these business plans- collating information from all portfolio companies to create an in depth newsletter for investors- researching markets for emerging projects- assisting in the development of a new interactive website for staff, investors and portfolio companies using Pimcore multi channel management platform- managing all content and updates to members on our Portfolio Information Management System- member co-ordinator- pre- investment co-ordinator- social media manager

This role was undertaken on a J1 visa programme when my husband's career move gave us the opportunity to live and work in New York City. Due to my extensive retail experience, I immediately settled into my role of store supervisor of the museum’s main gift store. Responsibilities included;• Driving store sales through regular communication with sales team• Keeping shop floor fresh and exciting through visual merchandising and planning• Launching new exhibition stores, which involved keeping track of incoming new product and working on shop floor layouts• Involvement in annual inventory process

My responsibilities included managing the intake of stock from a wide supply base (including Portugal, Turkey and Far East), sales analysis and weekly reporting. Womenswear department sales accounted for 78% of the company weekly sales.•Managing supplier critical paths with buying teams to ensure intake and deliveries are on time and negotiating solutions when stock is late at the fault of the supplier.•Managing the intake of core selling product through reviewing sales and stock levels and forecasting repeat quantities using product line cards, taking into account peak trading periods and supplier lead times•Ensuring margin targets are achieved through effective communication with the buying teams•Reviewing weekly intake and working with logistics to ensure intake and dispatch is kept at a manageable level. I then collated this information from all departments to liaise with the company Distribution Centre•Coordinating package launches, working with suppliers to ensure product is received within a timely manner•Completing Authorization to Ship forms on a daily basis and building relationships with suppliers.•Presenting sales figures for my department and communicating to other members of the merchandising and buying teams in weekly meetings.•Updating weekly sales analysis. This data was then used for attribute analysis and “lessons learned”•Analyzing selling patterns to ensure stock is always bought in the correct ratios to maximize profit and reduce markdown•Creating opening packages for new stores, ensuring they open with the most fresh and exciting package range possible.•Communicating with stores to ensure any issues with stock are resolved in order to achieve optimum sales results.•Managing junior members of the allocating team, holding fortnightly one to one meetings, completing performance reviews in line with company expectations•Training and developing new members of the team, and helping them settle into their new role

I joined as an Allocator on the jewellery department and after 2 months was moved to support the growing women’s jersey teams.•Helping to prepare weekly sales packs for Heads of Departments for trade meetings•Allocating new stock daily and ensuring stores receive efficient replenishment of repeat core styles.•Analysing best sellers on a weekly basis and taking actions on remaining warehouse stocks.•Working with Branch Merchandising to ensure the correct range was being allocated to International stores in Russia, Singapore, Dubai, Amsterdam and Poland

Based in two Glasgow flagship stores for four years, then transferred to London where I worked in the White City, Westfield flagship store.•Working with VM teams to implement new packages and maintaining standards at all times, ensuring my product team were fully trained on all VM standard expectations.•Using store and company best seller reports to ensure product is placed in key positions on the shop floor•Daily floor walk through with store management to ensure high standards maintained.•Walking through shop floors with area manager when she visited the store•Completing comp shops to ensure my store was in line with competitors’ activities and feeding back through weekly conference calls with the rest of my area.•Ensuring the highest level of customer service was maintained at all times

visual merchandising; in store and window, display creation and maintenance, end of season sale preparation and launch, new season layout implementation, team development, driving sales through placement of best selling stock.