I led a team that scaled a B2B middle market “internal startup” organization from 16 to over 400 FTE. We built the organization into a growth engine which increased financial contributions from $181M to over $4B direct billed business annually. We improved systems, created processes, built an awesome culture and increased conversion leading to annual sales growth from 2,250 to 39,000 without sacrificing ROI.

I was responsible for a portfolio of 100 high net worth Centurion Business (aka the "black card") clients. The role required a high face to face contact rate, servicing of existing accounts, client entertainment and acquisition of new accounts and spend. My clients were high profile and world renowned in the Entertainment (Television/Film/Print/Photography), Fashion, Finance and Real Estate sectors, based in NYC. This role was a fantastic opportunity for me to work with leaders in their industry and see up close how they manage their brands and public personas. With the strong backing of the powerful American Express brand, I was able to establish relationships which felt like I was an extension of my clients' internal teams, the result of which was a 112% increase in their use of our product.

After a year of preparing and planning with Highgarden corporate, I launched the Phoenix Division of Highgarden Real Estate with my wife Jennifer Hernandez in 2012. In our first full year in business, our team of 20 agents produced $50M in sales. Highgarden drives leads TO their agents by utilizing the very best search engine optimization technology and a second to none, intuitive CRM platform. After the first year of business half of our agents who were with the company for the full year earned a six-figure income. Our experience with Highgarden gave us real life exposure and experience owning and operating a small business, launching a startup and managing a franchise.

At the age of 31 I began leading the sales organization of a Fortune 500, $5B company reporting directly to the CEO. My responsibilities included leading the field sales organization comprised of VPs of Sales in up to 52 U.S. markets and their sales teams (approximately 1300 FTE). Additionally I led the creation of a national contact center in an effort to standardize our digital and phone lead treatment, resulting in a 22% improvement to conversion.

I led sales and marketing functions including up to 75 salespeople and a team of 6 in marketing. KB Home acquired a successful regional home building company and my role was to integrate KB processes, sales methods and systems post-acquisition.

In this role I led the North Region for the #1 builder in Indianapolis both in number of closings and volume. This was an exciting team to be a part of and where I learned much of the principles and sales organizational methods my teams still use today.

Two years after our wedding and shortly after our first child's birth, my wife and I moved to be near her family in Indiana. Although it was not easy leaving Ralph Lauren, I started an exciting phase of my career in sales working for homebuilders over the next decade, both selling and leading sales organizations. My leadership experience at A&F and Polo helped me to manage new home communities like a franchise owner, leading to several salesperson of the month awards, qualifying for sales reward trips and ultimately earning me a spot in leadership.

I led the operations of the full-retail Polo Store at the Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix, AZ. The scope of this role included leading and managing the operations staff: customer service; inventory management; tailoring staff and vendor partners. Additionally, I opened the new Phoenix store and the newly renovated Worth Ave store in Palm Beach. Memorably, I had the honor of personally walking Ralph and Andrew Lauren through the new store concept and oriented them to the thinking and work that influenced what they were seeing in the design. In 1999 at 23 years old, I was appointed Interim General Manager, managing our Phoenix business and leading the Arizona Biltmore Fashion Park store.

What began as a college job, turned into the beginnings of a career in operations and leadership. Over my time at A&F I opened new stores (Scottsdale & Mesa, AZ; Seattle, WA) and had the opportunity to present ideas for further standardization of store operations to senior leadership (including the CEO) and the experience of recruiting staff for new stores on college campuses around the country.