Melissa B. Email & Phone Number

Chicago, Il, Us

Chicago, Il, Us

Chicago, Il, Us

Partners closely with field sales, brand marketing, & eCommerce to ensure strategy and plans are put in place to deliver long-term, sustainable growth across all US Kraft Heinz brands for +30 accounts.

Chicago, Il, Us

• Led team with GM mindset to drive the meat & cheese snacking business unit (8 factories, 7 product types, 100+ SKUs), leveraging strong financial acumen to deliver plan across share, volume, and profit. Manages overall P&L and budget • Set strategic vision for brand portfolio. Re-positioned P3 to communicate to younger consumers who over-index in consumption. Led focus groups and oversaw research to uncover additional insights to support initiative • Analyzed business results and identifies risks and opportunities to ensure strategies are working and business is on-track. Championed DTV and other cost out projects to save 17 points of margin across meat snacks in 2 years• Oversaw comms (TV, social, sponsorship) and IAT. Manages a team of 2 people. Develops objectives, provides coaching, feedback, and guidance, creating personal development plans to build the marketing leaders of tomorrow• Collaborated with multiple teams on the transition of cheese snacking to Lactalis (external company), ensuring KHC is compliant with contractual marketing obligations before sale

Chicago, Il, Us

• Responsible for brand P&L’s and overall businesses. Led 5-year strategy and annual planning including drivers of distribution, base trend, innovation, advertising, pricing, merchandising, etc.• Led strategy to maximize Claussen factory after $6MM capital install. Determined assortment to max sales and utilization. Worked with procurement, manufacturing, and sales to execute plans. Over-delivered year 1 by $15MM dollars • Developed plan to improve profitability of meat snacks portfolio which included determining optimal assortment, implementing various design to value and cost out projects, and maximizing marketing spend. Presented to Global CEO• Cancelled “Heat and Eat” launch when it was determined that changes in volumes and co-man cost structure provided no path to profitability, making a hard but right decision. Found Opps to offset $3MM gap and solution to re-deploy capital.• Drove distribution and oversaw 360-degree marketing campaign to get Just Crack an Egg to $100MM sales in Year 3 • Managed 3 supply chains during COVID including hard allocation (pickles) and waste task force (meat snacks) • Managed 2 associate brand managers. Oversaw consumption, demand models, research and monthly reporting

Chicago, Illinois, Us

* Led the launch of Haribo Z!NG, a new sour sub-brand. Oversaw nearly 2 dozen other renovation/innovation projects across a global supply chain. Projects included graphics refresh, packaging updates, customer specific SKU’s, product formulation, expansion of the core into additional packtypes, moving SKUs to new production countries, and SKU rationalization* Led annual strategy and execution of integrated marketing plans - TV copy, Media Planning, Consumer Sampling, Digital & Social, PR, shopper marketing, and 3rd party partnerships (Six Flags, etc). * Responsible for full marketing budget, annual brand planning, monthly close for marketing* Led RFP for new digital marketing agency – including solicitation, presentations, scoring/selection, & contract negotiation * Oversaw 7 agency/partner relationships and 1 ABM* Received 2018 Haribo growth award

Mclean, Virginia, Us

*Led quarterly planning and review meetings with online retailers. Implemented customer segmentation model across accounts to de-prioritize declining accounts and grow with emerging accounts. Managed trade and shopper spend. Worked through challenging supply chain issues.*Successfully sold in new products to grow across customer base. Developed new business accounts.*Responsible for executing digital merchandising, minimum advertised pricing, and shopper marketing activation.*Developed digital acumen and coaching skills

Mclean, Virginia, Us

*Managed and supported strategy development of US Portfolio ($4 billion), resulting in robust ambition for growth by 2020. Final Strategy was used to restructure entire organization*Developed clear and engaging strategic deployment communications*Co-led PMO (Project Mgmt) with S&OP director to inform, discuss, and gain alignment on enterprise wide initiatives with senior leaders*Developed comfort around senior management, command skills, and strategic agility

Mclean, Virginia, Us

*Developed and launched Skittles "America Mix" resulting in incremental $9 million. Successfully navigated and led team through strong, often opposing viewpoint from key stakeholders*Led NASCAR sponsorship. Collaborated with sales teams to build desirable retailer programs. Increase PR (57M+) and social media (11M+) impressions through engaging content*Managed and briefed agencies overseeing Packaging, PR, Social Media, Creative, and 3rd party Partnerships. Finalist for Best brand on Twitter. Hispanic spot awarded at 2015 Wave Latin Americna creative festival.*Led 2 major brand forecasts. Analyzed inputs and documented assumptions to demonstrate clear forecast drivers. Selected for task force to drive forecasting efficiency and accuracy.*Skittles became the #1 candy brand (annual $ sales) for the first time ever!*Developed cross functional team leadership and drive for results

Chicago, Illinois, Us

*Built relationships across new and existing key accounts. Deployed CRM across team to engage prospective accounts*Managed recruitment, training, and development across account team*Enhanced user experience by collaborating with product team to address functionality, usability, and overall site design*Built financial model to funding round to show actual and projected growth

Chicago, Il, Us

*Budgeted and forecasted full P&L of $380 million in revenue, production, marketing, digital media, and overhead expenses.*Finance lead for two digital venture projects worth over $10 million dollars each. Partnered with VP of Digital Media to offer strategic recommendations to Board. Collaborated with university officials, FOX Digital, and internal BTN departments to build P&L involving ad and streaming revenue, rights fees, operating expenses, overhead, and depreciation. *Supervised 2 team members covering ad sales pacing, balance sheet reconciliations, cash application, billing, 3rd party commissions, bad debt reserve, and collections*Developed people leader skills and digital acumen

Chicago, Il, Us

* Budgeted and forecasted BTN departments worth $38 million (consumer and affiliate marketing, digital media, production, and others). Developed supporting schedules and collaborated with departments to consistently have the smallest corporate monthly variances to forecast.*Forecasted over $100 million in ad sales revenue by modeling impressions, CPM, inventory, and sellout. Identified risks and opportunities.*Championed fiscal budget and 3 year strategic plan reporting directly to the president while covering multiple maternity leaves.*Championed payroll improvements which eliminated manual timecards and reduced processing time for payroll clerk by 4 hrs a week. I did this without being asked and then found an error in FOX payroll OT calculation. This formula error which confused federal law and BTN work rules was fixed and saved the company nearly over $50k in the following season and all future seasons.*Developed strong analysis skills and an ability to work under tight deadlines with little support

Dearborn, Michigan, Us

* Responsible for the annual budget of $135 million, forecast, and month end reporting* Organized and Implemented Plant Roadmaps to turn around $800K Deficit to Budget to $1.2 Million surplus within 5 months through reductions in OT, Industrial Materials, and Manpower* Supported Team with Accruals, up to $1 million, and other related Journal Entries in the General Ledger*Cross functional finance lead for new vehicle product launch of Ford Taurus and Lincoln MKS. * Researched and Identified 10% Cost Reductions in Annual Purchase Orders and Aided Local Management with the Negotiation of 2009 Contracts, including Arrow Uniforms, Aramark Cafeteria, and ABM Janitorial Services, with a Net Savings of $950K YOY*Implemented corrective actions on Sarbanes-Oxley Audit to assist plant to "Zero Gap Status"*Championed 3 Month Project to Charge Suppliers for Non-Conforming Material, Resulting in Six Sigma Green Belt Certification.*Developed an appreciation for manufacturing and cost accounting working directly in factory

Master Of Business Administration - Mba, Marketing

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Finance