Michele Wind Email & Phone Number

Hopkins, Mn

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

• Procure processed meats for company’s largest region with 3 distribution centers; maintain 95.5% service level.• Nurture collaborative relationships with Meat Director, store leaders, regional staff and vendors.• Review item out of stock, price change, and short code date reports to identify potential issues, to communicate necessary actions across region, and to minimize losses.• Coach buyers on meat commodity market conditions, buying strategies, merchandising techniques, product processing, seasonal items, innovation, and private brand development.• Identified issues with inputting of promotional information; took initiative to createa process in turn improved fill rate on promotional needs and service levels.

Eden Prairie, Minnesota

• Finalized contract agreements in excess of $12 million, exceeding fiscal year commitments.• Negotiated $5.3 million cost-of-goods savings during a fiscal period reflecting a 13.8% rise in inflation.• Increased sales year-over-year by 1.78% and maintained a sales margin of 2.83%.• Drove private label penetration by 46.7% through aggressive cost-of-goods and product/label management.• Transformed an underperforming case study program through identifying a solution and developing a strategy to implement low-cost initiative to retailers and drive sales; maintained labor costs.~ Negotiated $1.6 million in cost savings and moved an increase of 1.5 million pounds in merchandise.~ Conceived and implemented a streamlined process to expedite negotiations based on best cost-of-goods.• Negotiated all centralized banner pork programs, seasonal inventory, wholesale rebate programs, monthly collective buys, daily wholesale bids, buy requests, private label programs for retail/wholesale.• Managed corporate communications and maintained knowledge of animal welfare issues and animal processing/production operations.• Supervised pork, poultry, and smoked meat procurement across entire company comprised of 21 distribution centers

Chanahassen, Minnesota

• Championed a service level higher than 97% with minimal discounting/shrink through managing perishable meat inventory control across four SuperValu distribution centers.• Sourced and analyzed market information to make sound buying decisions.• Impacted negotiations through forging solid corporate vendor relations.~ Influenced corporate profitability and competitive pricing by negotiating best possible cost-of-goods.• Captured competitive promotion pricing by articulating current and out-front market conditions.

Chanahassen, Minnesota

• Provided pork trade levels across all regions, created purchase orders, and placed orders with corporate vendors; reviewed vendor confirmations to ensure quantities and pricing.• Ensured delivery and expedited late deliveries, and created all pork, seafood, and turkey invoices.• Generated Lost Sales, Purchase Order Detail, and ROII Inventory Summary reports.• Served as Member and Captain of the EDI Team for Corporate Meat Systems.

Eden Prairie, Minnesota

• Issued current market data on a regional scale, ensured best possible pricing/corporate vendor negotiations, and received, placed, confirmed, and billed processed meat/poultry orders across all divisions.• Expedited late order delivery to distribution center.• Liaised between corporate vendors and regional representatives to resolve conflicts.• Supported FMS Meat Merchandising Assistant and Corporate Meat Buyer.