Robert Eckhardt Email & Phone Number

Asbury Park, New Jersey, United States

Focus on origination across target markets, including commercial and industrial owners/tenants involved in community solar, as well as corporate PPA (power purchase agreements) customers.

Sudbury, Massachusetts, United States

United States

• Promoted to Senior Director under new leadership to lead Store Planning & Architecture teams, to develop new store practices and manage 450 remodels in 3 years with a $350 million dollar budget. • Controlled a $10 million dollar remodel of NYC Flagship store, which set the design standards for 450 BBBY stores; delivered the project 6 weeks ahead of schedule, and got store opened on time despite pandemic-related challenges. • Collaborated with the Design team to develop a sense of home with new lighting fixtures and ceiling elements to influence warmth; leading to a 25% increase in sales within the first month. • Conceptualized and executed vendor demonstration stations and designed Casper’s’ first store-in-a-store shopping experience, leading to a 20% increase in overall store sales. • Spearheaded the development and implementation of Bed Bath & Beyond’s innovative remodel design that revitalized the brand identity; included a new exterior design and transformed the store fixture layout flow for easy navigation, increasing customer satisfaction by 40%. • Collaborated with Store Planning & Architects and was able to reduce a projects time in for permit down from 12 weeks to 6 weeks. • Led a team of 20+ associates & 3rd party consultants that lead to 190 remodel stores all permitted on time without any delays. • Strategized and devised a multi-phase downsizing project reducing a 350K sq, ft. corporate office to a more efficient 85K sq. ft. space; accomplished a cost savings of $450K while maintaining productivity and office functionality. • Established a comprehensive roadmap to get to net carbon neutrality by 2025, including a 5-year plan to reduce carbon emissions by 50%, and implementing carbon offset programs to mitigate remaining emissions. • Improved buy buy Baby’s prototype that helped the Baby leadership team in organizing a go to market with a modernized design & grow top line, along with a savings of $500K / store.

Union, Nj

• Promoted to Director of Architecture & Renewables overseeing yearly store prototype improvements for all five brands, handling expansion into Canada & develop a renewable program to meet strategic company goals. • Averaged 25% reduction in dollars / sf for each concept on prototype improvements. • Authored the purchase, development & maintaining of (40) solar projects in six markets, totaling 21 MW’s with a total annual savings of $8 million dollars from avoided electricity and solar renewable energy credits. • Led company’s Green initiatives that lowered water usage by 50% & energy reduction by 20%. • Founded (12) National Accounts Vendors with a shared savings of $3 million dollar / year across all brands.• Rolled out BOX as a cloud-based application for document retention that allowed for maintaining of all Store Development work files for easy of information sharing & retrieval and resulted in 20% team productivity. • Initiated a 50 store expansion program in Canada. Introduced a prototype & working relationship with Canadian Developers & Architects.

Union, Nj

• Developed prototype for BBBY, Baby, CPWM, & Harmon and being a SME in all phases Retail Development, streamlined development process and decreased overall project cost by 20%. • Designed and implemented a comprehensive prototype for efficient CD preparation, reducing preparation time by 30%, reducing errors by 40% and driving a 5-10% increase in sales. • Constructed a prototype design, that addresses localized & personalized shopping in most locations, that’s flexible & organize while staying on brand & delivering a fresh, engaging experience for the customer. • Coordinated and supervised 500+ projects ranging from 25k to 80k sq. ft. in size; ensured timely completion and quality control, resulting in a 20% increase in completion of stores year after year. • Mastered negotiations with (32) national account vendors on new materials to procure cost effective & durable materials, while reducing maintenance cost & lead times. Drove overall material cost down by $10 / sf.

Union, Nj

• Administered (20) Turnkey & Self Development (Renovation & Ground Up) stores / year on time & under budget ranging in sizes from 38K – 80K square footage.• Collaborated with Real Estate and Legal departments to develop and implement standardized lease exhibit templates; reduce lease execution form 120 days to 60 days, enabling stores to open earlier and streamlining negation processes. • Orchestrated execution of lease exhibits and lease negotiations with external landlords; analyzed lease documents for as-is, shell, ground lease, and split scope of work, ensuring seamless transaction and reducing legal cost by 20%.

Sommerville, Nj

Fostered GFA being selected as the A/E firm in the country to develop CD’s & provide construction services for a Hotel Division.

Bridgewater, Nj

Company’s in house architect. Analyzed the design & layouts for a development of (200) new single housing subdivisions.

Newark, Nj

Worked on misc. projects. Learned how to design structural, MEP layouts, & preparing site & grading design.