Russell Johnston Email & Phone Number

Mequon, Wisconsin, United States

Greater Milwaukee Area

Madison, Wisconsin Area

Greater Milwaukee Area

Complete P&L responsibility for several branch operations. Charged with insuring continued growth and profitability. Development of strategic expansion plans into new geographic areas. Creating new revenue streams by expanding our service offerings. Providing cost out through negotiations with Food Service equipment manufacturers on parts and service supportWorking with manufacturers to develop cost effective programs for providing repair and warranty serviceOverseeing the restructuring of the distribution network to gain greater efficiency, provide improved service times and reduce inventory investment Responsible for negotiating corporate transportation agreements and maintaining carrier relationshipsIntegrating acquisitions into the corporate structure, systems and culture

Greater Milwaukee Area

In my initial year I ran strategic sourcing events that provided over $1 million in cost out or 3.3% of the category spend. In my second year I realized cost out of $1.2 million or 4% of the total spend.Repaired important supplier relationships and turned them into strategic partnerships that focused on developing programs to gain additional business for both companiesWorked with key suppliers on branding opportunities and unique products specifically designed for our market that allowed us to drive cost out or fill gaps in our product offering including a line of carts, food processing equipment and platesCollaboratively developed unique marketing opportunities for suppliers to showcase their products and educate salespeople on their features and functions to drive salesIdentified new suppliers to fill gaps in our offering or to fulfill specific customer requirementsDeveloped specific key performance indicators to monitor supplier performance and implemented corrective actions as necessaryOnboarded new suppliers to expand our offering or fulfill unique needs and negotiated the contract agreements.Worked with suppliers to reduce lead-times to increase competitiveness in the marketplace

Greater Milwaukee Area

Negotiated national transportation contract agreements with small package, LTL, truckload, intermodal and international freight forwarders as Leader of multi-company transportation program tasked with creating cost out and freight margin and developing new programs to service emerging markets. Developed a freight program from the ground up for Direct Supply that reduced transportation costs by over 50% or $12.5 million. The program also generated $5 million per year in freight margin and significantly improved the landed cost competitiveness of the products.I oversaw the daily operations of the transportation department which managed over 1 million shipments per year and the installation department which managed over 200 installations per year. I was responsible for managing and developing a staff of 13 direct reports. In my 6.5 years at Direct Supply I had five direct reports who were promoted into management. I also voluntarily mentored two other younger employees who were not direct reports and one of those advanced into management.

Greater Milwaukee Area

Negotiated national transportation contract agreements with eleven small package, LTL, truckload, intermodal and international freight forwarders in a multiple company environment with a total spend of $40 million annually generating $2 million a year in freight margin.Negotiated over $3 million dollars or 7.5% in bottom line savings on small package and LTL transportation costs in one yearEffectively integrated acquired companies into established carrier agreements and continually leveraged additional volumes to negotiate greater discountsDeveloped and implemented an in-house freight rating and payment system that created an annual savings of $300K+. After implementation, this freight payment system was incorporated in the Pfastship® Shipping softwareDeveloped and implemented a vendor third party bill small package shipping program at C&H in conjunction with FedEx Corp. that created $500,000 in additional freight revenue corporately

Greater Milwaukee Area

Developed and implemented a Custom Warehouse Management System that incorporated RF equipment and shipping systemsImplementation resulted in a staff reduction of 30% while creating shipping and inventory accuracy of over 99%Worked with consultants to develop a national distribution network that serviced over 99% of our customer base in two days or lessOpened both the Canadian and Mexico markets for C&H. Coordinated all aspects of the entry into these markets including development of the supply chain, catalog production and translation, catalog distribution in those countries, collecting certificate of origin information from suppliers, establishing relationships with Customs brokers and overseeing all necessary computer system changes. Later negotiated a supply chain agreement for Mexico that increased profitability by 20%Hired the General Manager to run the developing Mexican company which was experiencing a growth rate of over 85% annuallyIn depth knowledge of export requirements and regulations of doing business in Canada and Mexico

Toledo, Ohio Area

Responsible for daily operations of a distribution center that serviced eleven midwest and southern states Negotiated transportation agreements with small package and LTL carriers and local service providers.Established KPI's and managed staff against those KPI's to achieve desired results

Select Courses In, Business Administration And Management, General

Graduated, General