Stephen Chodrow Email & Phone Number

Seoul, Seoul, Kr

Seoul, Seoul, Kr

Led program and operations management for the emergent 2P division at Coupang with a team of 40. Improved growth rate from xx% year-over-year to xxx%+ while reducing out of stock from xx% to xx% through improvements in people, process, programs and product. Responsibilities included Inventory Management, Value Added Services, Inbound & Capacity, Seller Communication, Catalog Quality, Promotions, Category Expansion and Returns.► Sr. Director, Program and Operations Management 09/2023 – Present► Sr. Director, Instock and Program Management 04/2023 – 09/2023► Sr. Director, Instock 01/2023 – 04/2023

Plantation, Florida, Us

Led from pre-IPO $2B company, through COVID, to a team of 35, 1k vendors, and $9B revenue. Drove OOS <2% while preventing overstock, including post-COVID via innovative forecasting and inventory strategy.► Director, Instock (Forecasting and Inventory Mgmt) 02/2021 – 12/2022► Director, Supply Planning for All business verticals 07/2020 – 02/2021► Assoc. Director, Supply Planning for Hard Goods/Private Label/Specialty 08/2019 – 07/2020► Assoc. Director, Supply Planning for Hard Goods/Supply Planning Analytics 03/2019 – 08/2019► Senior Manager, Supply Planning for Hard Goods 02/2018 – 03/2019

Drove competitive strategy, multi-channel inventory management and supply chain optimization for a chain of fashion retail stores, an online vehicle parts seller and other clients.

Melville, Ny, Us

Reported to Global Supply Chain SVP. Owned creation of highly successful strategy to compete with Amazon.• Strategy – Led efforts to coordinate and create first-ever 3-year global supply chain strategy.• Supply Chain Transformation – Included an automated tool to drive supply chain profit generation.• Project Management - Created the PMO (Project Management Office) for global supply chain.

Seattle, Wa, Us

Led vendor management team with responsibility for over 3,000 vendors and 450,000 SKUs.• Led high performing team of 12 DMMs/buyers to exceed 2013 goals for selection, promotions, sales (>XX% year over year) and vendor support. Responsible for a P&L over $XXXM.• Led development of multiple innovative and scalable solutions to complex challenges including: vendor negotiation, assortment/apparel buying, new item onboarding, enhanced online product information quality, advanced demand forecasting and long lead time buying.• Partnered closely with vendors to drive sustainable revenue increases and end to end supply chain cost reductions such as enhanced digital marketing, ordering process improvements, packaging optimization for ecommerce, transportation cost savings, and damage reductions.

Seattle, Wa, Us

Led inventory management team with responsibility for over 4,000 vendors, 800,000 SKUs and $X.XB.• Created advanced and innovative Business Intelligence tool to simplify access to complex large data sets, improve data consistency and serve as a platform for the rapid development of innovative new tools and reports. Adopted across 32 product lines, including international.• Invented a tool to index product costs over time to identify opportunities to negotiate cost improvements at scale. The simplicity and ease of use led to quick adoption across Amazon NA with $XM of cost reduction in the first six months and $XXM additional in year two.• Drove projects to improve performance, efficiency and automation including heavy/bulky, damages, inventory placement, apparel ordering, seasonality and forecast accuracy.

Egg Harbor Township, Nj, Us

Responsibilities included all Merchandise Planning and Allocation for the Spirit Halloween chain (900 stores), the Spencer Halloween business (600 stores), Spirit & Spencer eCommerce and the ToyZam chain (50 stores). The improved inventory allocation enabled rapid company growth while driving the Spirit Halloween chain to exceed plan for sales (> XX%) gross margin rate (+XX basis points) and ending inventory ($XM @ cost under) with sell through/in stock metrics validating the positive impact on the critical last 10 days of the season. Recipient of MVP Award for 2009.• Invented and built allocation model for the Spirit Halloween chain of seasonal stores allowing growth from 230 stores to 900+ while reducing planning staff from 12 to 5 and closing 1 of 2 warehouses. Created model and partnered closely with IT to continuously improve. The system uses advanced seasonal forecasting to optimize distribution within warehouse capacities. • Created a Training Committee to improve the skill sets and performance of merchandising teams. Developed and taught classes on Business Analysis, Planning/OTB and Retail Math.• Invented and built replenishment model for Spirit and Spencer eCommerce businesses. Level of automation allows for effective inventory management with a minimal staff.

Us

Led Merchandise Financial Planning for 18 of 34 departments, $X.XB (>XX% of company volume). • Created financial plans and OTB for buyers and replenishment teams. Forecasted progress and partnered closely with 3 GMMs, 7 DMMs, numerous buyers and senior management to develop action plans to correct anticipated shortfalls and exploit emerging opportunities.• Developed multiple tools used across the company including core financial planning tools, aged products analysis, SKU productivity/rationalization and optimized receipt planning flow.• Pioneered score-carding methodology used for all merchandise tests and initiatives. • Developed and taught Business Analysis course for Buyers and other support areas.

St Louis, Missouri, Us

Drove business from #7 ranking to a rank of #1 in May Department Stores in same store sales and stock turnover while increasing gross margin from 44.6% to 45.6% (rank #3) with 15% less stock than LY.

St Louis, Missouri, Us

Reported directly to Divisional Merchandise Manager. Drove business from #7 ranking to #1 in same store sales by developing strong relationships with key vendors for increased markdown support.

St Louis, Missouri, Us

Assisted in driving $26M business from #7 ranking in same store sales to #1 ranking. Utilized innovative spreadsheets to identify sales and margin opportunities by vendor, class, trend and key item.

Mba, Management

Bs, Management

Electrical Engineering