Stephen Edelman Email & Phone Number

Delanco, New Jersey, Us

Leading the Grocery Category Management team, overseeing assortment and sourcing strategies to drive revenue, reduce food waste, manage supplier relationships, develop strategic plans, and conduct market analysis to optimize and expand our grocery offerings. Charged with identifying cost-saving opportunities, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to achieve category goals and enhance processes.

Helping companies make the complex, simple by specializing in: • Retail Pricing Strategy• End-to-End New Product Development• Buying Strategy & Negotiation Support• Product / Technology UI Testing• Sales Strategy• Board Support

Davis, California, Us

Overseeing the strategic buildup and expansion of Engage3 by serving as the Retail Industry and Pricing subject matter expert for Implementation, Business Development, Support, Customer Success and Data Science teams. Creating a knowledge base to enable clients to maximize the utility of Engage3’s offerings. Serve as the strategic advisor on high impact projects to ensure alignment on client strategy while meeting Engage3’s deliverables. Conduct internal trainings to strengthen the effectiveness of the sales organization and their knowledge on how to best serve the retail clientele.Key Achievement(s):- Led the company through its first International workshop gaining alignment across all business pillars and establishing key milestones and roadmaps ensuring establishment of a proper foundation to enable rapid scaling- Rebuilt and developed new clientele sales materials with a C-Level Executive focus, strengthening Engage3’s position as a multinational leader in Competitive Pricing Intelligence- Oversaw process improvements to address Tier1 Retailer RFP challenges and timelines ensuring efficiency, accuracy and competitiveness throughout the bidding process- Secured first European launch with one of the larger EU Grocery Retailers- Renegotiated key vendor contract securing exclusivity and 40%+ cost saving

Berlin, Be, De

First US employee for Gorillas Technologies serving as the CCO / Commercial Director leading the Buying, Supply Chain, Commercial Operations, Digital Merchandising and Quality Assurance teams. Built the leadership team and all departmental policies from the ground up enabling a successful launch on May 30th less than 4 months after starting the organization. Focused on scalability with process excellence while instilling a people first culture.Key Achievement(s):- Established a recruiting strategy enabling the build out of a 30 person team including 5 Heads of Departments within the first two months enabling agility and adaptability as we launched and prepared to scale the organization outside of NYC- Identified, sourced and photographed over 2500 items from distributors and over 35 local NYC vendors ensuring a truly curated NYC consumer experience- Established a best in class pricing strategy, leading the way for dynamic pricing within the global Gorillas organization- Built a Quality Assurance organization focusing both on Operational Excellence and Food Safety which has since been extended into all Gorillas Countries- Developed a local buying strategy to empower local businesses and further Gorillas messaging - Created a Commercial market expansion process allowing for 6 week turnaround time- Identified and partnered with key external consultants and companies to ground decision making with industry leading tools and knowledge

Arlington, Virginia, Us

Categories Owned: Dairy, Commodity Goods, Ice Cream, Snacks, Cookie / Cracker, Nuts Trail / Dried Fruit, Canned / Frozen Fruit & Vegetables, Dry Prepared Meals, Beverages, Coffee / Tea, Soups, Pet, Wine / Beer and National Brand AssortmentKey Achievement(s):- Led team of 4 Direct Reports and 40 Indirect Reports accounting for 35% Sales Turnover scaling to 65% by Q4- Scaled business from ground up reaching $1.2B in sales while on track to hit $2B over the next year- Leveraged volume growth from 40 Stores to 110 stores to drive YOY same item margin improvements of 450 basis points- Developed profit/loss and assortment optimization strategy that enabled the development and launch of 1500 incremental items and improved adjusted sales margin by 900 basis points- Restructured the Pricing Department to improve long term scalability of processes and strategies- Fostered partnerships with International Headquarters and Lidl countries to share best practices and improve the importation of goods, category knowledge, and project management- Conducted the due diligence analysis of the Best Market M&A and served as the Secretary of the Board post acquisition- Established the Junior Buyer Training Development program to develop strong merchants and create an internal talent pool of highly qualified personnel by hiring 10-15 trainees per class 2x year- Initiated change management policies to improve employee morale and retention with initiatives including focus groups, pulse surveys, key action plans, communication strategy updates, and cross-departmental improvements

Arlington, Virginia, Us

Categories Owned: Dairy, Commodity Goods, Ice Cream, Nuts Trail / Dried Fruit, Canned / Frozen Fruit & Vegetables, Bread and BakeryKey Achievement(s):- Led team of 3 Direct reports and 11 indirect reports accounting for 25% of sales turnover.- Oversaw total department launch strategy while running morning war room meetings allowing Lidl US to launch with 99% of planned items- Utilized Lidl’s international reputation with over 11k stores in 30 countries to build a US Supplier Base that accounted for Private Label penetration of 85% and retail price strategy directly competing against Aldi and Walmart- Global liaison between Lidl International Purchasing Board and Lidl US purchasing team- Project lead for Nationwide Assortment Analysis post launch to reconfirm strategy with International Board- Developed and implemented recruitment strategies that resulted in the build-out of the Lidl US Purchasing team- Established team meeting and personnel status policies to improve line manager relationships and employee morale across department

Arlington, Virginia, Us

Performed comprehensive market research to prepare dairy and commodity assortments for launch. Established relationships with key suppliers to obtain cost-effective pricing.Key Achievement(s):- Trained with International Buying team in Germany to learn new buying practices and strategies - Sourced and onboarded all suppliers for Dairy and Commodity Goods- Categories Owned: Dairy and Commodity Goods

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

Developed and sold new products that strengthened the Market Pantry, Simply Balanced, Archer Farms, and Boots & Barkley brands. Managed product development scientists, food safety managers, nutrition and labeling specialists, packaging specialist, marketing, and project coordinators. Established vendor relationships to procure cost effective pricing. Successfully led the Owned Brand Food organization through new buying structures and process changes. Prepared and presented marketing brand briefs for the market pantry brand redesign. Recruited and trained multiple cross functional teams. Developed and implemented new tools and strategies for the Owned Brand Foods organizationthat focused on prioritization modeling, research and development. Conducted market research studies with Nielsen, IRI, GRM, and Shopper Insights and analyzed findings to identify market niche for new product development.Categories Owned: Snacks, Beverages, Bread, Baking, Pharmacy, Candy, Liquor, and PetsKey Achievement(s):- Owned private label strategy across 8 departments that drove $600MM in sales for Target- Directed six negotiation events that affected $30M in purchases- Increased Owned Brand presence on shelf by 9% while undergoing a 7% SKU reduction- Led strategy revitalization efforts resulting in new processes, prioritization tools, and organizational structures across total owned brand department

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

LGBTA Business Council Center of Excellence Lead (01/2015 - Present)- Lead the B&AP COE as we move to become a Business Resource Group vs an Employee Resource Group- Partner with our LGBT Marketing Team / Segmentation team as we explore ways to better represent the LGBT Segment in the assortments / marketplaceLGBTA Business Council Pillar Lead (01/2014-12/2014)-Pillar lead under the Business & Ally Partnership Center of Excellence focusing on Marketing and Merchandising Enterprise Initiatives - Partnered with American Greetings, Category Buyers, and Segmentation teams to launch new Same-Sex Wedding and Anniversary CardsLGBTA Business Council - Advisory Team Member (01/2013-12/2013)- Acted as consultant for .Com/Photo team to launch exclusive line of Same Sex Wedding Invitations, Thank you cards, and Save the Dates- Received Business Council Leadership Award for work done in 2013 for strengthening Target's reputation with the LGBT community

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

Oversaw and implemented process changes identified after the conversion of Target.com to an in-house platform vs Amazon. Triaged with Merchandising and IT War Room to improve customer experience post-checkout and ensure successful fulfillment of orders. Partnered with colleagues in Bangalore to expedite break-fixes and shorten lead times in stuck orders while performing root-cause analyses to establish long term sustainability and improved site performance

New Brunswick, Nj, Us

Worked closely with business development teams and inventory managers to ensure all new and promotional items were forecasted and ordered in time for launches. Collaborated with supply chain planners in forecasting seasonal changes. Counseled store planners in managing inventory at warehouses more efficiently. Oversaw allocation planning of OTC categories during JNJ/McNeil consent decree. Maintained bracket pricing by building loads to full truck capacity. Forecasted and built orders utilizing JDA, E3 and Manugistics systems.Categories Owned: OTC, CHC and BeautyKey Achievement(s):- Established department wide training program addressing CREDO Survey feedback regarding employee moralefocusing on talent development, resume writing, interview preparation, and managing personal brand- Created forecasting and allocation tool effectively managing OTC allocations and streamlining communications between CVS, JNJ and McNeil Planners

New Brunswick, Nj, Us

Fostered relationships with Target buyers, merchandise coordinators and managers to establish a gateway for change. Target lead for order management conducting all tests and ensuring success of Truckload Optimization Program implementation to maximize bracket pricing. Communicated customer issues with CPFR Planners, Customer Business Managers and analysts, Sales directors and supply and demand planners.Categories Owned: CHC, Personal Care, Beauty, and Oral CareKey Achievement(s):- Target Account Lead overseeing conversion of JNJ Legacy Systems to SAP utilizing ECC, SCM, APO and BW- Project lead for Project 81 Warehouse consolidation achieving an average top customer case fill rate of 95.31% while outpacing case fill at remaining warehouses and exceeding project expectations- Lead CORE Analyst for the Launch of Zyrtec as an OTC drug, the largest consumer launch in Johnson & Johnson consumer history, shipping $80M of product with launch

Providence, Rhode Island, Us

Key Achievement(s) - - Recommended products to customers that would best suit their financial needs- Supervised the daily activities of the Trooper Acme branch- Ensured colleagues adhered to federal and corporate guidelines- Improved branch goals from the historical 0/5 to 5/5 in under two quarters - Oversaw the Ann Arbor Hiller's branch during Phase IV of the Charter One conversion- Responsible for educating management and branch colleagues on Citizens Bank's policies and procedures Reported system and compliance issues on daily calls

Mba, Marketing

Ba, Business And Economics