Sue Gross Email and Phone Number

Managed portfolio of branded vendors for the Distributed Products Division. Primary liaison and escalation point between vendors and internal functional areas, building collaborative partnerships to ensure an elevated level of service to customers and improve company financials.

Oversaw all vendor relationships for 21 distribution centers. Managed all strategy, daily operations, and inventory control for packaged DCs. Managed $50M of inventory as well as $26M budget. Led team of analysts and DC manager as points of contact for all DC operations. Conducted quarterly business reviews with strategic 3PL partners to review KPIs, operations, and continuous improvement ideas. Coordinated with internal partners to ensure achievement of supply plans and customer expectations. Partnered with procurement on third-party DC contract negotiations.• Served as core team member for network optimization project to realign customers in distribution network while maintaining service levels with incumbent DCs. Led strategy and RFP development, assessment, and selection of 3PL vendors.• Directed successful execution of new 3PL vendor managing six sites on time and within budget, including managing contract negotiations, implementation planning, and on-site support.• Developed transition plan template and partnered with cross-functional areas to execute multiple DC transitions under short timeframes with no service interruptions to customers. • Collaborated with finance team to improve inventory accuracy through physical inventory and cycle count process. Documented and implemented new inventory control policies and ensured compliance.

Built relationships with sales, customer service, supply planning, logistics, third-party DCs, and external customers. Monitored supply chain reliability metrics (using customer portals) for key accounts, including Walmart and Home Depot. Reviewed supplier guides to ensure compliance in all areas of order to cash. Collaborated with internal partners to improve customer satisfaction.• Served as key member of SAP implementation team for 3PL DCs, providing training, issue resolution, and continued support. Trained 40 DCs within 45 days.• Led and participated on multiple project teams- 3PL warehouse reconciliation, Walmart in-stock recovery, SAP stabilization for order to cash work stream, addressing root causes/issues.• Collaborated with supply chain and sales partners to reduce ASN compliance fines for Home Depot account by 83%.

Managed multiple offshore vendor relationships on-site and remotely (India, Mexico, and Colombia). Monitored and reported on all customer support operations, metrics, and SLAs to evaluate results and trends, ensuring targets met and root cause analysis addressed service issues quickly. Mentored internal supervisors and analyst on offshore operations and vendor management.

Reviewed RFPs and performed detailed financial and operational business case analysis for Global Customer Support project. Documented and presented U.S. Customer Support Best Practices to assist with vendor selection for offshore customer support operations.

Led Consumer Information Center. Directed and motivated team to meet established metrics. Developed creative ways to minimize staff turnover during business transition to multiple locations. Managed on-time delivery of project to transition to offshore vendor and U.S. National Service Center. Developed and executed facility close-down process that was adopted as best practice for remaining branches.

Worked with branch sales, inventory control, distribution, finance, and customer groups to ensure smooth service from order placement to delivery. Completed quality call monitoring and coached CSRs to improve performance. Led team in consistently meeting or exceeding all metrics from month to month. Served on multi-branch team that developed best practices resulting in streamlining of processes while improving communications among all U.S. teams.

Directed a group of Account Managers, using a proprietary software application, to deliver business level service in a start-up environment. Ensured the timely and smooth transition for new customers from implementation to on-going support. Partnered with Sales to identify additional opportunities and strengthen relationships with existing customers. Development and documentation of departmental Best Practices.