Susan E. Popper Email & Phone Number

Boston, Ma, Us

Greater Boston

Boston, Massachusetts

Manage Merchandising and Custom Design teams across all categories (6 resources)• Defined and implemented product pricing strategy appropriate to each channel• Rationalized under-performing assortment to faster-moving skus• Right-sized top-heavy diamond inventory to re-allocate to stocking to sales• Managed long-range product planning, design and execution

Greater Boston Area

Manage the portfolio and Brand for Staples own brand (private label). Work closely with Product Category managers to define product features and benefits through quantitative and qualitative customer research. Drive definition of unique value proposition for Staples Brand products.

Framingham, Ma

Managed P&L merchandising and marketing strategies for Staples $200M Retail Computing category. Negotiated funding programs, product costs, and pricing with industry leaders including Intel, Microsoft, HP, and Dell. Managed two category resources on seasonal promotions across circular, in-store, radio, and TV.

Nyc/Greater Boston Area

Led Fine Jewelry category business planning, design, production, and launch of 150+ sku category launch. Moved Swarovski brand up-segment from crystal costume line to designed semi & precious offering. Priced and developed assortment utilizing extensive competitor benchmarking. Directed product merchandising across 30+ marketing, public relations, and sales retail/wholesale resources.

Zurich, Switzerland

Managed primary research and 4Ps analysis for new business entry (focus on fine jewelry and accessories). Sized EU, America and Asia markets with syndicated and primary customer data. Completed final C-Level 4Ps product strategy proposal for Swarovski Fine Jewelry market entry.

Vicenza Area, Italy

Managing the Made in Italy brand for Italian jewellery.

London, United Kingdom

Led the turnaround of the De Beers Jewellery solitaire/engagement offering comprising 65% of corporate revenues (a $130M category), to increase margin, improve turnover, and increase long-term brand equity. Served as an internal expert on De Beers proprietary technical ‘light scan,’ introducing a differentiating ‘5th C’, discontinued ‘value’ engagement line which undercut brand equity and eroded profits, and launched more highly profitable offerings.• Partnered with the Vice Presidents for US, Japan, Europe, Taiwan, and Hong Kong markets to manage the global core assortment, create regional exceptions, and balance inventory• Re-merchandised De Beers Hong Kong Landmark store on takeover from Lane Crawford franchisee• Re-structured and re-priced the solitaire offering, entailing over 14,000 price points across the 4Cs• Led design and development teams from idea to launch to increase product catalog by more than 20%• Identified strategic new product additions across key markets to contribute over 10% to GM mix

New York City, New York

Led Merchandising division improvement initiatives to improve profitability across Tiffany & Co.’s vertically integrated supply chain. Managed one resource in formulating business cases, developing project plans, and aligning up to 25 internal stakeholders on successful delivery.

Greater New York City Area

Directed annual product launches of 1,500 new products across 26 home and accessory product classes, comprising 20% of annual revenues. Served as an internal expert on product development workflow and technical development across 26 product types including concept generation, 3D modeling, ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ prototyping, test runs, and final ‘landed’ product. Partnered with cross-functional Marketing, Merchandising, and Retail teams on all new product launches. Managed $12M+ CapEx development budgets including investments in tooling CAD/CAM, rapid prototyping, and CNC milling. Worked with Financial Planning and Investor Relations on ad-hoc analyses to investors on EBITDA impacts.

Greater New York City Area

- Presented to the Tiffany & Co. CFO on area performance/ROI for newly opened E-Commerce Fulfillment Center

New Jersey

Manufacturer of international telecom components and testing equipment since 1923. Family owned and managed for three generations.- Collaborated with President on valuation, negotiation, and sale of telecom product line with associated intellectual and physical assets to manufacturer with China operations

Chicago, Illinois

Promoted twice in leading teams to develop and implement large-scale technical and process solutions for Fortune 100 companies.- Completed strategy analysis for supply chain cooperative between Allstate Homeowner’s Insurance and home building providers (e.g., Home Depot) to reduce claims cost, including competitor assessment, SWOT, and entry options - Managed team to integrate broker/dealer processes of a competitor in acquisition by Northwestern Mutual - Led business and technical resources to develop a PM process and web-based tool for Pacific Life Insurance- Managed the process re-engineering and consolidation of 25 countrywide Allstate Auto Underwriting centers following Accenture-led closure of sub-prime line of business- Managed countrywide rollout of Accenture-built claims processing system for Allstate Auto

Hired on the spot during an informational interview with the CEO as first corporate intern.

Mba

B.A.

Education record