Suzanne Long Email & Phone Number

Boise, Id, Us

Boise, Idaho, Us

Lead Albertsons Companies' environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy and the transformation of the company’s approach to engaging and inspiring its 250k+ frontline associates.

Boise, Idaho, Us

Designed, built and led 200-person organization responsible for optimizing sourcing of indirect/not for resale (NFR) spend, as well as the packaging, ingredients, commodity and co-packer costs for a $9B Own Brands portfolio. Owned sourcing/procurement strategy and execution for all business functions, including retail operations, supply chain, real estate/facilities, IT, Finance and HR. Significantly overachieved financial plan while building out a best-in-class sourcing organization and capability. Led creation of the company's new ESG strategy, including visionary goals and key performance metrics.

Boise, Idaho, Us

Led delivery of $500M of cost savings over 3 years (incremental savings to the Albertsons-Safeway merger synergies of $800M+). Oversaw portfolio of complex, cross-functional projects to drive improvements across the business. Continued to lead the integration of Albertsons and Safeway.

Boise, Idaho, Us

Led the integration of Albertsons and Safeway (combined sales of $60+B) – the largest food and drug merger in US history. Responsibilities included, but were not limited to, organizational design, integration planning and execution, merchandising decentralization, corporate office restructuring, conversion of stores, DCs and offices to new technology, and ensuring delivery of $800M+ in merger synergies. Drove and directed the business and IT conversion of ~1,000 stores across 30 states, 10 distribution centers and 11 division offices under an aggressive timeline. Conversions included replacement of all in-store systems, including POS, scales, network, servers, time clocks and back office HR and Finance systems. Oversaw all training, communication and support to successfully deploy new processes and systems to over 130,000 employees. Directly responsible for 80 associates, as well as direct oversight of over 1,000 trainers for store conversion activities.

Operations consulting firm providing strategic process and change management services across a variety of industries. Specialized experience and expertise in developing and supporting continuous improvement initiatives using methodologies such as Lean, Six Sigma, etc. Conducted critical projects for Fortune 500 companies, including Staples, MWI and Albertsons LLC. Developed comprehensive IT strategy to enable Albertsons LLC to transition off a Transition Services Agreement (TSA) with SUPERVALU. Successfully led integration of Albertson’s LLC acquisition of ~800 Albertsons, Acme, Jewel-Osco, and Shaw’s stores from SUPERVALU. Acquisition increased the company’s store base by 500%. Directed and managed the company’s transition activities under a highly compressed timeline (two months).

New York, Ny, Us

Established the consulting firm’s retail practice in 2008, directing all retail-related activities, including business development/sales, operational assessments, client relationship management, and project execution. Conducted operations improvement work with twelve Fortune 500 retail clients across the retail sector (food and drug, hard goods, soft goods, clothing, etc.). Partnered with clients to deliver $2M-$20M in annualized benefits based on the scope and size of the engagement. Client projects addressed opportunities such as sales improvement, gross margin enhancement, SKU management, supply chain efficiency, and labor optimization. Published three white papers on process improvement in the retail industry. Work was highlighted in numerous publications, including BusinessWeek, The LA Times, The Houston Chronicle, Food and Drink Quarterly, Progressive Grocer, and Retail Information Systems magazine. Leveraged as a retail expert by numerous news sources and industry analysts, including Chain Store Age and Thomson Reuters; delivered keynote addresses for numerous retail conferences.

Eden Prairie, Mn, Us

Created, developed and managed Lean Six Sigma Quality program from inception. Established strategy, approach and execution of all aspects of the initiative, including: project development, portfolio management, financial analysis, recruitment, communications, and associate training and development. Directed Six Sigma operations in 8 retail banners/regions across 22 states. Interacted directly and frequently with senior leadership, including division presidents and C-level executives.• Delivered $200MM in hard dollar benefits; managed administrative budget of $30MM annually.• Oversaw the completion of more than 500 projects; managed the coordination and activities of 230 concurrent projects spanning all functional areas. • Directed the activities of 9 Deployment Leaders (directors), 15 Master Black Belts, 100 Black Belts and 12 data analysts across the country.• Established Six Sigma as one of SUPERVALU’s key management development programs.

Established business process design capability within the Albertsons IT organization. Created approach for integrating business process design into application development, including required deliverables and interaction model, to help support the company’s $400MM strategic investment in IT products and applications.• Provided business process design services for 200 IT projects.• Built team organizational structure, including job descriptions, recruiting and hiring practices. Directed the activities of 5 Business Process Designers. • Facilitated key process design meetings with senior leadership, including Executive Vice Presidents, to execute on the vision of a centralized merchandising and procurement strategy. • Managed key relationships with Retail Operations, Merchandising, Distribution, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, and Store Development.

Dublin 2, Ie

Delivered process, strategy, technical and change management consulting services for Fortune 100 companies. Provided critical support in the areas of: project management, technology integration, business process design, and training and communications design and development.• Managed integration of 100 computer applications and 150,000 investment accounts in the merger of two financial services companies.• Directed communication strategy, development and delivery to 70,000 associates for an Oracle Financials e-procurement software implementation.• Conducted market research and competitor analysis for a customer call center servicing high-value clients; identified inefficiencies in current environment and created a new sales, service and support structure. • Designed, created and implemented communication and training strategy for a major regional IT conversion affecting 3,000 associates and 200,000 customers in 16 states.