Global Vice President of Retail and Regional Wholesale
Amsterdam, The Netherlands ■ April 2009 – April 2013
Annual Sales: €350M ■ Region: Europe + Asia + Middle East + India + South America
Channels: 200 Direct Stores + 300 Franchise Stores; Full Price & Factory Outlet
Responsibilities and Key Accomplishments
Provided strong leadership while engaging and mobilizing all parts of the organization in pursuit of leading innovative turnaround efforts that resulted in dramatic increases in sales and profitability for the Mexx retail business.
Channel Management and Optimization
• P&L responsibility with full accountability for 200 directly operated retail stores within Europe and wholesale export distribution channels (distributors, franchises, department stores, specialty) across 54 countries with 300 points-of-sale.
• Managed all strategic and operational functions for the direct-to-consumer business, including retail development, field & store operations, financial planning, buying & merchandising, marketing, visual merchandising, and human resources.
• Managed all go-to-market activities and seasonal wholesale campaigns for 6 product divisions while overseeing commercial relationships with licensees, distributors, agents, franchise partners, and wholesale customers.
International Market Development
• Created go-to-market brand development and market expansion strategic plans, identified optimal business models, negotiated distribution and franchise agreements with new partners, and built the organizational salesforce structure to grow the international business profitably.
• Developed new store concepts and opened over 150 directly operated and franchise points-of-sale locations in Berlin, Köln, Munich, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Brussels, London, Madrid, Barcelona, Moscow, and St. Petersburg.
• Managed store opening processes, including location search/selection, lease negotiation, store design, build-out, staff recruitment, training, operational set-up, local marketing activities, and visual merchandising.
Operational Best Practice
• Revamped and significantly improved multiple business processes and policies following “best practice” guidelines, including merchandising planning, reporting with performance benchmarking, labor management, inventory management, and financial controlling.
• Introduced a new workforce management system linked with sales productivity in all stores, including implementing a new conversion-focused bonus scheme and new employee scheduling system that enabled more intelligent management of staff coverage.