Corporate & Client Experience

Growth Strategy

For the Neiman Marcus Group

• Led the development and implementation of the company's long-term corporate growth strategy
• Evaluated global expansion opportunities for the Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman brands
• Established new strategic planning processes and disciplines
• Developed growth strategies for high potential merchandise categories
• Designed, negotiated and led joint ventures to operate the company's private label credit card business

For multiple leading global strategy/retail consulting firms, supported client work focused on

• Luxury brand expansion
• Contemporary apparel brand growth alternatives
• Department and specialty apparel store opening opportunities
• Profit growth through retail operational improvements
  

For Sears Holdings/Lands' End

• Developed growth and profit margin expansion programs for apparel, footwear, cosmetics, jewelry, consumer electronics, appliances, home improvement and home furnishings categories
• Rationalized private label portfolio and developed new proprietary brand strategy

New Business & Concept Development

For the Neiman Marcus Group

• Created CUSP, a new speciality store concept for the accessible modern luxury consumer
• Developed new Last Call concept to accelerate growth in the off-price/outlet store market
• Evaluated multiple new concepts to grow market share/extend reach with high potential customer segments and/or high potential merchandise categories
• Developed and executed Neiman Marcus/American Express co-branded credit card

For Sears Holdings/Lands' End

• Designed and executed Lands' End retail strategy
• Created Sears Grand, an off-the-mall version of a Sears full-line store, enabling Sears to resume new store openings
• Created The Great Indoors, now the leading one-stop store for home decorating and remodeling needs
• Developed and executed new high end appliance showroom model to accelerate market share growth.

Strategic Marketing/Customer Relationship Value Maximization

For the Neiman Marcus Group

• Established the centralized customer insight and corporate marketing programs functions
• Led the redesign of the InCircle loyalty program
• Performed extensive external consumer research and database analytics to glean opportunities to improve customer experience and drive incremental share of wallet
• Designed and executed multiple target market tests to improve engagement, growth, retention and ROI
• Established and built the credit card and gift card marketing function
  

For Sears Holdings/Lands' End

• Led the enterprise-wide initiative to leverage customer insight and multi-channel touch points to improve the customer experience and drive incremental revenue
• Designed and assisted in the establishment of the Customer Relationship Management department
• Executed multiple consumer research and/or customer database analytic projects to identify opportunities to improve customer engagement, growth and retention

Investment/Mergers & Acquisition Support

For a large diversified media company

• Supported the assessment of an e-commerce acquisition, with a focus on analyzing the strength of the target's customer base and marketing capabilities

For various private equity/hedge funds, provided investment counsel in the following areas

• Luxury, fashion and contemporary apparel and accessory brands
• Luxury and moderate department stores
• Luxury, fashion and contemporary specialty stores
• Direct-to-Consumer (E-commercer and catalog)
• Off-price retail and fashion "flash-sale" sites

For the Neiman Marcus Group

• Identified and evaluated potential acquisition opportunities in the US, Canada, Western Europe and Asia

For Sears Holdings/Lands' End

• Identified and evaluated potential acquisition/partnership opportunities in the apparel, home furnishings, home improvement and major appliances categories
• Led the Lands' End acquisition strategy development and post-merger integration efforts
• Led the valuation and integration of two regional distributors of high end/designer appliances