Sourcing, CPG, Marketing, Product Development

My CPG industry experience expands across 7 years. At my former
company, Sam's Club, I have three years of
sourcing/procurement experience within CPG categories, however,
overall my category
management background expands across over 5 years. I previously held
the positions of Corporate Buyer for Soft Drinks and Beverages,
Refrigerated Products (Commodity and Perishable Items), and
Buyer Trainee (Tobacco). As a Corporate Buyer for Sam's Club
Nationally, I have extensive experience in category management,
purchasing/sourcing for multiple channels, and vendor management, open
to buy (managed categories over $ 973M), formal bid process
(RFQ/RFP),financial planning (gross margin/sales/inventory
maintenance/ all in profit management), eMerchandising (merchandising
via internet), data/demographic analysis, price/packaging
negotiations, product development, marketing, private label
implementation, store clusters, Retail link, CRM, POS data, and DSS.

Additionally, I previously held a Food Sourcing Manager position
within Gate Gourmet, my duties included being responsible for sourcing
majority of the plated food that exist on several aircrafts during
domestic and international travel more specifically my primary
responsibility was management of the Delta Airlines/Northwest account.
I managed and sourced over 1,200 diverse vendors (domestic and
offshore), distributors, brokers, and group purchasing organizations.
I managed several products categories within various markets and a
multitude of items. It was imperative that I sourced high quality
items at a low cost to illustrate savings to all of my clients
utilizing a bid process (RFP/RFQ) for all large contracts. My success
in continuously providing and negotiating low cost options was solely
due to my constant quest for new items in the market, researching and
interviewing new vendors, creating a true functional partnership with
my current vendor/broker base, cutting products and creating new
recipes with my R&D Culinary team members, and working with my group
purchasing organization (GPO) contacts.

Previously, I had the honor of working within a hybrid position which
was a mix between marketing research, product development, brand
management, and category and client management within a CPG
manufacturing company. I managed new product
launches (provided all data and support to share with my R&D culinary
team to create new items), followed items from product development
through product cycle, analyzed IRI/Nielsen syndicated data,
researched industry trends and demographics, executed all focus group and survey analysis, prepared sales presentations to support, educate, and train former field sales
team,and researched the overall cookie and competitor market and
related consumer behavior. My research and education helped quantify
the missed opportunities, understand niche markets and opportunity
areas, assisted my effort to manage vendors on needed support and
programs, and educated my marketing/sales team and allowed for
creation of a strategic plan to drive revenue and results for all of
our retail clients. Additionally, I utilized syndicated data to
created planograms, managed high volume sales categories, large
accounts, and product categories, created and launched strategic
marketing plans/product roll outs, and presented and created marketing
collateral for multiple accounts and sales representatives, trained
sales forces, managed several associates, managed planogram resets,
and successfully pitched and created items/products for multiple
retailers (ex./ HEB, WMT, Lowe's Home Improvement, Circuit City, Sam's
Club, Food Lion, COSTCO, Piggly Wiggly, Family Dollar, Wal-Mart, Wake
fern, Pathmark, and Winn Dixie....etc.).

Lastly, my current role of Client Services Manager plays a significant
role within the Supply Chain channel of my company. My team is
currently responsible for all purchase orders that flow through the
company and truly being the voice of our customers.The Client Service Department houses the project managers that bridge all communication between production, marketing, logistics,inventory control, transportation, marketing, sales, all brokers, and
the actual retail clients. This role within a CPG manufacturing facility provides
clarity and prospective on all the nuisances of the production of
goods, departmental collaborative efforts, lead times matrix, and
knowledge of any Transportation/Logistics guidelines and procedures
which strengthen my supply chain knowledge. Please let me know if you
have any questions. I welcome the opportunity to talk with you more
about my experience.