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Over 20 years of experience, in  the apparel/shoe industry. My experience includes:  ecomm, inventory  planning, buying,  merchandising, sales, and  marketing. Flexible and hard  working, able to  take undefined challenges and  finds solutions.  DMM/Senior Manager/Director  level

Operational head of family theme park and VP of company owned accommodation properties. 
•	Hired, managed and trained park staff of over 75 employees
•	Built new processes and functions focusing on efficiency, safety and guest focus
•	Increased revenue and product line in retails locations through improved selection, merchandising and pricing
•	Created a new, strategic partnerships with Skogstad Clothing, improved sales and profit of our core clothing line
•	Improved the “show details” of the properties: new look, upgrades, cleanliness, and guest services
•	Developed Ecommerce market strategy, employee review process, off-site team building and retention strategy 
•	Instituted inventory rotation throughout the properties to improve turn and freshness of appearance

VP -Operations (Merchandising, Online, Planning, Brand)

Worked as an external, SME (subject matter expert) consultant on a project or client based need
•	Advised clients such as McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting, Deloitte Consulting
•	Advised on “Go to Market” strategy for new Ecommerce ventures
•	Fulfillment options and opportunities in the market place vs. company direction and resources
•	Strategized with team on how to succeed as a business on multibrand sights such as Amazon.com and eBay
•	Built company specific plan for sales strategy, pricing, selling focus of brick-and-mortar vs. Ecommerce
•	Developed plans specific to a companies marketing, product imaging and other customer focused issues

Independent eCommerce Consultant

Manage New Business Development for all categories within the apparel division 
•	Initiate contact with all new brands on target list with goal of signing to Amazon.com retail
•	Successfully signed 450 key vendors with coop and marketing fees 50% above department average
•	Manage the vendor relationship, and all on-boarding steps to become an Amazon.com vendor 
•	Responsible for working with vendors on all marketing, and brand equity on site
•	On-going work with key, strategic brands to build sales and marketing efforts to our customer base
•	Work with all brands to build on site branded store fronts to ensure long-term equity and quality experience for our Amazon.com customers

Senior Manager, Business Development/Brand Manager

Leading the buying for all Women’s, Junior, and luggage brands for Amazon.com
•	Direct and buy, for 220 brands at Amazon.com
•	Have signed 92 new vendors including Ben Sherman, Kenneth Cole, Diesel, Puma and French Connection
•	Partnering closely with vendor to reduce inventory ownership, and increasing profitability
•	Achieved +225% increases year over year, while managing inventory down
•	Increased margin by 6% by driving higher initial sell through and lowering terminal stock on hand

Senior Vendor Manger/Buyer, Women's, Junior's and Luggage

Managing the control buying/merchandise departments for Amazon.com/Endless.com
•	Oversee all sales and buying/inventory plans in a business that is growing 350% annually
•	Driving business process for new website enterprise to increase sales and aggressively acquire a large customer base and vendor sign on. In year 1, has grown to second largest shoe site in the nation.
•	Responsible for the planning team, merchandise selection and growth, and inventory health
•	Coordinate site merchandising on customer experience and visuals to increase sales revenue, target sales and launch new brands
•	Plan and implement category merchandise plans, sales, margin, turn and profit
•	Have reduced replenishment inventory by $1 million, while increasing turn and profit
•	Worked closely with vendors to speed deliveries, and implement a new Vendor Self Service portal

Senior Planning Manager, Shoes and Apparel

Plan, develop and manage, the Ezra Fitch and Flagship apparel line within company stores. Collaborate with design, merchandising, and planning staff to develop the elevated, heritage line of Ezra and Tier 1/Flagship extended merchandise. Responsible for the sales, margin, and inventory plans of these lines.

•	Raised the product line above plan in its second season, adding an additional 6% contribution to the Abercrombie and Fitch division’s retail results.
•	Drove sales increases within Tier 1 stores and Flagship by extending the product line and merchandise mix to meet a wider base of customer needs.

Merchandise Planning Manager/Merchant - Ezra Fitch

Managed planning for the Vintage Men’s Bottoms product line, including profitability, margin targets, turns, and inventory control. Increased profit 8% and raised margins 12% on $246 million in sales.

Senior Merchandising Planner - Bottoms

Directed staff and operations of the Wholesale Planning, Merchandising, and Production departments to ensure correct product mix, inventory and pricing by season. Managed over $110 million of wholesale sales in 21 European markets. 

Developed brand-oriented, long-term strategic plans and seasonal apparel range/category plans. Focus areas included key item creation and development, demand planning and production, and budget and margin target achievement.

• Laid the foundation for a $2.00 cost decrease per garment by implementing new processes between planning and production that increased sales, achieved a higher percentage of samples at market, lowered residual inventory, and increased European production.
• Delivered an additional 713,000 units (€10 million) in PRL sales in 2002 by leading the team that opened new sales channels to alleviate excess inventory.
• Led off-priced initiative in order to increase profitability while lowering inventory risk

Senior Director, Polo Jeans (Head of Brand Planning and Inventory Management) - Europe

Spearheaded planning and operations of the Dockers and Levi’s Retail Operations organization to deliver maximum store profitability and meet or exceed business plan targets. Built and directed a multi-branded, multi-country team of 12 to produce detailed inventory and sales plans. Partnered with Retail Marketing, Buying, Legal, Franchise Partners, and IT groups to build a world-class organization. On two year European Contract.

• Coordinated the transition of 175 wholesale doors to profitability, with results that averaged 10-20% above Levi’s Europe.
• Increased the flow of sales information into the design process and tailored inventory assortments to individual affiliate requirements by implementing a business structure that linked retail marketing, planning, and retail branding.
• Contributed to improvements from production and distribution to stores and franchise partners by coordinating and defining IT business requirements to support new retail network in 7 countries.

Director of Retail Planning - EMEA

Provided business process consulting to retail clients with revenue over $1 billion. Core focus areas included sales and implementation planning, strategic vision creation, business strategy formulation, performance measurements, and process integration. Client projects included the following:

• Formed an ECommerce business strategy for a startup company.
• Designed and executed a customer-driven quality management program.
• Performed marketplace analysis for a Fortune 50 retail company. Developed and implemented solutions to strategically position them for success.

Managing Consutant

While at The Gap, I worked as a Store Manager, Strategic Planner for Old Navy, Planning Manager for The Gap, and Distribution Analyst for The Gap: 

Old Navy
Managed sales forecasting, inventory levels, and gross margins for this $3 billion division, which included maximizing margin performance for 402 retail stores. Determined average store inventory levels and recommended appropriate replenishment to improve profitability.

• Increased the company margin 2 points by initiating new inventory control procedures.
• Generated $675,000 in first-year savings by implementing a corporate initiative program for alternate distribution channels.

Gap Division
Created sales plans and purchasing strategies for a $40 million Women’s division. Planned sales rates, merchandise flow dates, markdown strategies, and average inventory levels to reconcile budget and sales projections. Directed a distribution analyst in replenishment of 3 million units of goods.

Store Manager, Strategic Planner, Planning Manager and Distribution Analyst

Find out detailed information about Chris Holkestad,  in LaVerne, CA

Chris Holkestad: in LaVerne, CA

Chris Holkestad

Mikkelparken Theme Park and Hotels

AlphaSights

Amazon.com

Amazon.com

Amazon.com

Abercrombie & Fitch

Abercrombie & Fitch

Polo Ralph Lauren

Levi Strauss & Co.

Accenture

Gap Inc.

California State University-Fullerton

University of San Francisco - Masagung Graduate School of Management