Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Value Offer
Training
Professional Highlights
Timeline
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Dan Benning

Dan Benning

Plain City,Ohio

Summary

Transformational executive: driving force in astutely capitalizing on opportunities to optimize value: expand bottom and top line while strategically trimming costs, reining in resources, technology, and workforce via inspiring concepts that cement market dominance. Quoted in Smart Business Magazine, insight…advice…strategy: “Transparency & Integrity are the cornerstones of trust.” 35+ years serving associates and customers as a Retail, Services, & Hospitality Executive, all with customer-centric organizations. Direct and dotted-line influencer, sought after based on reputation for coalescing diverse teams, including C-level members and rallying premium leaders behind organizational objectives. Possess a rare blend of integrity and competitiveness, vision, and tactical execution. Owner and entrepreneur mindset in tackling challenges that impede profit growth. Pragmatic leader who attracts and retains top talent.

Overview

36
36
years of professional experience

Work History

Chief Revenue & Customer Officer

Salon Lofts
04.2018 - 09.2024
  • Direct management of seven senior level executives in a 40+-person multi-unit sales and service team, along with a 50+ facilities and operations crew
  • Coordinator of all aspects of revenue generation, customer experience, facilities & maintenance and operations for the largest US independent provider of salon suite rentals for independent beauty care professionals
  • Deploy industry expertise in marketing, B2B strategies, customer support, service delivery, and staff development
  • Strategic Goal: Develop & implement a 360-degree blueprint to scale a regional founder-based business into the dominant U.S
  • National Salon Suite industry leader
  • Progressively expanded store count from 74 to 280 during tenure, 'despite Covid market challenges.' Revenue growth from 27.4 M and $6.92M EBITDA in FY18 to a forecasted $105.9M revenue and $34.65M EBITDA in FY24
  • Collaborated with top decision-makers to design and administer comprehensive M&A playbook for navigating all onboarding activity, including seamless program/staff integration to core store portfolio
  • Successfully completing 7 separate add-ons in 18 months which added 86 locations to the portfolio
  • Created and implemented full-scale playbooks for Sales & Service and Facility & Maintenance functions to standardize best practices, elevate revenue, customer experience, reduce costs and achieve optimal efficiencies
  • Selected as one of three senior company leaders to prepare and deliver multiple C-suite presentations to prospective buyers, resulting in the sale of the company in September of 2022 at a mid-double digit multiple
  • Responsible for the selection and deployment of three essential software platforms for company’s rapid expansion – CRM-Salesforce, CMMS-Corrigo and Customer Engagement Measurement- Qualtrics

National Vice President of Pet Services

Petco Animal Stores Inc.
09.2016 - 04.2018
  • Directed eight senior-level professionals in driving services revenue, profitability, service quality, customer & pet experience, and partner retention
  • Instituted a comprehensive market and customer survey solution for company’s 1,356 US locations
  • Generated $418M in Services revenue in 2017, or 9.2% of total store sales, with $98M in gross margin
  • Collaborated with multiple business units to facilitate construction and promote delivery and execution of a new Services go-to-market strategy
  • Implemented full-scale education platform to attract and train field staff, mentors, and instructors
  • Acquired board approval for five-year business plan with relevant investments and resource allocation to expand the company’s in-store services and veterinary business
  • Strategic Goal: Spearhead transformation from a product-based company that sells services to a service-based company that sells product
  • Service Quality & Experience, Partner Retention: -Using consumer insights and partner engagement surveys identified gaps in quality and consistency in the delivery of core services; Dog training, Grooming and Veterinary
  • Created new education platform, building and staffing two Support Center based University’s to train field mentors and instructors
  • Constructed curriculum that focused on the Pet, Pet Parent and Partner experience
  • Resulted in significant reduction in turnover of Grooming Salon Leaders 17.8% vs 47.2% over same period YOY
  • Pet Services BU Top Box score improvement of 760bps (81.1 to 88.1) YOY
  • As measured by In-Moment Customer Service Measurement Group
  • Designed and opened 12 field-based Grooming Training Academy’s reducing training costs per student by over 50%, while improving course completion from 62% to 93% and first 6-month hourly productivity from $24.88 to 28.96 per hour
  • Margin improvement- Increased total grooming gross margin by 406bps YOY (24.1 to 28.7) through the reengineering and optimization of the grooming salon labor model
  • While also growing sales and individual partner productivity by 900 bps
  • Improved dog training margins by 1000bps through the redesign of promotions and programing; impacting both retention of trainers and dog training clients
  • Built and leveraged partnerships with AKC and 24PetHealth to open additional marketing and sales acceleration opportunities
  • Strategic planning- Collaborated with multiple business units in the construction, presentation, and launch of the services 'Go to Market Strategy.'
  • 5-year plan includes revenue expansion from 335 million to 470 million or 40%
  • Board highly supportive of plan and the investments necessary to achieve growth targets

DVP Retail Strategic Initiatives

Sears Holdings Corporation
09.2013 - 12.2015
  • Directly recruited by Senior Leadership to transform the company’s most challenging Northeast US market, consisting of 182 locations, 13 states, serving 28,800 associates
  • Efforts focused on building a culture of trust and integrity while engaging field leadership in a 'Servant Leadership Model;' which constructed a team with capabilities to achieve profitable sales (3.5 billion), a customer first mindset, and ancillary business objectives, while significantly reducing the cost to serve
  • Strategic Goal: Build a team of engaged associates that can serve members with both technology and personal care
  • Internal Margin Expansion- Collaborated with sales development team to build attachment and assortment strategies for key revenue categories
  • Provided examples of ways to measure and merchandise product to maximize return on effort and expand internal margin growth
  • Strategic Planning- Developed 2016 Retail Services strategic plan, inclusive of core initiatives and tactics
  • Established documents to support company objectives and measure key performance metrics
  • Constructed framework for project management office, including: staff hiring processes, detailed workflow processes, and optimization of strategic initiative teams

EVP Club Operations

24 Hour Fitness
02.2007 - 03.2013
  • Tapped by CEO to forge transformational culture change, fortifying company brand across 200 locations in 17 states
  • Envisioned change and mounted ambitious turnaround strategy to better service customers and reinvigorate 20,000 team members
  • Converting team members into customer-focused company ambassadors, improving service by instilling high-touch customer engagement, impacting the organizations bottom line reaching $232M in GAAP EBITDA by end of tenure
  • Sustained continuous and profitable earnings growth, equaling $120M improvement over a 5-year period
  • Strategic Goal: Kindled transformation and primed the company for profitable sale
  • Turnaround Management- Rekindled integrity and positive energy at each club level, positioning club chain as an industry service forerunner, accelerating from an F rating to an A-plus rating from the Better Business Bureau
  • Shifted service paradigm, converting 24 Hour Fitness into an industry trendsetter as the first chain to measure customer satisfaction scores through J.D
  • Power and Associates, and create price transparency through online memberships sales
  • Workforce Restructuring- In response to high turnover, hoisted labor standards through more strategic selection process, (JIT) Just in Time reporting, and revamped field management while honing service delivery
  • Recruited and cultivated top-brass corporate leaders (Vice Presidents, Directors, District Managers), shaping them into pivotal goal drivers
  • Framed and mounted labor changes, persuading and gaining buy-in from Board of Directors, abolishing commission compensation, netting an additional $28.5M in cost savings without disrupting sales growth
  • Reduced front-line turnover from 114% to 57% within 5 years while optimizing performance and inspiring customer-focused and competitor-outdistancing service levels
  • Employee Engagement- Integral leader in Change Management initiatives; increasing employee participation in team member surveys from 45% to > 95%
  • Employee engagement from 70% to 82%; reaching best-in-class of all retail and service industries in employee participation and engagement

Executive Vice President of Retail Operations

Namco
11.2005 - 02.2007
  • Maximized shareholder value by directing business operations and creating a culture of Associate and Customer satisfaction
  • Designed inventive business plans centered around a customer centric service model inclusive of new store design and systems
  • Envisioned overall organizational strategy to maximize human capital opportunities and achieve goals
  • Mastermind in profitability strategy for 46 locations in 12 states with 900 staff members
  • Delivering 86.4 million in revenue, and lifting, EBITDA by $950K in 2006 to $6.5M
  • Strategic Goal: Transform business, grow store sales and operating profits, position company for sustainable success
  • Customer Satisfaction- Identified need to replace Call Center Manager, Home Delivery Manager, and Installation Manager
  • Hired new staff, devised new service standards and follow-up programs
  • Researched and selected new customer relationship software solution, reducing customer calls by 22% while increasing resolution time by 60% and reliability and integrity mindset
  • Selected POS vendor and software provider to transform large item sales model
  • Implemented Change Management process across chain in 5 months to support upcoming sales season

Vice President of Corporate Operations

Circuit City
07.1988 - 06.2005
  • Launched career as a front-line employee, driving sales through one-on-one interaction with each customer
  • Mastered all aspects of retail sales and management, emerging as a respected and effective leader, reaching top-level senior leadership and officer rank by end of tenure
  • Direct P&L responsibility for 89 locations; multi state region with sales of 2.4 billion; making it the company’s largest and top performing region
  • Promoted to VP of Corporate Operations leading all corporate operational & support functions for chains 600+ Locs
  • Outpaced fellow Regional VPs to consistently place as #1 Regional Vice President in company’s balanced scorecard: Sales, Customer Satisfaction and Profit
  • Accomplished through rigorous talent management and succession planning
  • Designing and implementing innovative programs that accelerated revenue & profit performance, heightening customer satisfaction scores for 6 consecutive years
  • Took calculated risks in trimming operations cost and implementing ROI-mining strategies without negatively impacting service levels
  • Strategic Goal: Skyrocket profit by creating a leaner, more productive tech-savvy company
  • Sales & Profit Acceleration- Lead design and national deployment of in-store Home Office Services business
  • Started with zero sales in FY-03
  • Skyrocketing Services revenues to 200M+ by end of FY04
  • Eventually transforming into 'Firedog' the company’s answer to Best Buys 'Geek Squad, supporting service add-ons for all core business categories
  • Productivity Optimization- Boosted productivity per each sales associate by 17% despite reducing cost per hire by 38%, and lowered employee turnover by 13% of employees with tenure of less than 120 days
  • Multi-Location Store Remodeling- RVP of choice, assuming charge of the largest remodel in the company’s history: 30 stores within 8 months in the state of Florida (allocation of $100M capital)

Education

Problem Solving and Decision Making -

Cornell University

No Degree - Criminal Justice

Montgomery College
Rockville, MD
08.1986 - 01.1987

Skills

  • Value Offer
  • Revenue & Profit Growth
  • Services Architect
  • Business & IT Strategy
  • P&L Accountability
  • Nimble Negotiations
  • Collaboration
  • Influencer
  • Relationship Building
  • Resilient

Value Offer

  • Revenue & Profit Growth
  • Services Architect
  • Business & IT Strategy
  • P&L Accountability
  • Nimble Negotiations
  • Collaboration
  • Influencer
  • Relationship Building
  • Resilient
  • Servant Leader
  • Operations
  • Integrity

Training

Problem Solving and Decision Making–Cornell University, Franklin Planner Day Planner Time Management Course Facilitator Training, Attended Harvard Business School’s 'Achieving Breakthrough Service' summer 2005, Numerous Sales, Service, and Leadership development workshops attended by as many as 3000 attendees, Investment committee at Salon Lofts, 24 Hour Fitness, and Namco, Capital Spend Governance Committee, Helping Hands Foundation, Advisory Committee Member San Antonio Human Society

Professional Highlights

  • Propelled explosive business growth despite intensely competitive markets by turning about performance and leveraging technology, realizing career highs of…, $10B in Revenue Circuit City, $1.3B 24 Hour Fitness, $126M Namco, $3.5B Sears, $418M Petco Services, $105M Salon Lofts
  • Key Member of 3-person Senior Mgt. team that successfully completed multiple Management presentations culminating in the sale of Company at a mid-double digit multiple., Salon Lofts
  • Strategically helmed operations for more than 625 stores, inspiring change and optimizing value, converting cost into double-digit + ‘good’ profit.
  • Pioneered innovative approach to build member retention while growing ancillary revenue by nearly 100 percent or 90 million dollars over a two-year period.
  • Curtailed expenses by $80M annually while elevating service level through revolutionizing store operations, compensation, and rewards models.
  • Transformation of small regional founder-based business, into nation’s largest independently held Salon Suite operator. Including successful sale of the business in 09/2022.

Timeline

Chief Revenue & Customer Officer

Salon Lofts
04.2018 - 09.2024

National Vice President of Pet Services

Petco Animal Stores Inc.
09.2016 - 04.2018

DVP Retail Strategic Initiatives

Sears Holdings Corporation
09.2013 - 12.2015

EVP Club Operations

24 Hour Fitness
02.2007 - 03.2013

Executive Vice President of Retail Operations

Namco
11.2005 - 02.2007

Vice President of Corporate Operations

Circuit City
07.1988 - 06.2005

No Degree - Criminal Justice

Montgomery College
08.1986 - 01.1987

Problem Solving and Decision Making -

Cornell University

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