James A. Bernard
Los Angeles,CA
Summary
Tenured Regional Manager with 13+ years of retail experience leading the Los Angeles market, overseeing strategic initaitves, customer experience, and product performance to ensure consistent and strong results across store teams. Also an experienced people leader with a deep passion for building high-performing and highly engaged teams through the growth of the retail business by leveraging key metrics, cross-functional relationships, and ability to manage multiple projects and exceed organizational goals.
Overview
14
14
years of professional experience
Work History
Regional Manager
lululemon
Los Angeles, CA
01.2019 - Current
- Developed and implemented regional and area retail strategies through leveraging data analyzation and market trends that resulted 15% year over year growth in the LA market and increased profitability and contribution margin.
- Responsible for leading a team of retail managers in day to day operations inclusive of inventory management, visual merchandising, and guest experience through weekly store visits, monthly business reviews, and annual performance reviews. Experience in providing in the moment coaching and feedback on product presentation, driving exceptional customer service, as well as ensuring an engaged team.
- Experienced retail leader in Customer Service for North America achieving 90%+ Net Promoter Scores in the Los Angeles market with compliance to our inclusive guest experience DEI guidelines.
- Successfully provided coaching and real-time feedback to retail teams through weekly store visits. Through setting clear targets and store goals, I was able to support teams in driving excellence in Key Performance Indicators inclusive which resulted in surpassing monthly, quarterly, and yearly sales targets for 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. We also were able to exceed Net Promotor Score benchmarks through Guest Experience ACE tactics.
- Responsible for California market growth and expansion through driving business strategies in a variety of store types including: 1 Flagship, 3 Pop Ups, 2 Outlets, 2 high volume, and 4 remote. This resulted in a 13% growth in 2023 in LA and an 8% growth since 2019 leading 3 regions: CA Central, The Desert, Los Angeles.
- Collaborated with Senior Leaders, Directors, and Partners on organization level priorities and supported in executing strategies localized to LA including: Footwear launch , Community Market Approach, DUPES at Century City, Visual Merchandising Pilots, Campus Strategy, and New Store Openings.
Store Manager
lululemon
Los Angeles, CA
08.2014 - 01.2019
- Responsible for Southern California Market expansion through successful business results at the Americana at Brand with a 30% YOY comp from 2014 -2017 and an 11% growth YOY at Westfield Topanga from 2017 - 2018.
- Experienced Store Opening Support partner that set up 9 NSOs between 2015 and 2019 across North America.
- Opened and grew the Westfield Topanga team from 2017 - 2018 in which we achieved our 5 year growth goals at $5.5M in 1.5 years.
- Achieved top 5 Pulse Survey results at Westfield Topanga for NAM in 2018 with a 95% Employee Engagement Score.
- Experienced regional facilitator responsible for training new Educators, Key Leaders, and Assistant Store Managers in the LA Market.
Educator - Assistant Store Manager
lululemon
Los Angeles, CA
07.2010 - 08.2014
Education
Bachelor of Science - Kinesiology
California State University - Monterey Bay
Seaside, CA05.2010
Skills
- Change Management Leadership
- Business Acumen
- Strategic Thinking
- Agility
- Inclusion and Diversity
- Multi-Unit Management
Accomplishments
- Host of the 2022 Global Leadership Summit at lululemon.
- Completed the Wharton School Certification through lululemon in 2020. Presented to Senior Leaders an evolved approach to Membership, much of which is being utilized today.
- Achieved an 11% Growth from 2019 in the LA Market.
- Competitive Cheerleading Coach of a team that ranked top 10 in the world in their division.
Timeline
Regional Manager
lululemon
01.2019 - Current
Store Manager
lululemon
08.2014 - 01.2019
Educator - Assistant Store Manager
lululemon
07.2010 - 08.2014
Bachelor of Science - Kinesiology
California State University - Monterey Bay