JAMES D. ZEMANEK, JR.

• .Collaborated with senior leadership to build pre-season and in-season Merchandise Financial Plans across broad ranges of soft-line and hard-line categories; $2.2 billion Net Sales, $560 million working capital.
• Partnered with merchants to forecast and present monthly financial results and strategies to senior leadership.
• Directed monthly projections of inventory, markdowns, stock outs; Provided strategic inventory management recommendations to maximize company profits and turn.
• Effectively led and developed teams of 5-7 direct reports and 25-30 in-direct reports.
• Built strong culture and improved morale within Category Management Teams through collaborative efforts across Merchandising and Planning.

Key Accomplishments:

• Delivered double digit Sales comp growth during 2020 through strategic omni channel inventory management.
• Reduced end of year working capital $60M over three years through optimization of 40,000 Basic SKUs’ Service Level targets and strategic reduction of Fashion and Seasonal receipts.
• Reduced hardline clearance inventory 17% and increased inventory turnover 36% YoY.
• Led highly cross-functional Fabric Optimization project to modernize inventory management and visual presentation in stores.
• Collaborated with GMM Merchant in development and implementation of Fabric Exit Strategy to increase profitably, move through slow sellers, and open room for increased flow of newness.
• Drove efficiency and quality of assortments through reengineering of obsolete Buy Process.
• Worked directly with business analysts to create standardized reporting, dashboards, and templates to use organization wide.
• Streamlined product purchasing process, while incorporating governance
• Successfully transitioned planning team to new ERP system (EP Blue Yonder).
• Implemented new organizational structure allowing for career pathing within Planning and Replenishment.

• Led merchandise planning team of 3 direct reports.
• Developed and implemented demand forecasting models to optimize inventory levels.
• Built standardized reporting to evaluate business consistently across all of Joann.
• Mentored and coached team members and implemented process improvements.

• Managed team of 4 responsible for ensuring proper product allocation to fleet of 1700+ stores.
• Worked cross-functionally to execute strategies and provided updates to Executive Leadership Team.
• Collaborated with international partners to align domestic strategies with company's vision.
• Developed processes for global implementation on store rollouts.

• Led planning strategy across multiple websites, resulting in significant revenue growth.
• Key business driver that helped grow revenue more than 2.5x over three years to ~10% total domestic sales.
• Increased assortment size and while increasing turn acquiring inventory through various channels.
• Traveled frequently to both internal and external (3PL) distribution centers driving projects to optimize supply chain.
• Analyzed promotions and made strategic decisions in partnership with cross-functional teams.
• Managed P&L and reported on key KPIs driving growth of 85 bps in profit margin and 32% in sales YoY.

• Managed purchasing and brand planning, analyzing open-to-buy and stock positions within Sun Category at LensCrafters.
• Improved reverse logistics compliance and developed streamlined processes.
• Created sales projections and adjusted purchase plans to maximize inventory with volume responsibility of ~$200M annual revenue.
• Identified risks and established opportunities to drive growth and increase profit through effective inventory management.

• Managed reverse logistics processes and improved compliance from 50% to 92% saving $1M annually.
• Analyzed KPIs and made data-driven decisions.
• Streamlined inefficiencies and improved inventory management.

• Oversaw projects, including system conversion and store acquisitions.
• Ensured smooth transitions without impacting customers.