Kevin Kurz
Vice President
Baldwin,NY
Summary
Organized and detail-oriented Vice President with fifteen years of experience optimizing inventory management and procurement resulting in increases to revenue, profitability and customer satisfaction. Applies a customer-centric approach to meet service levels and conducts skillful negotiations to meet company financial and quality goals. Innovative operations manager who leverages an additional seven years of experience in multi-unit restaurant management and an aptitude to streamline workflow and increase efficiencies, delivering profit gains and reductions in operational expenses. A strong leader and change agent who has built and developed high-performing teams by fostering a results-oriented environment while creating accountability.
Overview
2
2
years of post-secondary education
19
19
years of professional experience
Work History
Vice President Category Management
Central Pet Distribution
Walnut Creek , CA
10.2019 - Current
- 300+ million distributor of wholesale pet supplies to independent retailers, food, drug, mass chains and e-Commerce retailer
- Strategic Business Unit of Central Garden & Pet
- Created and lead new Business Unit function.
- Consolidated all Vendor management.
- Identified analytics and metrics to gauge vendor performance through all touch points of supply chain.
- Introduced formalized category reviews to vendors
- Defined channel specific category strategies for all Categories and Subcategories.
- Coordinated efforts with newly acquired business unit to leverage distribution footprint and scale to negotiate better terms and programs.
- Added $350K in gross margin through negotiated pricing and rebate programs during five category reviews.
- Extended Days Payable Outstanding by average of 15 days in five categories and added additional $70K in gross margin by renegotiating payment terms.
- Built Vendor Performance analytics and KPIs by category using Tableau by working with third-party contractor to create scorecard.
- Reduced SKU Count by 20% through vendor negotiations and competitive buyouts.
Business Lead - Process Improvement Team
Central Pet Distribution
Walnut Creek, CA
01.2017 - Current
- Became Business Unit Lead in process documentation and improvement project named “Project Phoenix”.
- Lead yearlong project with Corporate IT to review and document all processes by function.
- Oversaw documentation of 462 processes across five functions.
- Identified and prioritized areas of opportunities with Corporate IT and Executive Leadership Team.
- Developed “SWAT” teams by function to do deep dive on area of opportunity.
- Reviewed and streamlined processes through use of identified “best practice” or enhanced/new system solution.
- Lead data cleanse and merger of ERP servers to unify BU.
- Identified “bolt on” solutions to our existing ERP system (Prelude) to better enhance S&OP, Operations, Data management, Sales and Customer Experience and lead teams that focused on data cleaning, process improvement and system integration.
- Evolved Project Phoenix into ongoing process improvement team that continues to focus on outputs of original project and newly identified business opportunities.
- EBIT for SBU has doubled in two Fiscal years since Project Phoenix has started.
- Recognizing inefficiency and redundancy in Purchasing lead to creation of two new functions, S&OP and Category Management and Vendor Relations.
- Developed team members and created new roles to support process improvement work.
- Ongoing Process Improvement team created to foster continuous improvement in business unit.
Vice President Marketing and Vendor Relations
Central Pet Distribution
Walnut Creek, CA
01.2016 - 10.2019
- Promoted to formalize oversight of national programs for four major categories.
- Responsible for inventory management of 60% of SKUs and dollars managed by department.
- Created national marketing initiatives for all four subcategories.
- Became member of business unit’s Executive Leadership Team reporting directly to President of Business Unit.
- Conducted formalized RFP in one subcategory with lead to 50% SKU reduction, 5% Gross Margin increase and 17% increase in sales.
- Worked with Finance and internal data analyst to build reporting suite to enhance decision-making capabilities.
- 15% sales increase and 2% margin increase within four categories of oversight.
Director of Purchasing - East
Central Pet Distribution
Brentwood, NY
07.2013 - 01.2016
- Brought in to transform all aspects of procurement in order to maximize profitability, product availability, quality and cost effectiveness of $15 million in inventory across two locations directly.
- Introduced new category to company that was implemented in six branches nationally.
- Built and cultivated strong partnerships with all vendors to stay competitive that allowed Central to be first-to-market with new products and negotiate better pricing that increased profit margins.
- Fostered collaborative and communicative environment across Sales, Marketing and Operations to deliver on strategic goals.
- Integrated reporting that provided analysis into products and categories performance to facilitate buying decisions.
- Drove various strategic initiatives, such as cash flow management and marketing reporting directly to VP of Purchasing and VP of Sales.
- Oversaw 25% increase in sales over two years due to new category introduction and inventory optimization.
- Realized 1.5% increase in profit margin across company by introducing new higher margin category to company.
- Instrumental in strengthening weakened operations in new facility by working with Operations and sales on routing and with Operations on improved practices in receiving and shipping.
Director of Procurement
Royal Pet Supplies
Brentwood, NY
01.2010 - 07.2013
- $70 million distributor of wholesale pet supplies to independent retailers and was acquired by Phillips Pet Food & Supply in 2012.
- Promoted to transform all aspects of procurement in order to maximize profitability, product availability, quality and cost effectiveness of $12 million in inventory across two locations.
- Built and cultivated strong partnerships with all vendors in order to stay competitive, be first-to-market with new products and negotiate better pricing that increases profit margins.
- Fostered collaborative and communicative environment across Sales, Marketing and Operations in order to deliver on strategic goals.
- Served as Acting Operations Manager, executing and optimizing warehouse improvement initiatives and negotiating truck, equipment and facilities leases.
- Maximized technology systems and software, integrating reporting that provided analysis into products and categories that sell and buying decisions are made accordingly.
- Drove various strategic initiatives, such as cash flow management and marketing as member of Executive Team reporting directly to CEO.
- Improved company fill rate 40% over three years while increasing turns 10% during 12% sales increase.
- Reduced SKUs 24% and inventory 15% by returning obsolete products, overstock and sold more inventory by consolidating SKUs so only top-selling products were represented.
- Improved employee engagement and productivity by rebuilding underperforming team, shifting culture and implementing recognition and rewards system which also resulted in decrease in operational expenses while capabilities increased.
- Realized 2% increase in profit margin across company by implementing new company pricing model that adjusted pricing to customers based on market sensitivity.
- Instrumental in integrating two facilities located in New York and Florida into facilities in Pennsylvania and Florida because of acquisition by Phillips in 2012.
Buyer
Royal Pet Supplies
Brentwood, NY
10.2005 - 01.2010
- Recruited to transform buying and inventory management process for over 8,000 SKUs, making it more profitable and representative of company’s market niche.
- Oversaw and streamlined daily operations of purchasing department to maximize productivity and revenue.
- Analyzed inventory usage and assessed trends to provide maximum coverage for each time period.
Education
Bachelor of Arts (B.A - History
State University Of New York
Cortland, NY 08.2002 - 05.2004
Associate of Science (A.S - Business Administration
Nassau Community College
Garden City NY 08.2001 - 05.2002
Skills
NegotiatingProcess Improvement
Strategic planning
Policy and procedure development
Performance metrics analysis
Relationship building and retention
Staff Management
Business Development
Leadership
Business planning
Business process improvement
Business process optimization
Quality improvement leadership
Timeline
Vice President Category Management
Central Pet Distribution
10.2019 - Current
Business Lead - Process Improvement Team
Central Pet Distribution
01.2017 - Current
Vice President Marketing and Vendor Relations
Central Pet Distribution
01.2016 - 10.2019
Director of Purchasing - East
Central Pet Distribution
07.2013 - 01.2016
Director of Procurement
Royal Pet Supplies
01.2010 - 07.2013
Buyer
Royal Pet Supplies
10.2005 - 01.2010
Bachelor of Arts (B.A - History
State University Of New York
08.2002 - 05.2004
Associate of Science (A.S - Business Administration
Nassau Community College
08.2001 - 05.2002