Sorelle Gardner
Seattle,WA
Summary
Results-driven Finance Leader with expertise in financial strategy for a $15B consumer electronics business. Background in technology roles includes software development, system administration, and technical support. Strong problem-solving skills and experience optimizing performance through effective project management and team collaboration.
Overview
12
12
years of professional experience
Work History
Finance Lead for a Consumer Electronics Tech Team
Amazon
01.2025 - Current
- Finance Lead for a Consumer Electronics Tech Team that supports $15B+ in annualized sales, partnering with tech, product, and operations teams across basket building, warranties, customer recommendations, AI-driven digital services, and supply chain tooling.
- Built and scaled a financial measurement framework to distinguish between attributable vs. incremental impact, creating first-time visibility into $15B of tech initiatives and enabling leadership to consistently tie tech initiatives to contribution profit, prioritize investments, and evaluate long-term ROI.
- Developed a financial framework clarifying when to use attributable vs. incremental metrics, giving leadership a consistent way to tie initiatives to contribution profit, elevate actionable insights, guide investment decisions, and assess long-term technology impact.
- Influenced strategic decisions through complex modeling (price elasticity, cost impact) and data-driven recommendations, challenging business plans with disruptive ideas.
- Led complex modeling (price elasticity, cost-to-serve, margin impacts) to challenge business assumptions and influence strategic decisions.
- Defined end-to-end metrics for initiative tracking, aligning teams on input and output KPIs to clarify customer impact, financial performance, and execution progress.
- Partnered with Consumer Electronics Tech to reimagine the warranties discovery experience, providing financial modeling and aligned assumptions to personalize offer surfacing using ML/AI based on product type, shopping mission, and customer behavior.
- Drove cost-to-serve reductions through shipment consolidation and fulfillment efficiency initiatives tied to basket building strategies, improving customer experience while reducing per order operational costs of around $600MM annualized.
- Built the financial model for the Trade-In program, surfacing key economic trade-offs and guiding business, tech, and senior leaders with data-driven recommendations.
- Established an automated headcount and funding tracking mechanism for a vendor-funded Trade-In model ($3M funding per year), improving financial accuracy, governance, and ongoing impact tracking.
- Collaborated with Search and Customer Experience teams on Add-to-Cart feature, providing financial support to prioritize experiments that enhanced item attachment and order efficiency.
Finance Manager, Consumer Electronics
Amazon
09.2022 - 12.2024
- Designed and implemented a new customer returns reserve forecasting methodology, reducing forecast inaccuracies by $100M-$350M (25-50%) by integrating forecasted sales, COGS, and return rate drivers in partnership with Accounting and Operations.
- Led deep dive analytics and cross-functional initiatives to identify and recover $50M+ in return related defects and fraud, focusing on high-value categories including laptops, smartphones, and smartwatches.
- Influenced and executed returns policy changes for premium electronics, including reducing the Apple return window from 30 to 15 days to align with Apple policy, driving a ~110bps reduction in return rates and $100M+ in annual PnL favorability.
- Managed North America Stores PnL for customer returns and free replacements, ensuring reserve accuracy and aligning policies for high-value consumer electronics.
- Developed scalable tools and processes for returns analytics adopted by North America Stores product controller community, enhancing visibility and supporting decision making.
Finance Manager, Supply Chain Finance
CISCO SYSTEMS
05.2021 - 08.2022
- Managed Supplier Rebate Programs and drove process improvements delivering $25M+ in PnL benefits.
- Linked component and deal-based rebates to product level reporting, enhancing Business Entity Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) forecast accuracy by 15%.
- Integrated procurement and revenue data, improving financial visibility and rebate attribution.
- Enhanced visibility into shipped deals, strengthening rebate accrual and forecasting process.
Planning Manager, Supply Chain Operations
CISCO SYSTEMS
03.2020 - 04.2021
- Led the transition of the supply chain procurement model for the Server CPU business, managing $1B+ in annual spend.
- Collaborated with global teams to create supply strategy and product segmentation, achieving $25M improvement in forecast accuracy while reducing lead times and minimizing excess and obsolete risk by $50M.
- Developed MRP system to enhance supply and demand visibility, streamlining scheduling for ~$40M in weekly supply orders.
New Product Program Manager for Enterprise Switching
CISCO SYSTEMS
01.2019 - 02.2020
- Led end-to-end product lifecycle for Catalyst 9200 series, achieving on-time delivery and budget adherence while driving revenue growth.
- Managed next generation Meraki/Cisco product integrations, contributing to $500MM annual business performance.
- Enabled new features and partnered with manufacturing teams to support new Meraki switches.
Technical Program Manager for Insieme Networks
CISCO SYSTEMS
11.2017 - 12.2018
- Led corrective actions to ensure timely launch of Cisco’s first liquid cooling data center.
- Implemented solutions for network continuity and enhanced SSD life expectancy, minimizing operational risk.
Product Quality Engineer for Insieme Networks
CISCO SYSTEMS
07.2014 - 10.2017
- Owned quality and reliability improvements through monitoring, root cause analysis, and process development, achieving $5-10M in avoided failure and remediation costs.
- Led stop ship and line stop recoveries, executing field impact assessments and corrective actions to minimize customer impact and prevent revenue loss.
Education
Master of Science - Finance and Analytics
SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY
Bachelor of Science - Industrial Engineering
CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY, SAN LUIS OBISPO
Skills
- FP&A
- P&L Ownership
- Product Controllership
- Supply Chain Finance
- SQL
- Operations & Logistics
Volunteer Experience
- Amazon and Big Brothers Big Sisters, Seattle, WA, Mentor, Mentored local middle school students.
- Firehouse Community Center and Quest Institute, San Jose, CA, Volunteer, Partnered with community organizations to create opportunities for students.
Timeline
Finance Lead for a Consumer Electronics Tech Team
Amazon
01.2025 - Current
Finance Manager, Consumer Electronics
Amazon
09.2022 - 12.2024
Finance Manager, Supply Chain Finance
CISCO SYSTEMS
05.2021 - 08.2022
Planning Manager, Supply Chain Operations
CISCO SYSTEMS
03.2020 - 04.2021
New Product Program Manager for Enterprise Switching
CISCO SYSTEMS
01.2019 - 02.2020
Technical Program Manager for Insieme Networks
CISCO SYSTEMS
11.2017 - 12.2018
Product Quality Engineer for Insieme Networks
CISCO SYSTEMS
07.2014 - 10.2017
Master of Science - Finance and Analytics
SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY
Bachelor of Science - Industrial Engineering
CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY, SAN LUIS OBISPO