I have worked at Essential Wholesale since January 24, 2011 and am the Chief Operating Officer/Executive VP.

I have over 40 years’ experience in progressive senior management positions with large corporations. I spent 13 years with Fred Meyer (Kroger) stores holding positions of Store Manager, District Manager, Buyer and General Merchandise Manager. This gave me a strong foundation in merchandising, sales and operations. I was the youngest store manager (age 20) that Fred Meyer had promoted. I managed several large divisions including Cosmetics, Jewelry, House wares, the Import division and Electronics. I sourced products in Asia, Europe and South America.

The next 9 years were spent at May Department stores in operations and purchasing. I held Divisional and corporate level positions at Meier and Frank, Filenes and Caldor. I headed the corporate Electronics division based in New York for 2 years. During my tenure at May Department Stores, I was responsible for the importation of $300 million per year and travelled Europe and Asia extensively sourcing product.

The next 10 years were with Wal-Mart stores. With Wal-Mart, I was assigned to the operations division and was responsible for assessing and turning around severely under-performing units throughout the country. I honed my skills at identifying and correcting substandard performance factors. The volume of sales per unit varied from $55M - $195M per year with 150-500 employees reporting to me at a given time. At Orco Construction Supply I was the Director of Operations and Supply Chain. I spent the next 10 years growing the company (33 distribution centers) from $150M to $394M per year while totally redesigning the operations and purchasing structure. I centralized purchasing, created 3 operations divisions, opened a rebar manufacturing facility. Something I have learned from years of working is that you must adapt or migrate, or you will become extinct.

My favorite part about working at Essential Wholesale is the people. The atmosphere and working environment is a nice change from the large corporate structures that I have been involved with. The product mix is also fun to work with and unique.