Charlotte Metro
Commercial leader with deep grocery and retail expertise. Served over 5 years as VP of Category Management at Ahold Delhaize ($52B, 2,000+ store omnichannel grocer), leading merchandising operations with P&L impact across supply chain and category performance, while building and leading 70+ person commercial and analytics organization driving impact through analytics, product & customer data, pricing and business systems capabilities. At Lowe’s ($86B Fortune 50 Retailer), I was brought in to help evolve pricing into a strategic commercial capability. We transformed the pricing team into strategic partners for merchants across all commercial pricing levers, including base, promotional, Pro, and markdown pricing, while enabling profitable growth through process simplification, automation, embedded analytics, and AI-enabled, data-driven decision making. I integrate merchandising, commercial strategy, omnichannel retail, operations, finance, and technology to design and scale commercial operating models and enterprise decision systems that drive measurable P&L impact. I have delivered tens of millions in margin and EBIT improvement through analytics deployment, cross-functional execution, and enterprise transformation, including work on the design and scaling of commercial operating models, along with post-merger data governance and system integration across omnichannel retail environments. Earlier, I served in Chief of Staff roles for merchandising and store operations at a $26B, 750+ store retailer. My leadership philosophy: Make things work, then make them work better by developing people, simplifying processes, and provoking meaningful change.
Currently I lead the pricing business partner team at Lowe’s Home Improvement, a Fortune 50 retailer. Driving the end-to-end pricing lifecycle across base, promotional, markdown, online, and Pro pricing, by partnering with merchandising, finance, and store operations to deliver customer value and profitable growth at enterprise scale across 1,700+ stores. Leading five Pricing Directors and a 75+ person team delivering value as we modernize pricing practices, embed automation and AI, and elevate pricing from a transactional function to a strategic P&L partner. Delivering measurable impact on sales and margin by optimizing pricing levers, mitigating cost pressures, and enabling data-driven decision making across the enterprise. Recruited to drive change management and transformation, I streamline processes, enhance technology, and strengthen cross-functional collaboration—positioning pricing and commercial initiatives as a key driver of enterprise growth and operational excellence.
Providing consulting and advisory services focusing on retail technology, marketing strategy, product storytelling, data & analytics, process improvement, organizational design, professional development and digital transformation. As Principal Consultant at Talvoti LLC, I’ve provided consulting and advisory services to clients in the retail sector inclusive of CEOs and senior executives from data & analytics companies and retail technology providers. I’ve served as a subject matter expert leveraging an extensive cross functional omnichannel retail background as an advisor on a wide range of retail, technology and organizational design topics. My consulting work has included: retail technology strategy, providing a retailer/customer perspective to retail facing data & technology providers, enhancing marketing messaging & product strategy, and enabling digital transformation. www.talvoti.com
Executive leader overseeing merchandising operations for a $52B, 2,000+ store omnichannel retailer, including Merchandising Analytics, Price & Promo Services, enterprise Data Governance, Unsaleables, Item Lifecycle, Product Master Data Management, and Business Systems. Directed a high-performing team of 70+ delivering strategic shared services to drive profitability, efficiency, and customer-focused outcomes. 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 & 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩: Partnered with Chief Merchants to identify significant incremental sales and margin opportunities. Championed deployment of IRI (Circana) and Power BI, embedding analytics into merchandising decisions. Represented merchandising in IT roadmap and budgeting, aligning data, systems, and capital priorities enterprise-wide. 𝐏&𝐋 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭: Delivered tens of millions in margin and bottom-line impact including via Unsaleables product exit strategies, partnering across merchandising, supply chain, analytics, and working directly with CPG vendors to optimize execution at scale. 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 & 𝐎𝐦𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐄𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Oversaw product content for 50,000+ products and 70,000+ support requests. Led image & attribute capture enabling expanding from a curated e-commerce assortment to nearly all in-store products made available online, delivered 100+ system enhancements, and established centralized Cost & Deals teams to manage 20,000+ annual cost changes. 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 & 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐤: Created U.S. Data Governance function and executive council post-merger, ensuring enterprise-wide data quality and compliance. Updated customer data policies partnering with Privacy Officer to balance personalization, regulatory requirements, and trust. 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 & 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩: Represented Ahold Delhaize on the GS1 U.S. Retail Grocery Initiative Executive Committee and spoke at conferences on data, analytics, and merchandising operations.
Senior member of Merchandising Strategy & Support leadership team, accountable for process improvement, systems and tools, merchant training, trade/vendor relations, supplier diversity, and change management. Delivered $20M+ in operational savings and efficiency through re-engineered merchandising processes and cross-functional initiatives. 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐟𝐟: Supported SVP of Merchandising Strategy & Support, leading a functional area that includes Assortment, Pricing, Promotions, Optimization, Sales & Initiatives. Oversaw organizational initiatives to enhance enterprise alignment, streamline decision-making, and enable operational execution across 750+ stores. 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭-𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 & 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Helped lead design and implementation of new banner-specific merchandising teams; developed onboarding and process training for 500+ Merchants to preserve sales momentum and market share. Supported SVP in Customer Value Strategy development & coordinated cross-functional business case for deploying sourcing synergy funds. 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 & 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭: Led initiatives like converting Giant Carlisle Ad Break from Sunday to Friday, generating $10M+ incremental sales & improved in-stock rate. Drove process improvement & simplification, including redesign of the promotional ad planning process, streamlining workflows and shortening timelines. 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩: Increased Certified Diverse Supplier spend by 40%, hosted 100+ participants from 60+ diverse suppliers, and embedded supplier diversity into assortment review and reporting processes. 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 & 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: Merchandising Academy and Commercial Speaker Series, including storytelling with data classes and change management programs, strengthened team capabilities to manage end-to-end category portfolios and drive EBIT performance.
Led the development and execution of proactive shrink strategies across Ahold USA and its retail banners, focusing on preventing losses upstream before they impacted stores. By aligning teams across Asset Protection, Merchandising, and Store Operations, 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲. Key initiatives included: 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐬: Shifted store Asset Protection teams from primarily stopping shoplifters to proactively preventing shrink, improving bottom-line results without increasing labor spend. 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬: Deployed prescriptive and interactive shrink analytics tools across banners, enabling field teams to identify risks faster and make data-driven decisions at the store level. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Revamped audit and planning processes, turning reactive audits into proactive tools that allowed stores to address shrink drivers before they impacted results. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬: Piloted and implemented programs such as Dairy Markdown optimization and bottom-of-basket item detection for loss prevention, improving sell-through, profitability, and operational efficiency.
As a Master Black Belt, led Lean Six Sigma and DMAIC initiatives delivering $400K+ average hard-dollar savings per project, while mentoring and certifying Black Belts and embedding data-driven continuous improvement across the organization. Led development and rollout of a full-time staffing model delivering $10M+ in annual savings and improved P&L performance. Partnered with senior leadership, HR, and Labor Relations to design and implement a scalable, volume-based operating model. Served as statistical and analytics expert supporting labor relations, shrink reduction, and profitability initiatives, including multi-year workforce analysis across 37 union stores and expert testimony in arbitration proceedings on high-value grievances. Provided advanced ad hoc analytics for division leadership to support operational and financial decision-making.
Led cross-functional Lean Six Sigma DMAIC projects delivering $9.2M+ in hard-dollar benefits across retail operations, pharmacy, staffing, sales, and shrink reduction, while leveraging frontline store experience in driving value from enterprise-scale analytics and process improvement initiatives. Projects included workforce optimization (FT/PT mix and overtime reduction), pharmacy labor efficiency, sales growth initiatives, shrink reduction, and retail commission optimization. Applied Lean Six Sigma and statistical analysis to identify drivers of performance and implement sustainable operational improvements across multiple retail functions and banners. Facilitated cross-functional teams from frontline associates to executive leadership, integrating Voice of the Customer input with quantitative analysis to drive measurable and sustained business impact.
-Managed between 100-200 employees, six to eight subordinate Department Managers and between $15MM and $39MM in annual sales. Served in five diverse locations with differing clienteles. -Supervised all day to day operations of the business and assisted Store Director with short and long term planning, labor & performance management, policy execution, audit and financial planning functions. -Oversee hiring, disciplinary action and associate development. Extensive personnel and inventory management responsibilities. Managed in both a union and non union environment.