Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Human Resources Leader, Strategic Planner, Federal/State Employment Law Compliance, Employer Branding, Employee Relations, Labor Relations, Talent & Development, Mergers & Acquisitions, Change Management, Recruiting, Payroll, Benefits, HRIS, Diversity & Inclusion, Public & Motivational Speaker, Career & Life Coach/Mentor
Lead HR technical teams that provide innovative, proactive solutions to enhance the associate experience throughout the employee lifecycle. These systems include talent acquisition and onboarding, talent management, and learning management (LMS), as well as the development of eLearning content to support associates along their journey.
Private consulting company providing recruiting, talent management, and general human resources services to retail, fashion, and service organizations in the Washington, DC metropolitan area; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; and Dallas, TX. Provide individual career counseling, resume service, and coaching for interviews. Hosted quarterly Twitter-based question and answer sessions, "Ask Eric," where users - could ask HR strategy, career, or life questions and receive answers. In 2015, built a successful program to help military veterans become more comfortable with job interviewing by aligning their military experience to non-military job skills. In 2017, expanded these principles and the approach to create a program that helps retail managers and associates translate their experience to non retail careers and prepare for interviews.
At Peapod, I lead the organizational HR strategy for this growing ecommerce retailer. Together, my team and I manage diversity & inclusion initiatives, employee relations, associate engagement, talent, and the day to day HR activities that support our corporate and field associates.
In this role, I managed all aspects of HR operations: HRIS, Payroll, HR vendor relations, communication, benefits, learning, and audit/compliance. I coordinated the company's diversity & inclusion initiatives and also provided HR support to the corporate finance team.
Oversee, advise, and provide direction on the Human Resources operations for the mid-Atlantic division of Peapod, an Ahold USA company. Core areas include change management, recruitment/onboarding, company culture, employer branding, employee retention, training/development, employee relations, labor relations, project management.
Regularly featured (non-paid) guest on multiple channels/shows including Sirius XM Stars, Martha Stewart Living Radio, OutQ, and Business Radio. Specializing in areas of human resources, career counseling, life coaching, I answer calls and offer personal and professional advice to individuals and companies.
(Simultaneous to position as Manager, Human Resources for Peapod.) Vice President of HR, Retail Sales, Merchandising & Marketing for upscale, multi-brand, fashion retail company with locations in California, Florida, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. I began working with Loro Retail after meeting the President, Marcelino, at FGI's Night of Stars event in 2008. I was contracted to review the company's existing HR practices and take action to ensure the department was strategically positioned to drive company success through HR activities. One month later, I was asked to join the organization as Vice President of Human Resources. After the company experienced it's highest periods of profitability due to direction I gave to the sales and merchandising functions, I was asked to oversee all of these departments as well. At the present time, I function as an interim-VP, developing most of our strategic plans and processes even as I perform in a Management function for another company. Between 2008 and 2010, I revitalized the existing stores, successfully changing the target market from a trendy, teenage/young adult focus to a modern, upscale, clientele primarily comprised of firmly-established, higher income, modern women, including celebrities and social elite. In 2009, I created a new division, opening two stores that focus on designer vintage-wear that works with the high-end product mix carried in our contemporary retail stores. I worked closely with the sales teams to build a clientele that includes celebrities and stylists, many of whom have worn, to televised awards shows, vintage items from these two new concept stores. In 2009 and YTD 2010, we have seen all stores out-performing their LY sales between 8% 23% with most stores surpassing their budgeted sales by another 11%. As a testiment to our high-profile customer focus, most of our stores require either an appointment or invitation to shop.