Outdoor

Hired to lead all facets of merchandising and planning for this $125 million privately held 12 store chain.
Report directly to President and Board of Directors. Direct reports include Planning Manager and 12 Buyers
• Improved conversion rates, sales, and margins by implementing a key item strategy and a reduced SKU count.
• Partnered with branded market to develop exclusive product as well as co-branded items to ensure differentiation and uniqueness.
• Directed the re-merchandising of the stores to focus on new growth categories and experiential statements.
• Doubled revenue in less square footage in 7 years through strategic initiatives and team driven goals.

Director/General Merchandise Manager

Promoted to lead the day to day operations of three retail formats and the five e-commerce sites for this $950 million wholesale apparel manufacturer.
• Complete P&L, operational, planning, marketing, and merchandising responsibility for $110 million in annual sales for 45 Perry Ellis stores, 22 Original Penguin stores, 2 Cubavera stores, as well e-commerce sites for these three brands and 2 women's brands.
• Directed the turnaround of these businesses through improved budget control, better product assortments, regionalized allocation and distribution strategies, and improved marketing initiatives.
• Improved overall customer experience and conversions with new initiatives including Shopper Trak, Foresee customer surveys, digital signing, mobile POS, and loyalty program.
• Grew overall direct to consumer business from less than 5% to 9% of total corporate sales in 3 years.
• Achieved a 4-year CAGR of 11% on a comp store basis.
• Achieved a 4-year CAGR of over 12% gross profit, on a comp store basis.
• Reduced overall SG&A by over 400 bps and improved overall gross margins by 500 bps.
• Achieved a 4-year CAGR of store 4-wall profitability of over 30%.
• Increased the penetration of exclusive product while reducing overall SKU count by 33%, resulting in overall margin improvements of over 500 bps.
• Directed a real estate portfolio re-evaluation and negotiations resulting in the closing of 7 underperforming stores and rent reductions totaling over $300k.
• Worked with landlords and developers to stabilize relationships and build win-win scenarios to improve overall bottom lines and opened 18 new stores.
• Dual direct report to CEO and COO.

President

Responsible for all phases of the product development and design strategies for Men's, Young Men's, and Boy's private brands totaling $300 million, in this $14.4 billion Fortune 500 retail organization.
* Recruited to lead a team of Product Managers, Planners, Design, Color, Fabric, Technical, and Sourcing to ensure effective collaboration with internal and international partners, and to maintain critical deadlines in order to achieve sales, receipt, and margin goals.
* Demonstrated exceptional team leadership skills during transitional period and selected to continue development of ongoing May/Federated programs with placements through Holiday 2006.

Vice President / Product Development

Gary Rubin is a Director/General Merchandise Manager at RON JON SURF SHOP in Hoover, AL.

Gary Rubin

Gary Rubin

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