Challenged with proving new program could save company $10 million to $15 million. Protection efforts were prevalent, due to merger. In-house maintenance team was inexperienced in handling non-Sears facilities. Time frame for proving initial concept’s success was 30 days, with additional 90 days to flesh out program details.

Developed testing of national program in five areas nationwide to prove viability. Conducted kickoff and training meetings in each test zone. Led bi-monthly conference calls and monthly site visits. Conducted random status-check calls and led formal satisfaction surveys. Created spreadsheet to examine 20 to 30 staffing models to minimize costs.

Program proved financial savings beyond initial program predictions. Analysis spreadsheets facilitated open dialogues with senior management. Subsequent pro formas revealed $25 million to $30 million savings. Senior corporate leadership authorized program's execution.

Company's merger mandated new methodology for large cost-savings potential. Considerable time pressures were in place to produce viable savings opportunities to "pay" for merger.

Met with Exec VP, VP, Director, and three managers from acquiring company to discuss spending account processes and workflows. Followed up meeting with line-by-line expense analysis to align each side’s spending protocols. Compiled prioritized list of ideas with conservative estimates of cost savings.

Senior management involved in merger authorized further investigation and testing after reviewing 13-15 cost-savings potentials, worth up to $40 million annually.

Company was exposed to safety problems that posed potentially costly liability claims. Company was put on notice that two major safety problems existed and initial remediation costs for both could surpass $15 million. Capital funding was tight and already exceeded available money 3:1.

First issue centered on elevator hydraulic cylinders installed prior to 1971 prone to catastrophic failure. Five years later, second safety problem surfaced due to new codes adopted to minimize escalator foot- and hand-mangling issues.

For each situation, developed business case and risk analysis. Met with Risk Management and reviewed historical accident records. Reviewed implications and possible outcomes with legal department, and negotiated phased-remediation for reduced costs. Presented issues to senior management.

Senior management authorized capital expenditures across several years, including installing life jackets on suspect elevator hydraulic cylinders and adding brushes to escalators to prevent entrapment on more than 1,500 pieces of equipment nationwide. No injuries were reported. Total cost for both projects was $11.9 million.

Material defect threatened catastrophic failures on more than 300 retail store roofs. Possible outcomes included loss of roofs, damage to merchandise, and injury to employees and customers. Manufacturer was reluctant to admit defects; construction and legal departments were unwilling to approve necessary resources.

Suspended manufacturer's authority to work with Sears. Designed comprehensive independent testing program. Led internal meetings with Construction and Legal, and met with manufacturer. Offered several acceptable solutions until agreement could be reached.

Negotiated $11 million settlement, including $3 million to replace most seriously damaged roofs, $8 million contingency fund for future roofing problems, and vendor-paid five-year monitoring and testing program to safeguard against future failures.

Capital replacement needs were not defined but stores requested more spending support. Company had no system in place to prioritize capital needs and there was no basis to secure capital support.

Created tracking system that prioritized needs based on three key priorities within 150 categories. Implemented evaluation system to document needs. Initiated risk analysis as part of evaluation. Collaborated with real estate department to validate store’s needs before committing funds.

Expanded capital support from $37.8 million to $71 million across six years. Future needs grew from $5 million to $175 million during same period.

Five vendors supported stores, each providing different service levels and pricing. Some stores had up to three different vendors in same building. Company needed to provide single, consistent service level to stores, but to do so would require renegotiations of $8 million to $10 million in vendor contracts.

Met with all vendors and issued two RFPs. Collaborated with mentor on developing RFP and bid matrix. Compared existing contracts for best practices. Researched voids.

Negotiated first-ever national service maintenance program that reduced five vendors to one, saving $1.4 million, or 14%, in first year with no cost increases in next two years. Service and enhancements were achieved. Program still in operation 11 years later.

Company's owner planned to rescue self from day-to-day activities within ten years and wanted option beyond selling company. Owner was not sure if son possessed skills to take over business; no bench strength existed to replace owner.

Assumed acting role of VP and created general manager position for owner's son. Assigned General Manager task of reorganizing sales support area, including defining roles and career ladders, developing performance metrics, identifying and creating bench strengths, controlling and reducing costs, and improving service and satisfaction deliveries. Coached, mentored, and guided activities for two years.

Reorganization led to three consecutive bonuses for efficient and profitable operations (18 months later), despite stagnant sales growth. Owner was confident son would successfully assume company's leadership.

The Vendor Relations department was experiencing serious discord due to executive leadership turnover. The company blamed the entire organization's non-performance on Vendor Relations.

Deep-dive analysis was performed that led to major changes including supervisor promotions and the creation of job descriptions, requirements, and metrics. Visions, goals, and expectations were clearly communicated. One-on-one interviews were conducted to assess skills and conducted similar conversations with supporting directors and key employees. Department lacked focus and had no clear idea of targeted goals and objectives.

Four employees and one departmental executive were eliminated due to poor performance or deceit. Core functions were reorganized and four employees were promoted to supervisor positions. One supervisor was demoted and replaced with a current employees.

Key directors and employees responded positively to changes and were partnered for change.

Work order tracking system costs were scheduled to increase $1.5 million in three months when IT vendor partner announced that no-cost deal was ending. Software application was remotely hosted, lacked key features, and was complicated. National sales were down and no funding existed for alternate program purchase.

Collaborated with IT and Operations resources to create partnership approach to develop in-house software application, replacing need for outside vendor.

Created user-friendly program in three months that required no training with enhanced features, saving company $1.5 million annually.

Sales team needed to devise alternative cost-saving options to secure a contract. Team had minimal experience in quantifying alternative solutions.

Conducted brainstorming sessions with Vendor team that produced multiple options that could potentially reduce costs 10%. Pro formas and rationales were provided to support ideas.

The $50 million contract was won and customer utilized some of the cost-saving options.

Budget and forecast expense variations required monthly accountability. Forecasting prior to company's merger never occurred because spending was planned and tracked by store, district, and region with three P&L levels per store. Company had 25 expense and capital accounts, with each account including national, regional, and local vendor costs.

Developed templates for each direct report, dissecting vendor spending at national level by sub-account. Required forecasts to be reported by vendor within each sub-account, with each variance requiring detailed explanations.

Team was able to successfully explain spending variations down to vendor and store level.

Promotion included responsibility for company's housekeeping program that was not meeting expectations. Vendors absorbed large extra costs without compensation. Field's perception of program was negative. Procurement had instituted new program without operations involvement.

Invited top four vendors to day-long meeting and defined obstacles to success. Wrote seven-page analysis outlining program's design flaws and execution missteps. Met with Procurement, senior leadership, and field manager representatives for initial discussions and Sears' responses. Led roundtable with all, including vendors, to develop solution strategy.

Reduced vendor anxiety. Established six-month plan to correct outstanding issues. Four vendors expressed appreciation for efforts to reestablish long-standing partnerships.

Capital replacement needs were three times more than available funding, and funding support could not be increased. Half the funding was within two capital categories, and 80% of projects came from unique bids.

Launched three new programs to make funding go further. Initiated roof bid program, pre-purchased HVAC equipment components, and cluster bid installations to secure discounts from vendors doing multiple jobs.

Decreased roof replacement costs 15% and HVAC capital costs between 23% and 44%. Diverted $900,000 roof savings and $1.5 million HVAC savings to other needs.

Customer's team performance perception was poor. Promoted to manage capital replacement team that was viewed as most unresponsive. Required to prove value and productive efforts of team or terminate two-thirds of field project managers. No program was in place to measure customer satisfaction.

Developed survey process that provided evaluation of work efforts. Defined team's performance expectations and mandated district visits.

Satisfaction levels rose to 89.6% in eight years, including 21% increase in projects recognized for exceptional levels of satisfaction.