Retail and Wholesale Trade

 

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            My partner and I have been running our laser engraving business ourselves for the past two years. We’ve reached the point now where we’re both completely maxed out, so we’re considering hiring at least one employee. Where do we start  Read more.....

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            Over the past 15 years, nearly two-thirds of new jobs have been generated by small businesses. Yours may be one of them. That’s good news for your local economy, for your customers whose expectations for quality service are higher than ever, and for you, as you can focus your energies on other priorities.

Matthew P DAgostino

Expert in retail baking and multiple unit operations during a 40 year career of expansion with as many as twelve units at one time.  Experienced in leasing rental space and construction management of build out of storefronts.  Assembled a middle management team to oversee operations with rewards and incentives for measured success.  Certified Master Baker for 20 years includes manufacturing and production methods for pastry and bread products, inventory control and overall management of the bakery environment.  Extensive computer programming and user skills in IT acquired since 1983.

Served as President of the National Retail Bakers of America, New Jersey Retail Bakers and the NJ Tri-County Bakers associations and participation in Chambers of Commerce. Business sold in 2010.  Currently own Property Company in Las Vegas, NV.  Also, a partner in a Baker's Buying Group representing over 1000 store fronts in the US.

Resume

Education

Nathaniel Hawthorne College, BA English and Political Science

W. Eric Roberson

Current City: Hockessin, DE

Bank of America / MBNA Bank - Experience in Card Serivces IT functions as an IT Process analyst and audit (9 Years).

Accenture - Established and manage a Mainframe application Tier 1 and Tier 2 Help Desk focused on DuPont Order/Invoicing and manufacturing/product Inventory Systems. (2 Years)

E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Company. 5 years as the Front Desk Manager at the Hotel DuPont in Wilmington DE managing the Rooms area hospitality service delivery team. 20 years as a Programmer/analyst specializing in COBOL and PL/1 mainframe order invoicing applications. Managed a PC based training center for DuPont employees using office systems. Developed custom applications for the Corporate Trucking division and a color press application for use by packaging manufacturers using DuPont Cyrel printing plates.

U.S. Army / Delaware Army National Guard/ USAR - 30 year career starting as a small unit leader (Armor/Infantry) and Operational S-3. National Guard/USAR service as a Signal Corp officer with duties as a Company and Battalion Commander. Last career assignment was as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Information Systems with the 311 Signal Command, USAR, F. Meade MD.

Speech Therapeutics Inc - Vice President/Treasurer of a Speech Therapy private practice owned by my wife. We have maintained this small business practice for over 25 years. Familiar with small business accounting and general Quickbooks knowledge.

Butler's Inc. - Family stationary business in Wilmington DE run by my father. Experience in this retail business as retail clerk, stock room, delivery driver, telephone operater, cashier and auditor.

 

 

Resume

Education

 

B.S.B.A. University of Delaware, Lerner College of Business & Economics
Command and General Staff College

Terry Leigh Britton

Current City: Elizabeth City, NC


Proactive Self-Starter involved in Community Betterment and Affairs:

  • 2011 to Present – Devoting time to creating and disseminating educational materials on marketing, now becoming organized under the banners of http://ncmarketers.com and http://marketingmavens.net.
     
  • From 1997 to 2007 - In a Housing Authority of Winston-Salem (HAWS) building with over 200 elderly and disabled residents, Kathy Salkin of Sara Lee Hosiery and I started the Crystal Towers Computer Club. Through donations, primarily from Sara Lee and from graphic design houses, I personally refurbished and gave away approximately 130 computer systems to elderly and disabled people living on limited incomes, in an effort to bridge the digital divide. (For this effort I received the Bellsouth Good Neighbor of the Year award in 2000. I was also featured in a full
    2-page article in the Winston-Salem Journal in 2007.)
    I have taught classroom and individual computer skills classes to residents of Crystal Towers since the project began. Thanks to HAWS, most Winston Salem public housing now has a space to hold classes and a computer lab.
     
  • 1997 to 2000 - Founder and President of the Electronic Music Consortium of the Triad, a forum for electronic musicians and composers to meet and share music, ideas, knowledge and techniques.
  • In summer of 1993, I created a pilot program later picked up by Junior Achievement in Connecticut that was very successful. It used an entertainment industry based business model instead of the traditional manufacturing model. We produced Dances (loosely called "Raves") for the local teenagers featuring young DJ's and live local bands. This ended a 17-year dry spell in that community of having such things as dances for the teens. The Junior Achievement version of the program was first embraced by the Ridgefield High School and its principle, and that school's Senior Class Economics students earned class credit for their participation.
  • In 1990, I promoted alcohol-free nightclubs in Danbury CT, producing (and paying for) zoning changes that paved the way for coffeehouses and other alcohol-free musical venues, bringing life back to that city's downtown region.


 


 

Work Experience:


Features:

  • 5-years self-employed doing Internet Marketing consulting – email lists, newsletters, SEO, advanced strategies including Google AdWords, copy writing, print integration.
  • 5-years self-employed as a programmer using ExpressionEngine to create dynamic, data-driven websites. Ruralintelligence.com and ncwildflower.org are two large examples.
  • Proficient in computer technologies for both PC and Macintosh platforms
  • 5-years experience as college professor teaching Graphic Arts and computer graphics courses, including entire Adobe Creative Suite.
  • Pre-press document optimization, color correction, scanning, image touch up
  • Website design, PERL, PHP and MySQL programming, content management systems (Xoops, phpNuke, Expression Engine, pMachine) and blogging tools.
  • Hardware upgrading and troubleshooting
  • Freelance computer technician
  • Visual Basic Programming
  • Former ISP’s Telephone Help Desk (solo), for Red Barn Data Center, WS

 

Details

  • Spring 2002 to August, 2006 – Full-time Professor as assistant to Dept. Chair Garry Day at Forsyth Technical Community College, Winston-Salem, NC, teaching beginning and advanced Graphic Arts subjects to students pursuing their Associates Degree in the Graphic Arts and Imaging Technologies curriculum, which covers all aspects of printing technologies.

    I taught classes to both 1st and 2nd year (Associates Degree Program) students, primarily in computer graphics applications (Adobe Creative Suite), but also taught design, printing (lithography, screen and flexography), print estimating, printing math, history of printing, Graphic Arts career overview and others. I taught the Adobe applications from beginning to advanced levels: Photoshop - 3 semesters, Illustrator - 1 semester, InDesign - 3 semesters, and GoLive - 1 semester. Though initially hired as part-time, the duties were as comprehensive as full-time, and I was part-time only because we had to wait for budget approvals, after which I had to go through the hiring process again to win full-time status. Ours was a 5-semester program, so I had a 12-month contract.

    I was the IT person, network tech and computer maintenance tech for our dept. as well, which had 36 Macintosh computers by the time I left.
     

  • From 1990-1991 - Developed and taught several extremely successful hands-on science classes for young people, presented via five after-school programs in four CT. towns, and also through a home-schooling program. I created five very popular classes: Sounds Incredible; Color and Light Magic; The Electric Creator Series; Things you can do with Gravity; and Crazy Machines! I tried reviving this program to provide to children in the Triad area, but with little interest happening here - see http://www.geocities.com/sciencehandson (much thanks goes to Machele Cable, Lab Manager of Wake Forest University Physics for designing and implementing this beautiful website!)
     
  • From 1989 to 1993, I worked weekday evenings and weekends for the Ridgefield Water Supply Company, minding the reservoir and 4 pumping stations. A dream job! Sadly, eventually I was replaced by automation.
     
  • From 1987-1988, I lived and worked in the heart of NYC's SOHO art district, both at Five Eggs (a pre-empire Japanese artifacts shop), and at JD Canvas' toy shop.
     
  • From early 1986 to late 1987, I worked as the maintenance man at an actual Tibetan monastery in Woodstock, NY., Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, where I also lived, studied and practiced according to Tibetan Buddhist methods for two years.
  • From 1985 to 1986 I was video editor and technical director at the White Buffalo Multimedia video studio (now Upstate Media Enterprises) in Woodstock, NY
  • In 1984 I worked for Miller Advertising in NYC, the largest classified ad agency in the world. I placed the ads (mostly with the NY Times) for the CEO's accounts.
  • Since 1982 I have been a certified instructor of the Technologies for Creating® courses developed by Robert Fritz. I have been on staff at Winston-Salem's Sawtooth Center (2001) teaching these courses, as "Create Your Life!" as well as presenting the course in private settings at people’s homes.
     
  • From 1977 through 1984, I performed prolonged stints as a street musician playing flute in and underneath Cambridge, MA (their first "allowed" street musician), where I eventually instigated the "Music Under Boston" program that brought street musicians of all genres into the subway stations of Cambridge and Boston; and in NYC as a regular feature of the SOHO art district, the corner of Wall and Broadway, and at the front stairway of the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art on Fifth Ave. (I was the only street musician ever allowed there - the police would chase the darn mimes away when I arrived!) Have now been playing flute for over fifty years, starting in third grade at age 9.

 


 

Not-For-Profit Work Experience:

  • July 2012 joined SCORE (the Service Corp of Retired Executives, the volunteer arm of the Small Business Administration) and was made a member of the board and named Technology Chair in November, 2012.
     
  • From 2009 to Present, have been a member of the development team for the open-source and free CamStudio screen recording software, an internationally popular program for which I am the primary help-desk moderator. http://camstudio.org/forum
     
  • From 1984 to 1985 - Was co-director with Suzen of the prodigious and prolific Art for the People in NYC, an Arts Events Production group that produced large (massive) scale public art events at World Trade Center observation deck, Port Authority Bus Terminal, Central Park, and the first in history to have a public event on a Staten Island Ferry Boat and in its huge terminal. Shoestring budgets with huge results (and huge audiences involved), thanks to volunteers!
     
  • From 1976 to 1979 - Political interface and public "front man" for The Foundation for the Alliance of the Cultural Arts and Humanities, and Artisphere, in Boston, MA - The Foundation and "working arm" of a multifaceted arts-and-artists support non-profit. Based upon my charter written earlier for Biospheres, we embraced projects such as artist housing, street fairs, craft fairs (very early!), and building conversions, with variable success, but with much support from city and government leadership acquired by said "front man."
  • From 1974 to 1975 - Biospheres, Boston, MA - composed their 'revolutionary' charter, based upon ideas from Buckminster Fuller and others, with a few of my own as well. Biospheres produced warehouse loft "happenings" and located store fronts for people to use for free to give dance lessons, painting lessons, etc., but its charter expressed a much larger scope.
     
  • In 1971 (my senior year in High School), co-brainstormed Aurora Productions to produce "micro Woodstock" festivals featuring local bands, such of which were in abundance at that time. Produced only one show, but it was a good one!

Resume

Education

Education:

Salem College, 2001-2002

Major: Communications, with Science Education emphasis – left to teach at FTCC.

Forsyth Technical Community College , 1999-2001

Major: Associates Degree in Graphic Arts and Imaging Technologies,
Graduated with 3.925 GPA. (One “B” in 7 semesters!)

Winston-Salem State University , 1996-1997

Major: Computer Science, 4.0 average

School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts , 1972-1975

Major: Performance Art and Electronic Music Composition, Honors program

Honors and Awards:

Academic Honors Scholarship Award - Forsyth Tech, 2001

Printing Industries of the Carolinas Association (PICA) Scholarship Award for 2001

Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society, 2000

BellSouth's Good Neighbor of the Year Award, 1999

Extracurricular Activities, FTCC:

Phi Theta Kappa, President 2000-2001

Alpha Mu Beta service fraternity, Vice President 2001

Student Government Association member 2000-2001

Alan Garber

Current City: Ft Lauderdale, FL

CPA.

Resume

Education

University of Florida

Bachelor of Science - Major Accounting.

Arthur L Goldberg

Current City: Larchmont, NY

Arthur Goldberg

Chapter: Westchester SCORE

Career Summary: Expert in Business Start ups, Buying and Selling a Business, Business Budgets and Plans, Business Strategy, Sourcing, Warehousing and Shipping Products, Legal Issues, Purchasing Insurance

Industry Experience:, Distribution, Hard Goods Manufacturing, International Trade, Imports / Exports, , Personal and Professional Services, Retail and Wholesale Trade, Transportation and Warehousing

Mentoring Skills: Business Finance & Accounting, Business Operations, Business Strategy & Planning, Intellectual Property, Legal Services, Manufacturing & Product Development, Supply Chain Management

 

Resume

Education

MB MBA, University of Chicago                                                  CPA in NY, OH, IL

LL  LLM (in tax law), New York University School of Law             Attorney in NY, OH, IL 

JD,   JD New York University School of Law

 BBACity College of New York

John A Hoffman

Current City: Fort Wayne, IN

Expert in retail, retail store operations, merchandising, display, marketing, retail advertising, inventory control, purchasing, open to buy, team building, customer relationships, wholesale to retail, point of sale systems, lease negotiations.   Over 32 years experience as a specialty retail store owner and operator.  Three years experience  as general manager of retail  flooring operation.  Ten years’ experience as retail wholesale manufacturer representative.  Owned and operated a speciality retail franchise for 8 years before becoming and independant retail store. 

Currently:

Business Development Manager Star Excavating Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Construction industry June 2012 – Present Bippus, Indiana Responsible for identifying and securing new business opportunities for Star Excavating. Star is currently celebrating 50 years of excavation work. This family owned business provides Site Design and Management along with Earthwork, Mass or Deep Excavation and Demolition services. Star's well coordinated process uses state of the art equipment, advanced technology, highly trained technicians, and years of industry experience to create a seamless well-organized process that prepares each site for construction. Star is not just another sub-contractor, but a working partner who enjoys seeing successful completion of quality projects on time while exceeding our customer’s expectations. SMALL BUSINESS CONSULTANT John Hoffman January 2011 – July 2012 (1 year 7 months) Providing business services to retail and wholesale companies looking to expand their market share and profitability. Provide a strategic look at business plans, budgeting, sales and marketing plans, employee performance, and market factors. Sales plans and metrics are developed and implemented upon completion of review.

Past GENERAL MANAGER Jack Laurie Home Floor Designs May 2008 – January 2011 (2 years 9 months) As General Manager I was charged with creating a retail environment and culture for a residential flooring store that had been recently acquired by Jack Laurie Commercial Floors, a long established commercial flooring contractor in Indiana since 1950. Responsibilities included overall management of the store including merchandising and showroom presentation, managing and motivating the sales staff to provide exceptional customer service while growing sales, promoting the store to the residential community, and developed programs to partner with interior designers and home builders.

Past PRESIDENT Contemporary Accents, Inc. d/b/a The Hoffman Collection January 1976 – January 2008 (32 years 1 month) Owned and operated a retail store in the Fort Wayne area which began as The Shop of John Simmons and evolved to become Cheers, which transitioned to The Hoffman Collection. These transitions occurred in response to the ongoing changes in shopping trends and the economic environment. The businesses were all trend setting and fashion focused stores featuring gift, tabletop, furniture, and home accessories. Selected Accomplishments: As a Shop of John Simmons franchise, for a period of 8 years, our store ranked as the top-producing franchise for both gross dollar revenue and sales dollars per square foot out of a group of 55 stores. Maintained continued sales growth while repositioning the store to adjust to changing market trends and economic conditions by focusing on maintaining current customers and acquiring new ones. Implemented unique in-store "six hour only" customer events that produced excellent sales using targeted marketing programs in a casual party-like sales environment. Developed and implemented creative in store events to attract large numbers of consumers and build brand awareness and loyalty for specific product lines. Developed annual seasonal (6 week) corporate gift program that produced sales exceeding $225,000. Implemented effective marketing strategies to become a premier single-store dealer for a number of our featured product lines. Effectively competed against department stores and mail-order companies.

Skills & Expertise Sales Management, Marketing,  Business Development Operations,Customer Service, Relationship Building, Customer Experience, Customer Satisfaction Team Management Team Leadership, Team Building, Financial Reporting, Project Management, Merchandising, Retail Sales, Retail Design, Inventory Management, Retail Marketing.

Resume

Education

Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana BS Public Management

Travis Johnson

Current City: Charlotte, NC

Resume

Education
n/a

Following a number of years in the insurance industry, five years ago I left my job to have a child and be a stay-at-home mom. Now that my son is beginning school, rather than returning to work, I’m thinking about starting a business. What advice can you offer?  Read more...

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