John M.

DeVos
Marshall, MN 56258
john.devos@chartermi.net
Mobile phone (612) 963-2326
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johndevos
Summary
I love using my diverse experience to drive business results through capitalizing on all aspects of opportunity development - ideation through
commercialization - specifically the development of new business. I am a seasoned executive with a strong general management, marketing, sales,
operations, and business development background. I am results oriented with strong leadership skills and a track record of results.
Experience
The Schwan Food Company
Schwans Home Service, Inc.
Marshall, MN
Vice President Sales Development

(January 2015 Present)

Lead direct sales team of 34 New Account Specialists. Increased sales volume 19.6% in first half of 2015 by focusing on B2B accounts and
implementing a standard work day. Collaborating with marketing also reduced promotional spend by 300 basis points resulting in
$2.9MM increase in profit.
Redesigned state of the art on-line only fundraising program to support customer acquisition drive digital revenue and increase profits.
New fundraising sign-ups increased 36% driving revenue from $13.8MM to $19.8MM and profits from 8.9% to 19.6%. This was done
through a restructuring of payouts, geographical targeting, and Search Engine Marketing tactics.
Developed relationships, and business processes with third party logistics companies, United States Postal Service & Select Express LLC.,
to open up new sales geographies and give customers six day a week service options versus the traditional bi-weekly service model.
Lead team in development of new e-tail business model including, web development, platform integration, product portfolio, brand
development, and operating processes.

Vice President Market and Route Planning

(January 2012 December 2014)

Developed Market and Route Planning capability for the organization. Reduced customer service changes by 4MM. This was done by
creating a high performing team, centralizing the route planning process, collaborating with field sales, marketing and consumer care to
ensure an end to end process for customer service changes.
Designed, built and implemented a Route Operations Center. Improved customer service by 17.8%. Working with sales and IT,
developed the business rules and requirements for real time visibility and tracking of 4,000+ sales people and route trucks including real
time analytics and date specific reporting.
Lead development of predictive analytics model for route engineering process. Reduced operational requirements by 15% while
maintaining revenue. Partnered with business analytics and IT to create model and implement.
Increased route efficiency through route engineering process. Reduced total miles by 15MM resulting in variable operating expense
decline of $10.8MM. This was accomplished through the use of data analytics, sales planning, and GIS implementation.

Vice President, Project Execution/Business Transformation (March 2010 January 2012)

Lead a 150+ member cross-functional team of consultants, business subject matter experts, and business process owners on a large scale
business transformation project called Project WOW. This projected created dynamic delivery capability, a digital manifest, upstream
inventory visibility and improved out of stock reporting and logic. Responsible for all work streams and a comprehensive $40MM+
budget.

Vice President, Regional General Manager

(January 2008 February 2010)

Profitably lead an operating region with revenue of $170MM consisting of 67 sales branches, 750 delivery vehicles and 1,100 employees.
Full P&L responsibility and leadership of region support staff including, Sales, Operations, HR, and Safety.
Implemented a sales planning process, new compensation structure, standardized sales and depot operating procedures, plus realigned
territories and executed a regimented workforce plan. This contributed to revenue increases of $75,000 per week and grew profits by
13.4%.
Held corporate level responsibility for key initiatives including the Retirement Savings Plan Committee, the Diversity Initiative, and the
Corporate Strategic Planning and Development Steering Committee

Schwans Foodservice, Inc.

Vice President, Marketing
(July 2005 December 2007)

Lead all marketing activities for $700MM Foodservice division working closely with the National Accounts, School Foodservice, C-Store
and Distributor (Street) sales teams.
Developed Minh Asian2Go and Freschetta2Go brand kiosk business for non-commercial customers (College and University and
Healthcare segments). These programs delivered over $20MM in revenue in first two years. Lead the cross-functional development
between R&D, sales, marketing and marketing agency.

Developed and implemented sales and marketing programs for the largest foodservice distributors in the U.S. including SYSCO, US
Foodservice, and Unipro. This helped increase sales by 5% and represented 35% of total sales. This was done through collaboratively
working with sales, finance, and operations.
Developed new and innovative products for Burger King, Sonic, T.G.I. Fridays, and Ruby Tuesday restaurants. This resulted in revenues of
over $40MM. Lead the development process that included culinary, R&D, sales, the customer and customer culinary team.

Schwans Home Service, Inc.

Vice President Alternative Channels

(August 2002 - July 2005)

General management responsibility with accountability for over 500 employees and $100M in revenue as well as P&L responsibility for all
non-traditional Home Service channels.
Drove the vision of schwans.com as a key customer segment versus a digital product guide. Grew revenue from infancy to a $100MM.
This made schwans.com one of the largest food retailers on the internet. Won sales/e-Commerce Excellence Awards from Horizon,
Axiem, and the International Web Page Awards in 2004; also named a Top 20 Food and Cooking Site by Supermarket News and the 47th
largest retail website by Internet Retailer in 2004 as well as Top 50 Web Site by Internet Retailer in 2004. This was done by leading
marketing, IT, and external consultants.
Responsible for business development activities including partnerships, joint ventures, start-ups, and process development. This included
Amazon.com, Yahoo, Google, EBay, and the development of the Impromptu Gourmet brand.

Vice President of Marketing (May 1999 August 2002)

Oversaw all marketing activity for $1.5B business including database/relationship marketing, e-Commerce, product
management/marketing, product procurement, marketing services, data analytics, brand management and consumer research.

Schwans Consumer Brands

Director of Marketing
Senior Brand Group Manager
Group Brand Manager
Assistant Brand Manager
Key Account Sales Representative

(October 1988 May 1999)

Lead all marketing activity for the Consumer Package Goods division which included Tonys pizza, Red Baron pizza, Freschetta pizza,
Pagoda Asian snacks, and Larrys potatoes. Helped lead sales growth from $500MM to $750MM. This was done through innovative
new product introductions like Tonys Oven Rising pizza, Red Baron breakfast pizza, and Freschetta pizza; strong consumer
promotion, brand advertising, and effective trade spend programs.

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

Master of Business Administration, St. Cloud State University, St Cloud, MN (AACSB Accredited)
Bachelor of Science, Business Management, St. Johns University, Collegeville, MN
Professional Training
Executive Development Institute I & II, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Financial Management, The Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
Executive Education, Babson College, Babson Park, MA
The Schwan Food Company Senior Executive Development Program
Six Sigma Green Belt Certification
AWARDS, HONORS AND AFFILIATIONS
One of ten individuals chosen for the Inaugural Schwans Senior Executive Development Program
2006 & 2007 Cognito New Product Innovation award
2005 SQM Winner for Contact Center Customer Service Excellence
New Product of the Year: Freschetta Pizza: American Marketing Institute
Freschetta Stuffed Crust Pizza: Information Resources Inc. (IRI)
Merchandising: National Frozen Food Association Golden Penguin Award for Merchandising (Two-time Winner)
Sales/e-commerce Excellence Award: Horizon, Axiem, International Web Page Awards
Adjunct Professor of Marketing, Southwest Minnesota State University, Marshall, MN
President; St. Johns University Alumni Association, Southwest Minnesota Chapter
Director, Marshall Area Chamber of Commerce
Director; Pride in the Tiger Foundation
Director; Marshall Area Youth Baseball Association
Director; Marshall Area YMCA