Reading, MA 01867 (M) 781 315 9408 (H) 781 942 7884 benream@yahoo.com http://www.linkedin.

com/in/benream

BEN REAM

PRINCIPAL RETAIL CONSULTANT | ANALYST

EXECUTIVE PROFILE
A passionate Retail Consultant and Analyst with broad-based industry knowledge, expertise and vision. An innovative, published thought leader on retail technology and the retail value chain. Professional experience includes: Big 4 Consultant, IBM Global Services Principal Consultant, Retail, Infosys Senior Retail Analyst, The Aberdeen Group Retail Technology Analyst, AMR Research/ Gartner Increasingly responsible positions with retailers Toys R Us, Target, Macys, The Gap, Staples

NOTABLE CONTRIBUTIONS
Provided consulting and foundational change management services to 2, billion-dollar grocery chains undergoing an often cross-purposes merger. Identified and remedied mission-critical functional gaps in both business and cultural requirements, as well as reconciling divergent go-to-market strategies. In just 4 months, brought to successful conclusion disparate business process and corporate culture roadblocks unresolved for more than two years. Researched and wrote prescient analysis on emerging retail technologies and the leading-edge best practices they support for two industry-leading market research firms. Research topics include emerging technologies such as SaaS and BPaaS in Retail; aggregating customer data to create tailored, demand-driven assortments; effective use of near real-time POS data feeds and DSRs to optimize inventory; and Best-in-Class Performance Metrics. For my last firm this topical, desired research resulted in signing on 16 new clients and increasing revenue stream by $1,200,000 during my first year. Pioneered development of a supply ordering optimization system for an office super store whose prior system was inefficient and expensive. New best practices were identified, reducing 11 ordering methods to 2, resulting in annual savings of $14,000,000 in supplies and $31,000,000 in unnecessary fixtures. (Store Managers had been ordering all lengths and heights, Just to be on the safe side.) No more.

CORE LEADERSHIP & FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES

Retail Analytics Predictive Analytics Metric-driven Dashboarding Omni-channel Commerce PLM Collaboration Pricing Promotionns Inventory | Planograms Assortment Optimization Strategic Sourcing Social Networks Customer-centricity SaaS-based Applications Master Data Management Mobile Cloud CRM RFID Workforce Optimization, Workforce Productivity Leading Cross-Functional Teams Persuasive, Effective Writing

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE INFOSYS, LIMITED, Industry Solutions Group, Boston, MA Principal Consultant, April 2011 December 2011 Lead project-based teams at clients site to solve problems, identify opportunities and deliver value through professional services. Retained by Tier-1 retailers to benchmark business processes against industry best practices and assess capabilities of their organization, operations and technology stack to support strategic corporate initiatives. Engage with senior management to develop the strategies and tactics necessary to improve competitive posture.
REAM CONSULTING SERVICES, Reading, MA Principal Consultant, 2009 - 2011.
Provided subject matter expertise to retailers and retail-centric software companies. Responsible for project scope, timeline, budget and deliverables. For an Independent Software Vendor, wrote compelling, pain point-specific sales collateral, contributing $200,000 in new business within 6 months. For a leading provider of BI-supporting Data Warehouse Appliances, performed targeted research, competitive analysis and identified strategies for growth; this research was successful to the hoped-for point of contributing to the sale of the privately-held company at a premium price to IBM.

BEN REAM
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THE ABERDEEN GROUP, Boston, MA Senior Retail Analyst, 2008 2009

Conducted fact-based, leading-edge, market research on retail best practices, emerging trends and enabling technologies. Drew insightful conclusions from topical survey data, writing industry-acclaimed research and analysis. Sponsors funding my research included Accenture, Art Technology Group and Adobe Series 7

STAPLES, Framingham, MA Senior Business Analyst and Project Manager, 2006 - 2008
Started as a Project Consultant, and was recruited as a full-time employee within 6 months. Promoted from Business Analyst to Senior B.A. and P.M. within 8 months. Conducted numerous process and technology-driven engagements, both domestically and abroad. Quickly turned a Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance project into a powerful loss prevention tool: a centralized electronic journal was developed for the companys Canadian division, which secured credit card information as intended, but whose data also thwarts a major source of fraudulent returns, saving $12,000,000 gross profit annually.

IBM, Global Services, Armonk, NY Retail Consultant, 2004 - 2006

Provided professional services to Tier 1 retailers including Royal Ahold grocery, Lowes and Pep Boys. Established business process commonality across 4 business divisions for the worlds 4th-largest grocer as part of Project Mercury. Increased PLM capabilities, resulting in an up tick of high-margin house brands from 9% to 15%.

Evaluated Lowes technology stack and store operations, implementing warehouse management and vendor scorecarding solutions and best practices, reducing materials cost by $15,000,000 annually.

ADDITIONAL INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE Retail Analyst, AMR Research/ Gartner; Store Manager, Toys R Us; Allocation Analyst, Target; Assistant Buyer & Group Manager, Macys California; Operations Manager, Old Navy

MBA MARKETING, THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO, CA BACHELOR OF ARTS, ENGLISH, THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, CA HSD, PHILLIPS EXETER ACADEMY, EXETER, NH

EDUCATION

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Voting member of V.I.C.S. (Voluntary Inter-Commerce Standards) Board, 2000-2002; RFID Leadership Summit, Salt Lake City, 2004; Panel Member, The Future of Retail Technology, New York City, 2005, NSB (now Epicor) user group; Co-chaired the Technology and Telecommunications Committee for the Town of Reading, MA, 2004 2010; advantageously negotiated the towns cable TV contract between competing providers. Comcast and Verizon, reduced average monthly subscription fees to Reading town residents by $11 per Reading household.

PUBLICATIONS
Topics: Inventory Optimization, Cross-channel Strategies, Store Systems, SaaS, BI and Analytics Titles: Intelligent Inventory: Make Inventory Your New Competitive Advantage, Software-as-a-Service in Retail: Why, When and How; Precision Merchandising: Improving Profitability Through Laser-Like Targeting, Emerging Ecommerce Best Practices for Retail, The Business Intelligence Agenda of Small Retailers; Retail SaaS: Which Applications Every Provider Should Consider Hosting; Green Retail: From Concept to Reality, among others. Publishers: Apparel Magazine, R.I.S. (Retail Information Systems News), AMR, Gartner, Aberdeen, Oracle, IBM URLs to publications: Available upon request