Category Manager (Midwest & Appalachian Region)

Candidate: 192521
Current Position: Category Manager / Merchandising & Retail Operations Leader
Industry: C-Store
Experience: 25+ years
Education: BBA

Scope:

Senior retail merchandising and operations executive with nearly three decades of progressive leadership experience within the convenience retail industry. Extensive background leading multi-state merchandising strategies, category execution, vendor partnerships, promotional planning, store operations, and P&L management for industry-leading organizations with major nation chains. Proven success driving sales growth, margin improvement, assortment optimization, and operational excellence across large retail networks.

Accomplishments:

• Drives sales, margin, and category performance through data-driven merchandising, assortment optimization, pricing strategies, and promotional execution.

• Partners directly with Category Managers, Operations Leaders, and Vendor Partners to improve category profitability and support long-term growth initiatives.

• Coaches and develops Corporate Market & Area Managers, contributing to double-digit sales and profit growth across assigned markets.

• Builds strategic regional vendor partnerships supporting promotional programs, new product introductions, and localized merchandising initiatives.

• Utilizes analytics and reporting tools to identify revenue opportunities, close performance gaps, and improve store-level decision making.

• Led vendor collaboration efforts and new product launch execution while serving as liaison between operations and merchandising support teams.

• Successfully negotiated with vendors to reduce operational and product costs while improving category performance.

• Managed numerous new store openings, remodels, and major acquisition integrations.

• Spent 18 years as a District Manager, overseeing 14+ convenience stores and approximately 125 employees with full P&L responsibility.

• Consistently improved sales, profitability, inventory management, compliance, and employee retention across multi-unit operations.

• Recognized with multiple company awards for leadership excellence and financial performance.

Haskel Thompson & Associates: Since our founding in 1979, we have been the go-to recruiting firm within Retail, QSR, CPG, Private Equity, and Petroleum industries to bring your organization top-tier talent. With our proprietary and extensive vetting process, you can rest assured that you will be adding highly educated, knowledgeable, and qualified candidates to help grow your organization. For more information about this candidate, please contact Jessica Kennedy