ENTREPRENEURIAL EXECUTIVE
Cross-Functional Experience & Cross-Industry Expertise
Leadership Summary
Innovative Executive offering more than 20 years of Operations, Marketing, Product & Business Development experience within Education, Online Search, Digital Media, Education Technology, e-Commerce & Retail industries. Results-focused with a demonstrated ability to drive growth within intensively competitive markets. Expert in creating the vision, identifying opportunities, developing best-in-class products and services and positioning start-ups and existing businesses for sustainable global growth. Founder of 2 companies.
Core Competencies
Strategy, Execution & Management
Revenue, Profit & Market Growth
Product Development & Marketing New Product, Service & Market Launch
Deal Structure & Contract Negotiations
Quality & Performance Improvements Team Development & Leadership
M&A and Legal Transactions
Strategic Partnerships & Alliances
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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
NOODLE EDUCATION, INC.
New York, NY 2011 Present
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) / President / Board of Director
Noodle (www.Noodle.org) is the first cradle-through-career vertical search and recommendation engine for education opportunities. Spanning 36+ verticals within the education industry, Noodle uses proprietary algorithms and curates the best education data & content to provide its users with a trusted, comprehensive, single-source for education recommendations.
Recruited to create and successfully launch this start-up vertical search engine. Full P&L responsibility for creating business plan and growth strategies, defining product offerings and delivery models, establishing partnerships and building operating infrastructure globally. Develop vision, define critical goals and success factors, and establish clear objectives and practical action plans.
Successes & Solutions:
" Built and launched new vertical search engine within 10 months of hire positioning Noodle as the first search engine for education.
" Identified market need and leveraged outsourced partner relations to create a comprehensive online marketplace for learning with 240,000 provider profiles residing on the site.
" Championed a refined Agile/Scrum process for product and application development, driving cost reductions and speed of product improvements. Production cost reduced by 23% and speed to market improved by 27%.
" Established subscription partnership in China for American College Search.
" Spearheaded the establishment of new digital revenue models and frameworks growing revenue by 167%.
" Recognized by Forbes Magazine as the most disruptive start-up for 2012.
" Recognized by Mashable as 1 of 5 start-ups transforming education.
THE WASHINGTON POST COMPANY
(NYSE: WPO) Ft. Lauderdale, FL 2007 2011
Leadership roles at Colloquy & Kaplan Divisions of The Washington Post
A diversified education and media company whose principal operations included educational services, newspaper print and online publishing, television broadcasting and cable television systems. The Education Business Unit was the worlds largest diversified provider of educational services assisting more than one million students each year across the globe.
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COLLOQUY, INC. (Division of the Washington Post)
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 2009 - 2011
Founder / CEO / President
Founder, President and CEO of Colloquy, an e-learning solutions provider enabling leading public and private universities to expand globally through online education. Colloquy supplied its university clients with market research, global marketing and customer acquisition, a state-of-the-art technology platform, infrastructure and the capital required to develop holistic online education degree programs. Colloquy served many of the worlds finest universities.
Successes & Solutions:
" Founder of Colloquy from business model development to deployment.
" Negotiated 27 university program contracts valued at more than $81 million.
" Attracted student inquiries from 78 countries.
" Primary business liaison for President/Provost at client universities throughout the world.
" Responsible for P&L management for the organization.
" Development of new investment strategies and funding vehicles for university partners.
" Centralized and streamlined RFP and client agreement processes. Managed all large business development opportunities, drafting all terms and conditions for each client engagement.
" Penetrated new markets expanding into Asia Pacific within the first 10 months of operations.
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KAPLAN, INC. (Division of the Washington Post)
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 2007-2009
Senior Vice President Strategic Initiatives
Kaplan, Inc. was a $2.9 billion leading global provider of technology-driven educational services to individuals, educators and businesses, serving over one million students annually in 30 countries.
Joined Kaplan, Inc. with cross-functional responsibility to (1) manage all marketing efforts, (2) accelerate growth of Kaplan through existing education channels, (3) enter new-to-Kaplan education channels and (4) develop net-new-businesses for Kaplan and the Washington Post. Kaplan became one of the largest and fastest growing educators in the world with net revenue for the four years, 2007 / 2008 / 2009 / 2010 of $933M - $1.160B - $1.54B - $1.80B respectively.
Successes & Solutions:
" Responsible for overall strategy formulation as company sought to become the leading on-line educator.
" Grew Kaplan Higher Ed. to 105,000 enrolled students in online and classroom-based programs.
" Operating Income increased 59% YoY.
" Enrollment growth at Kaplan Universitys online offerings grew 47% YoY.
" Launched first-ever national brand marketing campaign.
" Developed military education strategy. Kaplan educates over 11,000 active duty, reserve, veterans and spouses.
" Restored profitability and led turnaround of B2B division from $8M loss to profitability.
" Developed Student Engagement Portal creating and then linking 80 company websites and 3,300 pages of content.
ARAMARK CORPORATION
New York, New York 2004 2006
Vice President, Business Services
Aramark was an $11.6 billion global provider of outsourcing, food and facilities management services to business, Olympic, education, healthcare, government institutions, sports and recreational facilities.
Appointed by the Board to turnaround $187 million Business Services division that had delivered $6 million in operating losses year prior. Business Services was the worst performing division in the Core Four Analysis of revenue, profits, sales and client retention.
Led a full scale restructuring resulting in a 12 month, $7 million improvement in operating profit F/Y 06 vs. F/Y 05. Division was the recipient of the Core Four Award for largest improvements to profits, revenue, (from $187 million to $220 million), new sales contracts equaling $127 million and a client retention rate of 98% (previous year 73%).
Successes & Solutions:
" Sold and negotiated 14 new/renewal contracts valued at more than $127 million.
" Attained a Business Retention Rate of 98%.
" P&L responsibility for 87 clients and 312 locations. Responsible for day-to-day management of 4 vice presidents, 17 headquarter staff members and span of control over 3,400-management, union and non-union associates.
" Created $2.6 million in labor efficiencies annually.
" Developed OPX - an operations initiative leveraging the scale of a $1.2 billion line of business to establish uniform operating standards. OPX reduced product cost by 2.3% and reduced product line SKUs by 1,278.
" Awarded the 2005 Foodservice Magazine Award for Product Innovation.
RESTAURANT ASSOCIATES
(Subsidiary Compass Group, PLC: LSE) New York, New York 2002-2004
President, Consumer Retail
Compass Group PLC is a $28 billion global outsourcing foodservice and support services company. Through its subsidiaries including Restaurant Associates, the principal activities of the company were the provision of contract foodservice, retail fine dining/casual dining and support services to clients and consumers in 50 countries.
Recruited to provide executive management for a $250 million fine-dining and fast-casual dining consortium. Responsibilities included the financial and operational reorganization of Krispy Kremes most prominent and visible franchise.
Successes & Solutions:
" Reversed negative sales trends resulting in a 2-year positive EBITDA variance of 382% and revenue increases of 75%.
" Orchestrated 3rd party distribution and logistics system resulting in a $19 million off-premise business.
" Reduced retail store construction cost by 21%.
" Reduced retail cost of goods by 4.5% and wholesale cost of goods by 3.8%.
" Increased market share from .08% to 5.8% in a 12-month period. (Source: IDI Market Share Analysis).
" At $3,300 per square foot, Krispy Kreme New York retains the record for highest single store sales psf.
" Average unit volume was $3.65 million.
BLIMPIE INTERNATIONAL, INC.
(NASDAQ, AMEX) New York, New York 1992 2002
President / Executive VP, Strategic Planning / Asst. General Counsel
Blimpie International, Inc. - a global retail restaurant franchise company, operating a portfolio of brands including Blimpie Subs & Salads, Maui Tacos, Pasta Central and Smoothie Island. Blimpie International, Inc. was the largest publicly traded specialty retail chain operating 2,100 outlets in the 14 countries - employing approx. 24,000 individuals.
President 1998-2002
Selected by the Board of Directors to revitalize this 37-year-old flagship brand, while continuing to create business integration strategies for newly acquired and developed brands. Full P&L responsibility for company with annual revenues of $584 million, a $38 million consumer-marketing budget and a $3.2 million business development budget.
Successes & Solutions:
" Grew chain an average of 334 units per year for fiscal years 1999, 2000, 2001.
" Increased same-store-sales by 4.8% YoY from 2001 to 2002, compared to industry decline of 3.0% for the same period.
" Launched international division and operated 100 units in 13 countries in first year of operations.
" Founder Pasta Central - First 2 years of operations - 22 operating units in 4 countries with sales of $16.7 million.
" Completed a secondary stock offering, raising $11 million in new capital.
" Created most successful product development initiative in companys history. Results for the units taking part in the initiative included YoY sales increases of 18%, traffic growth of 8%, consumer satisfaction up from 61% to 93%.
" Packaged company for sale, evaluating most effective avenues to accomplish transaction. The successful stock repurchase represented a 90% premium over then current market value.
Executive Vice President, Strategic Planning 1995 1998
Recruited to establish more disciplined, contemporary business practices and manage the organization through periods of rapid growth. Modeled business scenarios, analyzed consequences of proposed business activities. Created strategic and tactical plans, expanding the firm from a single domestic restaurant brand to a global portfolio of 4 restaurant brands and a restaurant equipment & design firm.
Assistant General Counsel 1992 1995
Provided counsel to senior management regarding rights, remedies, liabilities and exposure and provided litigation management. As Managing Director of the companys dispute resolution initiative, I negotiated out-of-court settlements prior to litigation. Negotiated joint venture with Amerada Hess resulting in 240 retail units.
EDUCATION & BOARD MEMBERSHIP
" Post-graduate Cert.: Finance
Columbia University - Graduate School of Business New York, New York 1999
" University of Miami School of Law
Juris Doctor (JD): Top 25% of class Coral Gables, Florida 1992
" University of Miami
Bachelor of Fine Arts Coral Gables, Florida
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" Noodle Education, Inc. / Member - Board of Directors
" Education Industry Association (EIA) / Member -Board of Directors
" Touch App Media / Member - Board of Advisors |
