Bill Markham: President & Founder in Highland, UT

Recruited by Blendtec a $130 Million privately held manufacturer and marketer of premium blenders and small appliances. Oversaw all aspects of the retail division. Hired a domestic sales director, three regional managers, and eighty sales agents. Oversaw all aspects of the club demonstration program including the director of retail execution, seven regional managers, and two hundred & fifty independent demonstrators. Oversaw all aspects of the International development including a sales director, country manager, four regional trainers and 3rd party demonstrators: PWD - Canada, WDS - UK and CDS - Mexico, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Australia and Spain. Responsible for key account management, product ideation, market analysis, product segmentation strategy, retail marketing execution, merchandising, assortment planning & forecasting, P&L, and creative sales programs to increase distribution and drive brand awareness and market penetration. Essential Account Development: Targeted, penetrated and grew business at Costco & Costco.com, Costco Intl., Sam's Club, Price Smart, Kohl's, Amazon, Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Macy's, QVC, Bloomingdales, and targeted Gourmet & Specialty retailers. - Reorganized and aligned the sales department by hiring a national sales director, regional sales managers, and independent sales agencies to target, penetrate, and grow Blendtec's domestic distribution & sales. - Reorganized Blendtec's pricing, sales programs, and retail margins to align with industry standards. - Implemented a domestic MAP policy and monitoring program to reduce channel conflict. - Implemented forecasting, and demand planning models to align cross-function departments, streamline workflow processes, and the ATS, purchasing and manufacturing processes. - Implemented a product segmentation strategy to reduce channel conflict between Media, Club, Majors, E-commerce, and Specialty Retailers. - Increased Bed, Bath, and Beyond footprint 450% and sales revenue 380%. - Increased Costco Club footprint by 30%, and sales revenue 55%. - Increased Amazon revenue of 114%. - Increased North American distribution footprint 360%, and sales revenue 206%. Retail Marketing: - Reorganized the retail marketing team, and developed brand alignment through cross-functional team building. - Refocused the direction of Blendtec's premium brand position, product assortment, pricing strategy, and elevated the marketing collateral. - Created the five key product differentiators, co-developed the 'Feed Your Passion' tagline and lifestyle profiles; Fuel, Nurture, and Create. - Led change by revamping an old recipe book that reduced annual cost by $2.4m. - Increased brand awareness by leveraging social media, digital marketing, traditional media, in-store POP, promotional, and lifestyle campaigns. - Led change by repositioning the existing product assortment, increasing SKU count, design, and color story to appeal to a younger demographic. - Increased wholesale and retail pricing strategy to increase Blendtec's profitability and build upon the company's premium product positioning. International Development: Targeted, penetrated and grew business in Canada, Mexico, Spain, Japan, UK, Australia, Taiwan, & Korea. Traditional Retail Distribution: Canada, Mexico, UK, and EU. - Essential Account Development: Costco (Mexico, Japan, UK, Spain & France), Amazon (Canada, Mexico, UK, & DE), TSC (Canada), and recruited distributors to penetrate traditional retail outlets in the UK, Scandinavia, Germany, France, and Spain. - Led change by implementing a GST and VAT policy that recovered $1.2m in uncollected pass-through tax, and integrated a 3PL in Canada & EU to maximize efficiencies, reduce cost, and expedite deliveries to distributors. - Oversaw employee-training, demonstrator training and implemented SOP's to build brand continuity, create brand evangelist, and increase product knowledge within each market. - Introduced Blendtec into 20+ countries, and increased sales revenue 900%.