Columbus Consulting Earning Respect Among Notables in Retail Space
Columbus Consulting announces Saks Fifth Avenue as new client and adds four industry experts to help support growing demand for consulting services.
Columbus, OH (PRWEB) May 23, 2005 -- Boasting clients such as American Eagle,
Ann Taylor, Big Lots, CVS Pharmacy and New York & Company, Columbus
Consulting, Inc. has quickly become a force of industry experts that is earning
respect from many of the notables in the U.S. and international retail industry.
The company offers a variety of business expertise and services designed to help
improve a retailer’s merchandising systems and processes, from planning and
allocation, supply chain, to reporting and analysis.
Columbus Consulting
today announced that it has been hired by Saks Fifth Avenue to help the renowned
retailer re-engineer its merchandise planning process. Saks Fifth Avenue is part
of Saks Incorporated, one of the nation’s premiere retail enterprises operating
382 stores in 40 states, with more than $6 billion in annual revenues and 50,000
service associates. As part of the project, Columbus Consulting will also assist
Saks in selecting a new merchandising planning system, which will be critical in
helping the retailer implement and maintain a profitable merchandising process.
The first phase of the project, which began in April 2005, marks the first
engagement for Columbus Consulting at Saks
In response to the growing
demand for its consulting services, Columbus Consulting recently added four
industry experts who will be responsible for supporting existing contracts and
several major new projects.
“We are successful in helping large retail
organizations because we have put together a unique and diverse team of proven
leaders and experts who understands the ins and outs of the retail industry,
including both merchandising process and technology,” said Richard Amari,
president of Columbus Consulting. “We have been experiencing solid growth in the
past 18 to 24 months and are establishing a presence in the competitive retail
consulting industry. Much of this success can be attributed to our significant
expertise in the industry combined with positive referrals from our clients.
These clients, which include some of today’s most successful retailers, depend
on us to manage critical projects and to deliver results on time and within
budget.”
The Columbus team of Richard Amari, Jon Beck, Mike Downing, Don
Poirier, and Richard von Hirshberg are industry veterans, each with decades of
retail experience. The company recently expanded with the appointments of, Ken
Knop, Stuart Tattum, Drew Achabal, and Marc Reifeis as senior consultants.
• Knop has more than 20 years of retail merchandising
experience, working with many of the nation’s leading retailers, including Sears
Roebuck, Payless Shoesource, LL Bean and Neiman Marcus. Prior to joining
Columbus, Knop served as vice president of business process consulting for
Planalytics, where he was responsible for complex implementations of inventory
planning and control systems, and business processes at retailers and
manufacturers nationwide. He also held various management and director-level
positions specializing in merchandise planning, allocation and distribution at
Comshare, Contempo Casual, Hub Distributing and Mervyn’s. Knop earned a
bachelor’s degree in mathematics and applied science from the University of
California at Los Angeles where he graduated magna cum laude. He then earned a
master’s degree in business administration from the University of California at
Berkeley.
• Tattum is a 20-year retail software veteran and
began his career at Next, where he was a founding member of the team that
developed the initial versions of the Arthur Planning, Assortment Planning and
Decision Support applications. He also managed the design and implementation of
the Arthur Planning and Decision Support applications at numerous major
retailers and wholesalers, and directed the design, development and global
roll-out of the initial versions of the Arthur Allocation application. Prior to
joining Columbus, Tattum was responsible for retail planning services sales and
marketing at Planalytics, and developed and enhanced partnerships with retail
software and consulting companies. Prior clients include, Ann Taylor, Neiman
Marcus, Target Stores and Wilsons Leather. He earned a bachelor’s of science
honors degree from The University of Leeds in England.
•
Achabal is an experienced retail consultant and comes to Columbus after serving
for five years as engagement manager and senior retail planning consultant at
Planalytics, where he was responsible for managing the day-to-day customer
relationship for Gap, Inc. He has overseen critical assortment planning
implementations, including system planning and design at several major
retailers. Achabal earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Santa Clara
University in Santa Clara, Calif.
• Reifeis is an
experienced, senior-level retail executive who began his career with KPMG/Peat
Marwick, LLP. During the past 13 years, he has held progressively more senior
roles across the Limited Brands organization, including work in Victoria’s
Secret stores. Major accomplishments include the implementation of an enterprise
data warehouse and leading enterprise human resource and payroll systems.
Reifies earned a bachelor’s of science degree in computer information science –
engineering from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
“We are
excited about adding Stuart, Ken, Marc and Drew to our team and look forward to
their contributions to the ongoing success of Columbus Consulting,” added Amari.
“Each person brings unique talents, as well as significant retail experience
that will help us to serve our clients better and expand our reach. Among our
team members are individuals who led the development of the world’s leading
merchandise planning applications, and conceived and advocated system concepts
and business processes relating to merchandise planning and allocation that are
today accepted as industry best practices. With more than 150 years of combined
experience in the retail industry, we have a unique understanding of
implementing effective and efficient merchandising systems that have helped
multi-million and multi-billion dollar organizations improve their business
processes.”
About Columbus Consulting, Inc.
Founded by industry
veteran Richard Amari in 2001, Columbus Consulting, Inc. is comprised of a team
of highly experienced specialists in retail systems and processes. The company
works with many of the world’s largest and well-known retailers, general
merchandisers and apparel stores, including American Eagle, Anne Taylor, Big
Lots, CVS Pharmacy, and New York & Company . Columbus Consulting is called
upon to provide a variety of services, from managing short-term, high-impact,
executive-level advisory services on matters of strategic importance relating to
retail systems and processes, to overseeing large, multi-disciplinary,
multi-million dollar projects, lasting more than a year. The company is based in
Columbus, Ohio. For more information on Columbus Consulting, visit www.columbusconsultinginc.com.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/5/prweb243557.htm