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
Outfitters, 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 Hirschberg 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, L.L.
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 Outfitters, Ann 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.
# # #
Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/5/prweb243557.htm
Warning: include(footer.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/business/public_html/TextilesPR/Columbus-Consulting-Earning-Respect.htm on line 108
Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'footer.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php:/home/bollydb/ZendGdata-1.0.3/library') in /home/business/public_html/TextilesPR/Columbus-Consulting-Earning-Respect.htm on line 108