Simpactful is continuing with our Summer Spotlight series, in which we profile some of the incredible practitioners who are a part of our team. We are so fortunate to have built an expert team of multifunctional experts from both the brand and retail sides of the desk who are excited to leverage the skills and knowledge they have accumulated during their careers to help our clients. Access to such a diverse and experienced pool of talent allows Simpactful to customize staffing based on the needs of each project. Our practitioners are universally curious and love rolling up their sleeves on new projects and exploring new challenges at work and in life! Meet Uzma and Pete!
Name: Uzma Rauf
Time with Simpactful: 2.5 Years
What does your career path look like? “I spent nearly 20 years working on Consumer, Shopper & Market Insights at Fortune 100 companies. My roles included VP Insights at Samsung, head of Shopper Insights, Pricing Analytics, and Information Management at Unilever, and the VP of Custom Analytics at Nielsen.”
Where do you spend your time and energy when you are not working? “I love spending time with family and traveling.”
How has your skill set evolved as you have worked with Simpactful clients (and why)? “Almost every Simpactful project I’ve worked on has enabled me to leverage a wide range of my research, analytics, and influencing skills as we tackle client issues holistically. I regularly pull from the hard and soft skills I acquired during my career, including:
- Secondary data and analytics skills working at Nielsen and Unilever
- Primary consumer and shopper research skills at Unilever and Samsung
- Cross-functional executive and stakeholder management and influence
- Experience across diverse industries and categories
I particularly value and learn a lot from the diverse expertise of other consultants on each project as we collectively develop stronger strategies for the client using our skills, experiences, and practical frameworks.”
What’s an example of a Simpactful project that you are most proud of? “The Private Equity owners and leadership team of a Health Care client needed help to quickly pivot their business model from selling solely in the Pharmacy through a Prescription Model to also offering assortment in the front of store. Internal resources were focused on running core operations, and several key resources did not have experience with an Over the Counter or traditional CPG business model. To make it a bit more challenging, the client needed help taking the project from strategy to legally approved retailer pitch decks in just 9 weeks!
I was of part of a multifunctional team comprising Category, Strategy, Marketing, Finance, Insights, Commercial Planning, and Retail experts. In my role leading insights, I analyzed diverse data types to develop rich insights that were critical to the cross-channel strategy, price-pack architecture, and custom Retailer pitch decks. This included providing:
- Macro trends on consumers’ health management, brand trust, and retail dynamics
- Market size assessment and growth projections for chronic conditions
- Granular consumer, shopper, and market development opportunities using Nielsen’s POS and panel data
- Recommended nuanced segmentation, journeys, drivers, and barriers through analysis of consumer & shopper research.
The collective work by the Simpactful team powered the client’s GTM success and ability to pursue an +$8 billion incremental market potential. The customized retailer insights and pitch decks were tailored for top-to-top and buyer engagements and served as the backbone to pitch for distribution successfully during the line review window.”
What has been the biggest surprise about your Simpactful experience? “I appreciate the great expertise and skill of the Simpactful consultants, along with amazing collaboration. We can deliver exceptional client results even with team members that have met for the first time!”
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Name: Peter Hills
Time with Simpactful: 3.5 Years
Career highlights: “I spent 29 Years with P&G in Manufacturing and Supply Chain Leadership in Paper, Hair Care & Color, and Personal Health Care. I then served as the New Chapter Chief Operating Officer.”
Where do you spend your time and energy when you are not working? “Aside from my roles as husband, father to a high school junior and college sophomore, and trainer for our young black Labrador puppy, I am a competitive cyclist, high school Nordic skiing coach, and beekeeper.”
What are the 3 things you enjoy most about working with Simpactful? “I enjoy the talent and culture of the Simpactful team. The consultants and leadership team bring a broad background of skills and experience. Probably the most important is that everyone seems happy and enjoys the work that they are doing.”
What core 3-4 skills did you acquire during your career that have translated well to your role as a consultant? “In my 29 years, I have had numerous supply chain responsibilities – materials planning, packaging artwork, strategic sourcing, innovation management, business planning, S&OP, supply planning, market logistics, SKU productivity, master data quality, demand planning, etc. I’ve been in the weeds and done the work managing the supply chain for several CPG brands. As the Chief Operating Officer for New Chapter, I was responsible for everything. I was able to pull from my experience and effectively manage the organization to deliver against our plans. As a consultant I bring the perspective from someone who has been an operator in the supply chain field AND been an executive managing all aspects of a business’s supply chain.”
How easily have your skill sets translated to other categories or companies of various sizes? “Every company I have worked with has had supply chain challenges. The fundamental steps of the supply chain, source – make – pack – ship, are the same. Most brands/businesses have (or should have) some version of an S&OP process. I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly over 30+ years of supply chain experience and leadership. Each business and company I have been a part of benefits from these learnings.”
What are your favorite kinds of projects and why? “I was fortunate to take on a fractional role as the Chief Supply Chain Officer at a Beverage company. In this role, I worked for the CEO and was a member of the client’s leadership team. I managed the supply chain and customer service teams and had full operations responsibility. I developed the supply chain strategy and led the transformation of the brand’s supply chain in my 2 years in the role. The fractional role structure enables true results ownership, accountability, and leadership.”
Have a challenging problem to solve? Simpactful, and our team of experts can help! We are here to help with everyday challenges like mining insights for better strategies, sell-in decks, and shopper-based store solutions. We can also help improve your supply chain, identify unnecessary costs, and streamline operations. Simpactful’s team of experienced experts, like Uzma and Pete, are happy to roll up our sleeves and work with you to create a winning strategy and/or help execute your vision. Contact our team today at contact@simpactful.com or 925-234-6394. Visit www.simpactful.com
