As we head into the summer months, we wanted to spotlight some incredible practitioners who are a part of the Simpactful Team. We are so fortunate to have built a team of multi-functional 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 things in life. Within Simpactful, you might meet a fellow world traveler or a great golfer! Meet Cheryl and Phil!
Name: Cheryl B. Stark
Tenure with Simpactful: 1.5 Years
Carer Experience: “Most recently, I spent 7+ years running all aspects of Supply Chain for the Mondelez eCommerce team. Before that, I spent over 20 years at Kraft Heinz working across various customer logistics and supply chain roles. Combined, this experience has given me expert knowledge of Amazon’s supply chain, including root-causing and solving chargeback and shortage issues, evaluating Amazon supply chain programs and logistics options such as 1P, and 3P, and building out internal vendor supply chain capabilities such as Vendor Flex, Drop Ship and SSCC Case Labels.”
How easily can your skill sets be translated to other categories or companies of various sizes? “With Amazon’s supply chain, there is one Amazon way and multiple retailer/vendor/seller ways. While my core experience has been with consumer product goods, the knowledge of the Amazon supply chain has transferred to multiple categories and industries as the Amazon process is still the same. My favorite projects are the ones that help clients say, “Ah ha, I didn’t know that”. I love to help them avoid the “pain” I went through learning all the nuances of the Amazon supply chain. Specifically, I enjoy digging and determining root causes for supply chain defects as determined by Amazon. It’s not enough to identify chargebacks. It is critical to understand what causes a chargeback or shortage and, more importantly, what action needs to be taken to correct it. Often, it’s a simple solution; other times, it is much more complex.”
How has your skill set evolved as you have worked with Simpactful clients (and why)? “Yes, I’ve been able to spend time deep-diving and thinking about situations and solutions. When in the peak of my career at Mondelez, there were so many priorities that it was not easy to really take the time to root-cause and ideate. I’ve been able to deepen my knowledge of details in the supply chain that are critical to success.”
What’s an example of a recent Simpactful client project? “I worked with a client who (like many CPG companies) had acquired multiple brands over the last few years. Each brand had its process and standard for case/carton markings. They asked for our help because they were spending an excessive amount of time trying to recover automated fines and fees. Another Simpactful team member and I reviewed the case marking requirements for every retailer. We provided a consolidated recommendation of one case marking standard that would satisfy all retailer requirements. The client has taken our recommendations and is in the process of implementing them across all their brands. They are strongly positioned to avoid fees and fines from their largest retailers so they can focus on building their business instead of chasing repayments.”
Where do you spend your time and energy when you are not working? Anything outdoors! Hiking, biking, snowshoeing, volunteering on my city’s neighborhood district board, or traveling. I just returned from a trip to Italy where I was able to meet extended family members and learn about the places from which my ancestors immigrated to the US.
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Your Name: Phil Morris
Tenure with Simpactful: 6 years as of July 2024
Career Experience: “I have 30+ years of Sales experience in customer-facing and internal sales roles, creating creative and flexible trade programs and other go-to-market programs to accelerate profitable growth. Most recently, I spent 13 years managing the North America Trade Fund and Customer Policies for Procter and Gamble.”
What are your favorite kinds of projects and why? “Through my career experience, I gained a deep financial understanding of Trade Terms and Retailer Profitability drivers and the ability to translate analytics into actionable insights and plans. This has translated well to the consulting space, where I have been able to focus on trade fund program redesigns and go-to-market approaches such as Minimum Advertised Programs and gross-to-net analysis to improve efficiency, cash flow, and profits. I can also bring the sales perspective to areas such as bracket pricing, cash discounts, and payment terms, which is especially valuable when I can combine that with perspective from the Simpactful multi-functional and retailer experts.”
What’s an example of an impactful Simpactful project that you helped to lead? “Our Simpactful Team redesigned a client’s trade fund program to tier/segment customers while differentiating trade rates in a fair and justifiable approach based on each retailer’s ability to deliver against specific measures. This provides flexibility in creating trade rates to accelerate share and profitability with growing customers.”
How does Simpactful’s model of staffing teams with both Brand and Retail practitioners make the work you do more efficient or effective? “Combining the manufacturer CPG world with retail content experts enables us to co-develop recommendations and approaches that meet the client’s needs AND to effectively sell into and execute plans with retailers successfully.”
Where do you spend your time and energy when you are not working? “I enjoy creating memories with family and friends on the lake, playing golf, and entertaining.”
Have a challenging problem to solve? Simpactful and our team of experts can help! Our team is here to help with everyday challenges like ascertaining the profitability of your channel partners to untangle Trade Terms that have grown increasingly complex with the advent of the Omnichannel, growing costs to serve, or the growth of the Value and Dollar channels. We can also help not only to grow your Amazon business, but to assess if you have levers to make it structurally more attractive. Simpactful’s team of experienced experts, like Cheryl and Phil, 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
