As seen in

Our Who’s Who in

Hardware/Home Centers

is the latest iteration in our

Who’s Who series. Here,

we spotlight more than

170 noteworthy brand

and retail executives who

are making strides in

the hardware and home

center channel.

IN HARDWARE/HOME CENTERS

3M Melissa Kloetstra, Shopper Marketing Manager, North America, Construction & Home Improvement Markets Kloetstra has 15 years of mar-keting experience managing a variety of brands and portfolios. She oversees a team focused on understanding shoppers’ needs and wants and leverages this knowledge to drive targeted marketing programs online, in-store and before coming to a retail store. She is recognized for building strong mar-keting competency within her teams and delivering business results that far exceed market growth.

AACE HARDWARELori Bossmann, Executive Vice President, Supply Chain and Retail Support

Kane Calamari, Vice President, Retail Operations & New Business

Dale Fennel, Director, Category Management & Retail Development

Jeff Gooding, Senior Director of Marketing and Advertising

Gary Paulson, Director, Merchandising Operations

Andy Voelker, Director of Category Management & Retail Development

ACH FOOD COMPANIES Monte Fenstra, Director of Sales

ANDERSEN CORP.David Nix, Director of Marketing, Home Depot Group

Blaine Verdoorn, Director of Marketing

ASHLEY HOMESTORESBen Thorud, Senior Vice President

BBENJAMIN MOOREMike Brunzell, Director of Sales

BISSELL Lynn Trudell, Director of Marketing

BLUE RHINO Broocks Foster, Marketing Manager Foster is responsible for the development, presentation, execution, analysis and report-ing of account-specific marketing plans and promotions for retailers in the grocery, drug, convenience, hardware, home im-provement and mass channels. Promotions include digital and traditional coupons, retailer loyalty rewards, rebates, on-pack cross-promotions, sweepstakes and social media offers.

Chris Hartley, Vice President of Marketing Hartley leads the market-ing efforts for the company, which offers a full line of products under brands such as Blue Rhino, Mr. Bar-B-Q, Endless Summer and SkeeterVac.

Mark Tucker, Senior Vice President of Sales

BRIGGS & STRATTONCarissa Gingras, Director of Marketing Since Briggs & Stratton engines are an ingredient brand, Gingras collaborates with original equipment manufacturers and retailers to develop mer-chandising, public relations and social me-dia plans, articulating user-driven innovation that solves consumer problems in the lawn and garden space.

BROAN-NUTONE Richard Palmersheim, Group Vice President – Marketing

CCCA GLOBAL PARTNERS Janice Jacobs, Vice President, Marketing, Carpet One Floor & Home Jacobs leads the brand and creative strategy across digital and traditional marketing channels that is designed to attract, engage and convert shoppers into customers. Her team oversees a national website, and more than 800 microsites for locally owned stores.

Beryl Payneau, Business Consultant, Flooring America Division

CENTRAL GARDEN & PET Katie Adams, Director, Home Depot Business Development Team

Jason Barnes, Vice President – Garden Home Center and National Accounts

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Institute member

ICON KEY

Supported by:

p2pi.org/pathfinders

THE HOME DEPOT

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Thought Startersn Don’t neglect digital investments; the retailer is heavily focused

on driving e-commerce sales.n The retailer works to present a localized assortment, so explain

how your products fit into specific markets.n Home Depot wants to inspire shoppers in the aisles, so propose

creative merchandising solutions that showcase a product as part of a project.

For more on The Home Depot, read the Home Depot retailer profile at P2PI.org/retailers/home-depot (members only).

he Home Depot continues to evolve its Interconnected Re-tail (“clicks and bricks”) strategy of serving customers on their terms, promising to deepen collaboration with sup-pliers to offer customers innovative and exclusive products

through the channels they prefer. While the percentage of transac-tions conducted purely online at the retailer are in the single digits, customers increasingly use digital platforms as prep for purchasing in-store. The retailer offers a store pickup option for online orders that is the chosen fulfillment method for 40% of e-commerce pur-chases, and this year will roll out home or job-site deliveries that will be fulfilled by stores – enabling as-soon-as-next-day delivery within a two-hour scheduled window. The retailer also is heavily investing in the digital shopping experience and digital marketing, planning to spend more on the latter in 2016 than on traditional marketing.

Must-Know Termsn Interconnected Retail. Home Depot’s strategy of emphasizing

customer service to respond to changing customer needs and expectations in order to provide a frictionless experience in stores, online, on job sites or in customers’ homes. The strategy ties together the three legs of the retailer’s operating platform: the customer experience, product authority and productivity.

n DIFM (Do-it-for-me). A main customer segment that purchases products and hires contractors to install them.

n Merchandising Action Planner. A quarterly booklet distributed by corporate that details monthly merchandising planograms. Plans vary by division.

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Home Depot offers a store pickup option for online orders that is the chosen fulfillment method for 40% of e-commerce purchases.

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EELECTROLUXAlyson Burroughs, Director, Customer and Channel Marketing

Sara Dulski, Director of Marketing

Allison Khoury, Director, Digital Sales & Marketing

Bryan McCarter, Director, Digital Marketing (N.A.)

Craig Tinder, Global Director – Digital Experience Solutions

EMERSON ELECTRIC Edward McKiernan, Vice President – North American Retail

ENERGIZER HOLDINGS Thu Bang, Senior Manager, Americas Shopper Activation

Mike Lampman, Vice President, Trade Marketing

Gail Whiteley, Category Development Manager – Lowe’s

FFISKARS BRANDS Julia Dorn, Director, Category Marketing

Jay Gillespie, Vice President, Brand Marketing

Kim Horneck, Director, Channel Marketing

FLUKE CORP. Salvatore Parlatore, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing

Brian Stowell, Director of Marketing, North America

GGAF MATERIALS Van Taylor, Vice President of Marketing Taylor leads the retail market-ing activation team for the company across the home improvement channel to reach both pros and homeowners by of-fering comprehensive roofing solutions. He previously worked in shopper marketing functions at both Coca-Cola and Scotts Miracle-Gro.

GENERAL ELECTRIC Sara Davison, National Account Manager, GE Lighting

Bethany Major, National Account Manager – Home Depot Pro Direct, Online & Commercial Operations, GE Appliances

Jason West, General Manager Merchandising & Marketing, GE Appliances West supports and leads a large team that activates the company’s advertising cam-paigns, promotions, and commercializes product launches. The team drives creative and execution for brand communications, shopper marketing, trade advertising and product marketing. West led the develop-ment and launch of a shopper marketing team, moving the organization from inter-nally focused push tactics to an externally aligned pull strategy, redefining channel funds for more impact.

GRACO INC.David Newman, Worldwide Director of Sales & Marketing – Home Center/Hardware

HHAMILTON BEACH BRANDS John Phillips, Director, National Accounts Sales

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLSKelly Brown, Vice President, Category Management

Kimberly Miller, Shopper Marketing Manager Miller leads shopper market-ing for both Home Depot and Lowe’s, leveraging shop-per insights to develop pro-grams to demystify the confusing lawn and garden category and increase conversion rates for both in-store and online sales.

Roger Mosshart, Vice President, Retail Sales & Service

Matt Phelps, Senior Director of Lowe’s Business Development

Kevin Smith, Senior Director of Marketing Operations

CLOROX Angela Tran, Shopper Marketing Brand Manager

CONAIR Paulette Heller, Vice President of Marketing

Deborah Iorio, Director, Consumer Insights & Category Management

Elizabeth Wei, Senior Director of Marketing

COST PLUS WORLD MARKETDiane Burnett, Senior Director of E-Commerce Marketing

Meg Lee-Lim, Senior Director of Marketing Strategy

CRATE & BARRELLisa Foley, Senior Director of Brand Marketing

DDYSON Kim Dussard, Head of Owner Loyalty & CRM

Karthik Iyer, Head of E-Commerce & Digital

LOWE’S

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n Product Differentiation. Lowe’s merchandising strategy of listing unique product attributes or innovation on signage as well as coordinating products and messages to promote occasion-based displays with the goal of creating an in-store experience that inspires shoppers to consider projects of all sizes and types.

n Value Improvement. Lowe’s assortment strategy of consolidating similar products and improving depth of inventory.

n MyLowe’s. The retailer’s loyalty program, which saves a purchase history, room dimensions, shopping lists and purchase remind-ers in individual accounts accessible online.

Thought Startersn Offer digital programs that will help the retailer – which this

year added Snapchat to its social media presence – reach young-er shoppers.

n Manufacturers with tools, technology and DIY products can stand out via the retailer’s “New Innovation” endcap displays, which offer opportunities for unconventional merchandising and custom videos.

n Get crafty. Cross-merchandise products to present all necessary SKUs for a craft or do-it-yourself project.

For more on Lowe’s, read the Lowe’s retailer profile at P2PI.org/retailers/lowes (members only).

owe’s stores are larger than their top competitors, averaging 112,000 square feet plus 32,000 square feet for garden cen-ters. The chain differentiates itself by using the space to cre-ate bright, open aisles and tall, colorful display spaces that

emphasize creativity and suggest home project ideas. The sizes of Lowe’s stores allow it to stock products in depth. The retailer also is honing a small-format urban strategy to reach apartment resi-dents and young families. That format stocks assortments tailored for specific city markets in a much smaller space, and the store footprint varies by city but can be as small as 30,000 square feet and no larger than 60,000 square feet. The retailer maximizes the space by using digital menus and touchscreen displays wherever possible to provide additional product information. Lowe’s can access inventory from nearby traditional stores to deliver items not stocked within the limited urban stores. The retailer opened two urban-format stores in Manhattan in 2015 and one this year in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood.

Must-Know Termsn Iris. The retailer’s customized smart home system; the next in a

series of updates since its launch will add a professional security monitoring component by the end of 2016 through a partnership with United Central Control.

n Planogram Facility. A devoted location in North Carolina where buyers review vendors’ displays and signage before implement-ing the programs in stores.

LLowe's opened an urban-format store (pictured above) in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood this year.

HOME DEPOTJalal Hamad, Senior Director, Visual & Offshelf Merchandising – In-Store Environment

Kevin Hofmann, President – Online & Chief Marketing Officer

Ed Sanchez, General Manager, Crown Bolt

Mark White, Senior Vice President, Merchandising Services

HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL Dane Hartzell, Global Director of Digital Marketing

Ben Hedrington, Digital Customer Experience Leader

Jeffrey Meier, Director of Retail Marketing Meier is a 14-year Honeywell veteran responsible for the marketing strategies for all of the company’s thermostats, smart home and air quality products sold to consumers through retail channels of distribution.

Jacqueline Miller, Director, Digital and New Media

HUNTER DOUGLAS Joe Jankoski, Vice President, Retail Channel Development

Maureen Marrone, Director of Visual Merchandising Marrone is responsible for developing in-store mer-chandising programs. Her role includes developing and managing a wide variety of display programs, point-of-sale materials and store planning support materials. The Gallery Display Environment, a comprehensive display system, allows Hunter Douglas greater control over how the brand is represented at retail. It has sig-nificantly transformed 500 of the company’s best dealers into more professional, upscale window covering showrooms, resulting in significant annual sales gains year after year.

HYDE TOOLSCorey Talbot, Vice President of Marketing & Product Development Talbot has spent nine years driving the growth of the historic American brand through innovation and sharp marketing. With 24 years in the hard goods industry working for Stanley, Danaher and Newell Rubbermaid, he has been key to brand growth in professional and consumer markets.

JJARDEN CONSUMER SOLUTIONSEd Cooper, Vice President – Customer Development

Joel Sobaszek, Director, Category Management and Shopper Insights

Joseph Woerner, Director of Customer Marketing

KKELLY-MOORE PAINTSRyan Arakaki, Director of Marketing

KLEIN TOOLSAbby Ceppos, Associate Director of Marketing

Kohler Tracy Jaeger, Director of Marketing

Shane Judd, Director, Digital Marketing

LLA-Z-BOYDoug Collier, Senior Vice President, CMO & President International

LAMPLIGHT FARMSChris Wisener, Senior Director of Sales

LG ELECTRONICS Stewart Henderson, Senior Manager, HA Shopper Marketing Henderson leads the shop-per marketing team for LG Electronics home appliance business units and is tasked with develop-ing and executing LG’s omnichannel experi-ences for the shopper.

Rachel Olson, Senior Shopper, Retail and Trade Marketing Manager

David VanderWaal, Vice President of Marketing, Consumer Electronics & Home Appliances

LIBMANGlenn McGrath, Director of Trade Marketing

LIXIL CORP.Jonathan Houck, Director of Digital Marketing, LIXIL Water Technology

LOWE’S Sarah Dodd, Senior Director – New Market Strategy and Development, Orchard Supply Hardware

Erica Ecker, Director of Visual Merchandising, Orchard Supply Hardware Ecker leads store design and all new and remodel store design efforts. She creates, executes and manages all in-store environ-ment touchpoints including branding, visual merchandising, store experience, fixture design and all collateral chain-wide. She has been instrumental in converting 53 of its stores into a new design format in the last three years.

Gihad Jawhar, Vice President, Digital

Alton McLellan, Vice President, Marketing

Michael Ryan, Director, Digital Marketing and CRM

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ACE HARDWARE

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Must-Know Termsn Open Buying Days. An opportunity for vendors to introduce their

company and products to Ace’s merchant team. Suppliers meet with the appropriate buyer for no more than 20 minutes during which they explain their products in an effort to join the Ace network.

n Helpful 101. A web-based customer-experience training program that culminates with certification for a store after the location collects a number of positive shopper surveys.

n The Paint Studio. A boutique-style paint department launched jointly with Valspar Corp.

n Ace Rewards. The retailer’s loyalty program, which offers instant as well as points-based discounts.

n ACENET Direct. An intranet site that serves as the primary communication platform between Ace and its stores. Product catalogs and special ordering functions are accessed through this program.

Thought Startersn Ace primarily targets do-it-yourselfers working on maintenance

and repair projects, so position your products within that con-text.

n Keep it simple. The retailer looks for ways to make the customer experience as easy and quick as possible.

n Consider social media. The retailer utilizes social media ac-counts to engage with customers and promote brands through content such as how-to guides.

n Localized product assortment is a priority, so show how your product fills a market-specific niche.

For more on Ace Hardware, read the Ace Hardware retailer pro-file at P2PI.org/retailers/ace-hardware (members only).

ce Hardware stores buy as a cooperative, leveraging vol-ume purchases while maintaining their individuality to choose which products to buy. Ace’s cooperative strength, therefore, is said to be its ability to sell the key items

that most appeal to local shoppers. Field team members and cat-egory experts make recommendations to store owners to localize the product assortment, placement and pricing based on market needs. Many stores supplement products they purchase through Ace with items from other suppliers, filling niches specific to their market. At Ace, vendors must first get into the Ace network and then convince store owners individually to buy their products.

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MASTER LOCKMarti Gahlman, Director, E-Commerce Gahlman launched the company’s first full-service website and helped to de-velop a successful strategy for e-commerce, digital marketing and re-lated web services. He also spent 14 years at Nestle Purina PetCare, where he led the formation of its extended enterprise group, designing and implementing a compre-hensive strategy for e-commerce and digi-tal marketing.

MENARDSDan Carlton, Director of Marketing

MILWAUKEE TOOL Dave Brown, Senior Vice President of Channel Marketing

MOENMaribeth Kwasniewski, Director of Marketing – U.S. Retail

Beau Warren, Vice President, E-Commerce

MOHAWK INDUSTRIESDeonn Baker, Director of E-Commerce Baker has 17 years of experi-ence in delivering results-driven strategy and conver-sion tactics for B2B and B2C. In 2015, she led an e-commerce business that grew 22% year over year with a cur-rent fill rate of 99.31% of orders within 24 hours.

Amy Lutz, Director, Digital Marketing

MORTON SALTJoseph Thorpe, Director of Sales, National Hardware Thorpe leads a team for both hardware/home centers that is responsible for all aspects of category management, retail execution and innovation launches. Most notably, he led the development and execution of a dual brand strategy and a retail pricing platform to deliver significant category growth throughout the channel and country.

NNEWELL RUBBERMAID Rachel Fuller, Manager, Shopper Marketing Fuller leads shopper market-ing and strategic planning for Newell Rubbermaid brands. She delivers shopper activation across categories stretching from Levolor blinds and shades to Rubbermaid outdoor sheds and garage organization engaging and connecting with shoppers in the home center/hardware channel.

Chris Gurchiek, Director of Business Development

Ernest Hoover, Vice President, Customer and Trade Marketing

Nick Morrisroe, Vice President of R&D and Marketing, Levolor and Kirsch

Jeremy Schultz, Director of Customer Marketing & Category Management, Elmer’s Products

Scott Werner, Global Director of In-Store Visibility

NICE PAK PRODUCTS Ken Berg, Sales Director

NORTHERN TOOL & EQUIPMENTRoger Bunn, Senior Vice President of Retail

Leslie Sachs, Director of Retail Marketing

John Robert Whitaker, Vice President, Market & Consumer Insights Whitaker is responsible for providing strategic insights to the enterprise supporting customer experience, marketing/advertis-ing, marketplace trends, merchandising, new business development, operations, price/promotion, real estate and strategy.

Jocelyn Wong, Senior Vice President & General Merchandising Manager, Seasonal

LUTRON ELECTRONICSPaul Lobo, Vice President, Retail Business

MMASCO Sarah Furnari, Vice President of Retail Experience Furnari leads visual merchan-dising and retail experience efforts for the company. In 2015, Masco’s Behr brand launched a new Color Center to help consumers more easily find their perfect color. Further innovation in the paint shopping experience is a key focus.

Mike Roberts, Director of Product Marketing – Fixtures

Tanuja Singeetham, Vice President, Digital Marketing Singeetham is responsible for leading all of the digital marketing, social media, CRM, content and e-commerce initiatives for the Behr and Kilz brands.

MASTERBRAND CABINETSCathy Hitz, Senior Director, Brand

Chris Kunz, Director, Channel Marketing

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OOMI INDUSTRIESMelinda Adamec, Director of Marketing & Brand Development Adamec drives strategic initiatives and executes mar-keting programs that create brand differentiation and long-term growth. In the recent rebranding of Fresh Wave products, her team was tasked with devel-oping a new look for the brand that would be relevant to Millennial shoppers, while also ensuring that it remained important to existing customers.

OWENS CORNINGJoe Wagner, Director of Retail Marketing Wagner leads the strategic marketing organization that creates innovative new products, drives integrated marketing and digital/e-commerce efforts for the retail channel.

OXO Francoise Vielot, Category Director

PPROCTER & GAMBLE Karey Ahaus, Retail Supply Leader – Hardware Channel

Casi Egli, Senior Manager, Brand – Consumer & Market Knowledge, North America Club and Home Hardware Channel

Mark Hayden, Team Leader – New Business Development, Home Hardware Channel

Dale Leatch, Director – Hardware Channel, Duracell

PROVEN WINNERSMarshall Dirks, Director of Marketing

RROBERT BOSCH TOOL CORP. Tony Pauly, Director, Brand Management & Advertising

Sonesh Shah, Director of Digital

RUST-OLEUMRobert Stelling, Senior Director, Trade Marketing & Creative Services

Jim Stinner, Vice President of Marketing

SSAMSUNG Andrea Lorenzo, Director, Omnichannel Marketing

SC JOHNSON & SON Ted Close, Sales Director – DIY/Alternative Channels

Cynthia Herrera, Senior Director, National Sales

SCOTTS MIRACLE-GRO Dayton Demmery, Manager, Shopper Marketing

SELECT COMFORTLisa Bailey, Senior Director of Media Strategy and Activation

Melissa Barra, Chief Strategy and Customer Relationship Officer

Jeff Siegle, Senior Director of Sales Promotions

SHERWIN-WILLIAMS Paul Cobb, Director, In-Store Marketing

Mark Ksiezyk, Director DIY/Retail Marketing

Karl Schmitt, Vice President of Marketing & Merchandising

SITEONE LANDSCAPE SUPPLYSteve Counter, Director of Category Management

SNAP-ONBill Aubuchon, Director of Product Management

John Majerowski, Director of Merchandise Products

Mark Schaefer, Director of Marketing

SPECTRUM BRANDSKeith Brandon, Vice President of Sales and Marketing

Dann Provolo, Vice President of Marketing

Dan Rosati, Global Director of New Product Development

SPRINGS WINDOW FASHIONSRachel Hyslop, Director of Integrated Marketing

STANLEY BLACK & DECKERBrian Koster, Vice President, Digital Excellence

David Lee, Vice President, Global Product Division Leader

Chad Lenca, Director of Sales

STERILITERichard Ahern, Vice President of Marketing Ahern is responsible for the marketing and product de-velopment of plastic storage and household products. He is focused on bringing consumer desired, innovative and affordable new products to market that increase revenue for both Steri-lite and its retail partners.

SUB-ZERO GROUPBrian Jones, Director of Product and Channel Marketing

TTARGET Cali Waege, Executive Team Lead – Hardlines, Super Target

TECHTRONIC INDUSTRIESKelly Cavan, Director of Marketing

Erin Watkins, Director of Marketing

THE TILE SHOPNicholas Visconti, Director of E-Commerce, Media and Digital Marketing

TRACTOR SUPPLY Steve Barbarick, President and Chief Merchandising Officer

Christi Korzekwa, Senior Vice President, Marketing Korzekwa leads a team in developing and implement-ing Tractor Supply’s fully integrated marketing programs. The team is responsible for setting strategic and inte-grated direction for all channels including circulars, customer/loyalty marketing, event marketing, digital and content marketing and social platforms.

Lisa White, Director, Store Marketing White is responsible for directing local store events and 4-H & FFA fundraisers in Tractor Supply’s 1,500+ exist-ing communities, the company’s mobile fair tour at county and state fairs, and marketing for 120 new stores annually.

TRUE VALUE Heath Ashenfelter, Vice President, Chief Merchandising Officer

Michael McCann, Director of Consumer Marketing

Ted Noring, Director of Retail Operations

TTI FLOOR CARE NORTH AMERICA Jennifer Antal, Senior Shopper Marketing Manager

Jessica Cooley, Channel Manager

Scott Jackson, Vice President of Marketing/General Manager

Jessica Rapp, Director of Channel Marketing

Amanda Sloan, Director of Shopper Marketing

Jason Stone, Director of Customer Development

TURTLE WAX Michele Johannes, Brand Manager, Marketing

UUSG Mark Joseph, Director, Integrated Marketing

VVALSPAR Pattie Erps, Director, Channel Marketing

Brian Ley, Director, Consumer and Marketplace Insights

Stephen Strong, Director of Digital

WWALMART Greg Hall, Senior Vice President, Merchandising

WHIRLPOOL Lilla Fisher, Senior Global Marketing Manager

Brian Maynard, Director, Brand Marketing – Jenn-Air

Sigrid Ott, Global Trade Marketing Manager, KitchenAid Small Appliances Ott is tasked with the de-velopment and execution of global in-store standards for KitchenAid small appliances. She is responsible for U.S. execution and ensuring global initiatives maintain the newly developed global stan-dards.

YYANKEE CANDLE Brian Chaisson, Director of Merchandising and Promotions, Retail Stores

Jennifer Docherty, Vice President of Consumer Insights

Patrick Livingston, Director of E-Commerce Marketing

Laurie McDonald, Director of Retail Marketing & Promotions

Debbie Ter Doest, Vice President/GMM, Retail Activation

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