Cash is king in Retail. Inventory directly affects your cashflow. Getting it right is critical to your survival. The right inventory investment at the right time boosts your cashflow, while the wrong decisions can burn through your cash.
As our Technology Strategist, Derek works with the leadership team on daVinci Retail technology direction. In addition, Derek plays a pivotal role in fostering our cultivation and team collaboration culture by mentoring and coaching our technical team. Derek is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Director of Software Engineering, and is cross-appointed to the School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo. He received his Ph.D. from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Derek’s deep technology expertise and access to leading-edge research and technologies are excellent pairings of academia and innovative retail planning software solutions.
Leah is responsible for the successful implementation and deployment of daVinci products to our customers. From business process diagnostic to project management, Leah works alongside clients, project team members, and partners to execute and implement agile delivery of daVinci solutions. Leah is an active partner with the organization’s leadership to achieve long-term results and maximize ROI for our customers. Leah has over 20 years of experience in merchandise and assortment planning, buying, and allocation in retail. Prior to joining daVinci, Leah served in various senior management roles at retailers including Walmart Canada, Danier Leather, and the Bentley/Agnew Group. She brings unique insight and experience, having been a customer of daVinci, and now responsible for daVinci solution implementations and retail business consulting.
With over 20 years of experience in the retail technology industry as a Director of Consulting and Project Manager with both JDA Arthur and Oracle Retek, Melanie has held various positions in leadership. Her experience has been invaluable in application implementations, user training, project planning, methodology development, consulting, and managing the central US services team. Additionally, Melanie spent over 10 years in retail planning and merchandising with retailers including Montgomery Ward, Wet Seal, Lens Crafters, and Contempo Casuals. Her responsibilities spanned the breadth of the merchandising spectrum: accountability for the development of sales, inventory, and margin plans, creating and managing assortment and financial merchandise plans, negotiation of contracts, distribution of apparel lines, and allocation of goods to stores based on demographics and sales budgets. Melanie has been part of the daVinci team from the beginning, guiding the business analysis and assisting in the design of daVinci’s signature product, Assortment Planning.
As the business solutions architect, Bill is responsible for ensuring that the suite of daVinci products supports the company’s overall strategy and goals. He leads the team in both product planning and execution throughout the Product Lifecycle, including: gathering and prioritizing product and customer requirements, defining the product vision, and working closely with engineering, sales, marketing, and support to ensure revenue and customer satisfaction goals are met. Prior to joining daVinci, Bill served in various senior management roles including Gloria Jeans and Northern Group Retail. Bill further draws from his experience in buying and planning from Kinney Shoes, Walmart, and Footlocker. Bill has more than 30 years of merchandise and assortment planning, allocation, supply chain, and system implementation experience in retail.
Prior to founding daVinci, Ning’s extensive experience spanned both the retail and the retail technology industry. A 25-year veteran of the retail technology industry with experience at Oracle, JDA Arthur, and Comshare, Ning was responsible for conceiving and implementing the hugely successful Arthur Merchandise Planning Implementation Methodology and Rapid Application Deployment (RAD) packs, better known today as Arthur RAPID. Under her leadership as VP of Global Consulting at JDA Arthur, the group experienced exponential growth, responsible for 200 Arthur implementations worldwide. Ning is constantly tapped for her experience in strategic management and organizational consulting, including providing direction to technology leaders such as Oracle Retek for recommendations in setting up a new Retail Merchandising Planning and Predictive Analytics consulting division, along with retailers seeking organizational improvement in merchandising and planning effectiveness. Ning has been the driving force in daVinci’s laser focus to bring merchant-centric specialized application solutions to meet the challenges retail merchandising teams face today.
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