Dan Rao
drao@prolman.com
A senior executive with over 20 years of management, marketing and operational experience, Dan brings a wealth of expertise in retail environments.  His recent successes include returning Chadwick's of Boston back to profitability by increasing sales by $200M and annual profits by $50M.  He established and developed a distribution network for TJ Maxx that consisted of 2.5 millions sq. ft. of real estate and supported $3B in revenues.  At WHY.com, Dan cut expenses by 30% through the outsourcing of key services.  He has directed strategic & tactical financial planning and expense control and possesses the ability to successfully manage small teams and large organizations (over 2500 employees).

 

John Voisinet
jvoisinet@prolman.com
John Voisinet brings to Prolman Associates over thirty years of expertise in successful leadership roles in retail merchandising, operations, finance, licensing and wholesale manufacturing.  His experience in design, sourcing, production & manufacturing, as well as distribution through all facets of retail operations allows John to step in at any place in the supply chain, right through to the cash wrap. 

Voisinet has been instrumental in providing a vast array of strategic management and turnaround & restructuring services to small, medium and large sized operations. This includes public or privately held companies. 

He has successfully performed in key management positions and consulting assignments with companies including Federated Department Stores, (including certain “Homestore” responsibilities) Carter-Hawley Hale Stores, Timex Inc. (Timex Watches), Harley-Davidson Motorclothes, Fender Guitars, Alpinestars of Italy, Opex of France, Sequoia Hand Bags of Paris, Jack Daniels Rider Collection, Pacific Eye’s and T’s & Beyond the Beach, Budweiser Sportswear, and Ocean Pacific Sportswear. 

 Voisinet has technical expertise and practical experience in literally every aspect of retail and wholesale apparel & accessories and certain other consumer product businesses.  He specializes in providing in-depth, hands-on solutions for his clients, using proven tools to focus company management on the achievement of strategic goals.  He has experience  working with his clients both in and outside of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. 

 Major areas of concentration for retail and wholesale business include: 

¨ Operational analysis

¨ Balance sheet management

¨ Product costing

¨ Strategic planning

¨ Merchandise management, including trademark licensing

¨ Market penetration planning and implementation

¨ Employee procurement and administration

¨ Brand development & brand management

¨ Public & customer relations

¨ International & domestic site selection

¨ Lease analysis and (re)negotiation

¨ Providing senior executive management

¨ Organizational development

¨ Product development and manufacturing

¨ product launch

¨ Systems selection and utilization

William H. Pavony
bpavony@prolman.com
A senior executive with more than 35 years of financial management experience, Bill has served a number of retail chains as both a CFO as well as an independent consultant.  He began his career with 10 years consulting at Accenture.  Bill has held responsibility for direction of the controllership, treasury, tax, retail credit, information systems, insurance and risk management, human resources, warehousing and distribution, real estate and legal functions at various times at five different, publicly and privately held companies.  Four retail chains Bill has served as CFO includes, Zales (jewelry), Alexanders Department Stores, Color Tile (flooring) and The Kobacker Company (retail shoes).  As a CFO he has accomplished over $400M in financings, had primary responsibility for numerous SEC filings, and modernized and upgraded the financial systems in each of those companies.  Bill’s consulting projects at clients such as Finlay Jewelers, Baker Shoe, Sport Chalet, Liverpool Department Stores, JCPenney Direct, and Wards have ranged from development of strategic systems plans, to RFP preparation and ERP software selection and installation, and also have included executive management metrics identification and reporting.

Bette K. Hiramatsu
bhiramatsu@prolman.com
Bringing over 15 years of experience in consulting for underperforming and troubled companies, Bette Hiramatsu has repeatedly demonstrated a proven track record of outstanding results for her clients.  Her work turning around her client’s businesses has resulted in companies with positive cash flows achieved through creative problem solving, planning and forecasting, and improved financial management.  Additional areas of expertise include the restructuring of unsecured debt and the re-negotiation of leases.  Bette has extensive experience in the areas of forecasting, current asset management, process improvements, and lease and debt management.  Examples of her work include Crazy Shirts, Inc., a resort-oriented apparel retail chain where Bette re-negotiated over two dozen retail leases yielding a net savings 2 million dollars over the remaining life of those leases; the project also included the restructuring of the unsecured debt to meet projected cash flows; closing underperforming stores; reducing SG&A to practicable levels; liquidating excess inventory; substantially rescheduling inventory purchases; restructuring vendor relationships; identifying non core assets to be sold; and eliminating trade related lawsuits through out-of-court negotiation, not only preserving her client’s cash flow, but avoiding the public notice of lengthy litigation. Bette is a graduate  of the Executive MBA program of the University of California at Los Angeles and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.

George Troy
gtroy@prolman.com
With more than 25 years of management experience, Troy has extensive experience in the areas of merchandise management, store brand product development, operations management and building customer satisfaction, as well as labor force management within and outside of collective bargaining agreements.  He has worked with leading retailers such as Williams-Sonoma Pottery Barn Division, The Emporium, The Broadway, and Mervyns.

As the Vice President of the Outlet Division of Williams-Sonoma, Troy directed the development and execution of the business concept including store design and the merchandise matrix, while growing the operation from only $6 million to $100 million and increasing its contribution from a negative 2% to a positive 18%. 

The Williams-Sonoma, Inc. Outlet Division produced approximately 60% of its volume, or $60 million from the Pottery Barn Division. Troy was responsible for the store management, merchandising, inventory control, and marketing for this highly successful division. He opened eight Pottery Barn furniture outlets ranging is size from 15,000 to 35,000 square feet. The 4-wall contribution was consistently in the 25% to 30% range. 

With The Emporium, Troy’s responsibilities included Home Store Manager for the San Francisco Store , where his sales team consistently led the company’s sales trend by over 10% per annum.  Earlier in his Emporium career Troy was also the soft goods buyer for several different departments. 

Troy has also held the positions with Mervyn’s of Manager of Merchandise Operations and Manager of Micromarketing Merchandising.  From this experience, he solidified his skills in leadership, team building and cross-functional communication as key drivers to success.  Additionally, while with Mervyn’s Troy resolved issues related to purchase order management, location characteristics management.  He developed management Information systems, business processes, and employee training programs.

In 1992, as a Consultant to The Broadway, Troy coordinated the consolidation of three department store chains’ advertising calendars, financial plans and merchandise allocation for men’s apparel.

As the Vice President, General Merchandise Manager for Any Mountain Sports, Troy directed all  merchandising and marketing functions for this high end outdoor retailer.  While at Any Mountain Sports, the company experienced the growth of off season revenue of up to 34% of annual volume, the buying, marketing and store reporting structures were reorganized, and the MIS hierarchy was restructure d to reflect a customer driven business.