After enjoying a successful business career, Gwen has chosen more free time with her husband in the mountains of Western North Carolina. This change was made after providing operational expertise as a consultant for The Sharper Image and numerous other companies. She developed a program to bring an outsourced process back to an internal process, analyzed the profitability of an inventory refurbishment program, developed new benchmarks, reduced in-process inventory and managed the new vendor process; restructured departments to reduce processing time and eliminate redundant/unnecessary tasks; reduced processing time for development of marketing materials. She has enhanced working capital by improving inventory turnover and improved accounts receivable collection.
Prior to Gwen’s consulting roles, she was the CEO and President of numerous consumer products companies including The Coleman Company – an $800 million outdoor recreation company, First Alert – a $200 million home safety products company, Coleman Powermate – a $150 million DIY products company and Eastpak – a $100 million backpack and travel gear company. Gwen improved profitability in all of her roles. Highlights include significantly increasing shelf space at major retailers, improving product development processes to reduce time to market by more than a year, restructuring an Asian outsourcing program and implementing a coherent packaging program. Further, she has experience in restructuring businesses with particular emphasis on core competencies.
Gwen started her career in public accounting and various financial roles. She is experienced in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and debt financings.
