Keri Morris

Provide strategic and advisory support to the Board and executive leadership team on enterprise growth, brand portfolio strategy, M&A, operational scalability, Advise on integration execution, organizational design, long term value creation across channels. Serve as a thought partner on brand building, culture and leadership development.

Promoted to lead both Lolli&Pops and Hammond's Candies following the acquisition of Hammonds and the creation of the new parent company, Ampersand Brands. Tasked with integrating two distinct businesses , 60+ retail speciality store chain and heritage confection manufacturing and wholesale company. into a unified growth platform. Led the strategic acquisition and post merger building the operating structure, leadership alignment and centralized infrastructure to support scalable growth across retail, wholesale, manufacturing and ecommerce channels, * Strengthened the leadership bench and built a high-performance culture focused on collaboration, growth and results. * Led comprehensive redesign and curation of product assortments across both brands sharpening brand positioning, clarifying price tiers and quality architecture and ensuring each line delivers a distinct customer strategic brand differentiation. * Created and championed brand narrative, marketing positioning and campaign strategy to align storytelling, brand guidelines for customer acquisition to drive awareness and drive revenue.   * Reduced operating expenses by 14% by centralizing warehousing, supply chain and fulfillment operations in Denver. * Consolidated corporate offices and integrated cross functional teams, strengthening culture across the organization. * Built and launched Ampersand Brands as the parent platform to drive enterprise strategy and long term value creation, * Unified retail, wholesale and operations improving margin discipline, inventory management and service levels across all channels. 

Optimize processes and lead 900 employees in continual business transformation, enabling company to scale for profitability and brand growth. Guided L&P through bankruptcy restructure and received promotion to CEO role to overhaul business strategy. Leveraged industry connections to hire best-in-class team and achieve operational turnarounds in tech stack processes, supply chain management, and product development. Fostered culture of excellence and collaboration throughout sale of company to private equity (PE) firm and selected by new PE backer to continue leading as CEO. • Revamped distribution and fulfillment model, successfully implementing 3PL warehouse operations during global supply-chain crisis to drive growth, improve margin negotiations with vendors, and source unique new products. • Renegotiated vendor and supplier terms from pre-payment to net 30 and 60 to amplify cash flow and liquidity, implementing 13-week cash flow program to improve payment terms management.

Promoted to run the Sephora inside JCPenney company. A joint venture business that generated annual revenue of $1.3B and achieved largest profit growth for North America Sephora of $130M EBITA. Led channel with 6,000+ employees across 600+ locations, overseeing all operations for inventory, marketing, e-commerce, finance, and real estate. Opened 50 stores each year and received corporate recognition for rapid profit growth. • Drove strategic marketing campaigns and curated unique product assortment in JCPenney, leading creative team to ideate and execute on-theme brand narratives independent of Sephora stores. • Grew cross-shopping volume from 20% to 40%, attracting new customers by sourcing unique labels not previously sold in Sephora stores. Influenced company to adopt new products that spoke to broader range of consumers.

Oversaw Sephora stores in Western US with 7 regional VPs leading 50 district managers directing 200+ stores with average volume of $7M each. Drove revenue and profit from store’s P&L and consistently delivered company-best teams, sales performance, and customer service KPIs. Created and launched all initiatives, working cross-functionally with executive leadership for approval and implementation. • Collaborated with operating committee to ideate services initiative that became most successful initiative in company history, launching in-store beauty studios that evolved into profitable, large-scale business.

Recruited by colleague to step into regional director role to oversee 40 Sephora stores accounting for $200M in revenue and $35M in profit. Recognized as early adopter of any initiative and executed quickly to deliver results. Rapidly promoted by CEO to Regional VP role, increasing influence and voice on operating team, merchandising, marketing, and company initiatives. Drove overall profitability by maintaining P&L focus and strategically managing largest expense lines. • Grew skincare line to replace makeup as main driver of growth by launching certified aesthetician employee training program and building teams of experts to propel skin care business to next level of revenue. • Expanded hair care business by training, certifying, and developing teams to adopt and implement new initiatives, sourcing new brands and achieving high success company-wide.