Rent-A-CMO About The Principal

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About The Principal

A marketer for over 25 years, Rick got his MBA from the University of Michigan in 1984. After several years in the technology industry, Rick began his marketing career at Fidelity Investments. After a stint at Bank of Boston (now Fleet Financial), Rick joined Chadwick’s of Boston where he was in charge of sales forecasting, marketing budgeting / P&L analysis and marketing databases. When Rick left Chadwick’s for The Franklin Mint in 1994, Chadwick’s was mailing 220 million catalogs a year, generating nearly $500 million in revenue. 15 months after joining The Franklin Mint, Rick was put in charge of a prototype business unit. The success of this P&L-focused business unit approach lead to a massive restructuring of the entire company, with Rick ultimately becoming Vice President over business units that experienced 79% growth in 3 years to $200 million, while the company shrank overall by 33%.

In 1999, Rick started his consulting business, working for companies such as Lillian Vernon (working directly for the Chairman and the President). In late 2000, Rick joined Ross-Simons as VP of Marketing including internet, catalog, and retail. Under his leadership, the Internet business grew 75% to become nearly 20% of Ross-Simons’ $200 million direct business. Rick established strict financial controls on the catalog side of the business, resulting in the elimination of an entire catalog business as well as several titles in the main business, and a reduction in mailing to best buyers of 30%. Most importantly, it allowed the company to take its limited resources and focus on profit opportunities and on the customer.

In Fall 2001, Rick returned to his consulting business, and worked with leading internet retailers. In 2004 he completed a 6 month engagement with SmartBargains.com (#100 on the 2008 Internet Retailer Top 500 list), which sold in 2009 for $200 million. In 2005 he finished a 3 month stint working with Fingerhut (#88 on the 2010 Top 500 List), recommending and subsequently implementing a program that increased profit by over $1 million in ’05, an initiative that the company still cites today as significantly driving their bottom line each year. At the end of 2005 he worked with Bodybuilding.com (#160 on the 2005 Internet Retailer Top 500 list), working directly with the CEO of this rapidly growing company helping him focus on several initiatives designed to deliver millions to the bottom line, including marketing, customer service, and operations initiatives – including the December 2005 launch of a major affiliate program, projected to have a bottom line impact of over $1 million in 2006. The company was eventually sold to Liberty Media for north of $100 million.

In 2007 Rick returned to the corporate world as the CMO of American Blinds, Wallpaper and More (#251 on the Top 500 list) where he revamped the offline marketing efforts, introduced web features that improved conversion, and exceeded plan for 7 of the first 9 months of the 2008, despite the housing market’s continual downturn. He implemented numerous features on the website including Quick Price, Clearance Outlet, and a brand new home page design. Email earnings per email sent doubled during Rick's tenure. Rick returned to his consulting practice in November of 2008 when the rapid decline in economic conditions severely impacted ABWF’s business, and the company closed in April 2010.

In late 2009 Rick adopted the Rent-A-CMO model, and was again hired by Fingerhut (now Bluestem Brands) to conduct a business analysis for the EVP of Merchandising, beginning January 2010. Shortly thereafter Rick was brought into Oriental Trading Company (#57 on the 2010 Internet Retailer Top 500 list and a Top 50 cataloger) by Sam Taylor (President and CEO) and Carlyle Group (majority owner and one of the largest private equity firms in the world) to be the Interim SVP Marketing. For two months, Rick worked fulltime at OTC and completed the Bluestem Brands project (on time and on budget), and then spent the next three months in the Interim SVP role until he onboarded the permanent hire and moved into a project role through the end of July 2010. OTC is a $500 million multichannel marketer mailing nearly 300 million catalogs per year - Rick had responsibility for Creative, Marketing, and Marketing Services - a total staff of approximately 75.

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