Justin Karkoc

Building Creative Commerce Griffin International, Established Brands, and U&I Entertainment Have Joined to Become CITIES Market Studios. A New, Collaborative Tier-One Retail Services Group. Connect with CITIES: www.CITIESms.com LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/10531382?trk=hp-feed-company-name Twitter: https://twitter.com/CITIESms Tumblr: CITIESMarketStudios.tumblr.com Office: 612-335-9500 Email: jkarkoc@CITIESms.com

Responsible for driving optimal business partnerships between Target and our vendor partners. I love connecting Target to brands that deliver innovation, new concepts and unique solutions to the market and understanding how to bring those ideas to life. Lead a team of 8 executive sales and operational experts.

Responsible for creating and establishing global business partnerships between Apple Retail and new, emerging brands. Nurture and cultivate vendor ideas from concept to "retail ready" including all aspects from pricing, branding, packaging and distribution. Develop go-to market, channel and brand management strategies focused on creating unique solutions for Apple that help launch and establish our vendor partners brand.

Responsible for all merchandise functions (product, marketing, pricing, presentation, negotiations), strategy development and P&L for a multi-million business annually. Responsible for the development of a 12 member merchant team and several cross-functional teams. Drove several key reinventions and brand launches. Worked with both large, national brands and developed owned brand product from concept to launch.

Responsible for all negotiations and strategic vendor partnerships for Hardlines categories, exceeding multi-billion in annual retail sales. Directed and developed a team of 8 merchant executives. Chief negotiation strategist responsible for helping merchants reach business and assortment goals for areas including Electronics, Entertainment, Toys, Sporting Goods, Healthcare, Beauty, Baby and Household Commodities. Drove innovation in negotiation that resulted in several new, company-wide first-ever launches with premium, exclusive brands that had never worked with Target before.

Responsible for multi-million in P&L responsibility for laundry category. Led transformational change including the launch of the Method brand and concentrated detergent, which preceded and resulted in industry-wide reform. Directed cross functional teams to create the first-ever customized laundry planograms by store to address unique consumer preferences resulting in significant sales increases and backroom savings.

Responsible for multi-million in P&L responsibility for camera and digital media category. Reinvented category and services during consumer transition from traditional to digital photography. Developed unique partnerships with Shutterfly and Snapfish.

Worked in a variety of capacities in Target's financial analyst development program, which is comprised of MBA's with an emphasis in finance. Worked collaboratively with merchant and property development teams to evaluate and perform NPV and ROI analysis on larger scope, high dollar capital investment opportunities including reviewing and recommending new store locations and new in-store initiatives.

Summa Cum Laude