Stefano Fotia

• Responsible for planning and executing the purchasing of programs from the negotiation process with vendors until an item reaches the sales floor. • Overseeing, guiding, coaching a small group of employees effectively on a daily basis so that they can perform a new task or skill efficiently. • Focus on promotions and marketing vehicles in order to help drive sales and grow the business. • Review import container flow regularly to ensure items stay in stock and replacement items are properly timed and transitioned. Reduce overstock and storage fees. • Provide suggestions to improve reports, item setup processes, website accuracy and detail, pallet build efficiency and display. • Visit warehouses (stores) and the competition, compiling notes and suggestions. • Presenting to senior management

• As part of Housewares & Collectibles buying team, responsible for placing orders frequently for various goods. Housewares items include cookware, dinnerware, serveware, beverage ware; Collectibles items include various brands such as Swarovski, Pandora, Le Creuset, Vera Wang, Riedel, Royal Doulton/Albert for the Collectibles giftcase. • Responsible for meeting various deadlines in a fast-paced environment, especially at peak times of the year for Collectibles: Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Christmas. • Full online (costco.ca) item setup: romance writeup; freight calculation from Costco depot or vendor facility to member; setting up promotions, such as Hot Buy or price reduction. • Analyzing sales and replenishing goods for the Costco Canada stores as needed. • Tracking purchase orders and timelines to ensure all steps of the item process are met in a timely fashion: from the moment the item is booked to the moment the item reaches the sales floor; reviewing quality assurance practices are met by vendors to approve the item. • Vendor maintenance, new vendor setups, posting and tracking Margin Adjustment documents for budget purposes, ensuring vendors send invoices via SPS Commerce (EDI) in order to be paid, daily item maintenance. • Analyzing costing from vendors so that we can see our margin and value for each item versus the competition in the market. • Assisting with item forecasting, including number of units to purchase per depot region and all of Canada; in and out dates for the warehouses; container or truckload sizes to use; determining sell prices, invoice cost and marketing funds needed. • In depth knowledge of the import process for goods (e.g. items shipping from Asia and Europe in containers), as well as domestic goods shipping in trucks from the U.S.A. and Canada.

• Responsible for answering emails and calls from Costco members to assist them regarding several issues on costco.ca, including product inquiries, returns and exchanges, navigation help and order status. • Several programs used to input and search information: Order Management System (OMS), R-Tracker, Genesys, Optika, Catalogue Manager (CMC), e-Gain (email software), Microsoft Outlook. • Contacted vendors and shipping companies (such as UPS, Purolator, Sameday, etc.) for more information regarding orders.

• Reviewing and analyzing employee engagement surveys conducted for clients in order to ensure correctness in statistics and formatting. • Use of TSS software to generate reports and verify data measures, such as compensation, work environment, innovation, professional growth, and senior leadership. • Data entry into Microsoft Excel and TalentMap employee site: checklists, charts, surveys. • SPSS software used to generate manager reports and export survey data into Excel.

• Responsible for working on CIPO internal Wiki pages for Trademarks Branch, including updating revenues, costs, turnaround times and quality statistics. • Assisted administrative team with reviewing contracts and invoices to be sent to upper management for approval, including time sheets, client contracts, employee cellular phone bills, and salaries and wages through agency contracts.

• As a student through FSWEP working for the Quality Control team, responsible for creating and maintaining databases used by Trademarks Examiners who review files, including verifying that the examination was done properly and objectively (without personal bias). • Performed analysis to be used for Quality statistics by Trademarks Branch: extracted data from several databases in Lotus Approach and Microsoft Access; used automated Excel spreadsheet to analyze monthly, quarterly, annual trends; created KPI reports and PowerPoint presentations to be sent to upper management. • Responsible for updating parts of the Industry Canada Wiki (specifically for CIPO) for the reference of other employees, including adding and revising charts and key financial data: revenues, costs, turnaround times, quality statistics. • Assisted in completing a five-year business plan.