Senior Vice President - Parks Retail

SVP, Parks Retail

Reporting to the EVP, Global Retail, this individual will be responsible for ensuring the delivery of best-in-class products and experiences for Guests that shop at Disney Park & Resorts retail locations.

Accountability will span across the planning, inventory management, buying, visual merchandising and store development functions for all product categories and brands within the Parks & Resorts portfolio. This role will be focused on the essential retail strategies and initiatives that will equip Disney Parks and Disney Signature Experiences in unlocking its next wave of short-term and long-term growth in products while delivering innovation, increased value, and new businesses to the organizations.

Areas of Strategic Oversight Include:

Lead the assortment curation, strategic buying & planning and cross-brand integration for Walt Disney World, Disneyland and Disney Signature Experiences retail locations that delivers the best expression of our brands.

• Leads the team of buyers and planners responsible for developing the product strategies and quarterly, annual and long-term targets for all brands & franchises that become the foundation of the product roadmap for O&O retail in each region.
• Partner with Product Development on the curation of one holistic product line that identifies commonality and ensures needs of each site commercial strategy
• Build and curate strong, consumer-centric assortments that support strategic intent of the brand and drive outsized growth at retail for each site
• Partner with site & regional Commercial teams to build and implement new initiatives to drive increased value and capture for owned & operated
• Strategically build product assortment strategies that meet internal profit thresholds while delivering the strongest price/value ratio to our customers and consumers
• Partner with Commercial leadership teams on category plans to ensure correct item depth and investment to support highest sell-throughs
• Partner with Site Commercial Leadership Teams to identify new areas of growth to unlock future value and white space opportunities
• Act as the translator back to the product development teams ensuring the product lines deliver the proper mix of service for our sites while building for the future
• Own and drive the cross-segmentation (design, commercial, marketing, planning) integration of owned & operated product strategy for all sites
• Define seasonal product flow strategy that supports company content calendar including; film, TV, synergy, attractions, entertainment, anniversaries, historical needs, and addresses regional holiday/seasonal selling patterns
• Drive overarching product development strategies across all categories while maximizing SKU productivity and capitalizing on key successes across multiple sites
• Analyze business performance and develop strategies and growth objectives that are aligned with site needs
• Develop effective partnerships with the Global Product development team as well as across TWDC and with the appropriate commercial and marketing teams at parks on points of exclusivity including assortment opportunities, launch timing, and target guests.

Lead visual merchandising and collaborations for Walt Disney World, Disneyland and Disney Signature Experiences site-specific activations:

Drive the best expression of our brands through unique Park and Attraction based retailing. Build product strategies that are designed for a fully immersive space though well-executed activations that maximize capture within the attraction while building equity and desire for future interaction with products in our unique specialty retail environment

• Build holistic visual merchandising strategy to support the immersive Parks-specific experiences
• Partner with WDI and VP, Product Design for each brand to ensure the products we build continue to story and complete the experience for our valuable Parks guests
• Partner with WDI on the creation of new retail spaces and experiences
• Attract and convert new consumers though the creation of products strategies designed for the Parks retail space globally
• Lead site-specific merchandising strategic landscape ensuring quarterly / annual growth targets are achieved
• Partner with Commercial and Marketing Leadership Teams on PR and influencer plans
• Maximize buzz-worthiness by building strategies that drive a deep emotional connection with our Guests
• Connect across the Global Product Development brand teams to build equity-driving out of berm activations
• Partner with Commercial & CIMA to identify white space opportunities across the dimensions of demographic, brand and categories.

Qualifications and Responsibilities:

• 15+ years of progressive experience in retail working with large-scale, global retailers to bring product assortments to market
• Experience managing a global team with direct reports, stakeholders and partners in other countries
• Demonstrated ability to manage revenue creation while maintaining brand integrity
• Strong working knowledge of the omni-channel marketplace globally
• Strategic thinker with the ability to drive execution against a financial plan
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to influence a diverse audience including experience working with internal stakeholders and business owners to bring product and assortments into our retail spaces
• Successful experience working, and thriving, in a highly matrixed company structure
• Robust leadership and talent development abilities and a collaborative and effective management style
• Strong Team Player – The ability to build & foster collaborative partnerships across functions & departments within The Walt Disney Company
• Well-developed communication skills
• Proven ability to think creatively and disruptively to bring and infuse new ideas into the retail experience
• Experience in multiple segments within the global market
• Demonstrated ability to lead the organizational and cultural change efforts needed to ensure new, innovative concepts, business practices, and technologies are fully adopted and integrated into the business
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally

Required Education

• Bachelor’s Degree in Design, Merchandising, Business, Retail Management or related fields