Senior Financial Analyst (Dec. 2004 - Present)

In November 2004, I began to search for a position which would allow me to immediately practice those skills I had acquired in Chicago.  My search led me to the Victoria's Secret Stores division of Limited Brands, in Columbus, OH.  Upon beginning this position, I found that the learning curve was terribly steep.  My automotive experience did not well equip me for a career in retail, but I found that I was provided with an opportunity to grit my teeth and expand my horizons. 

My first assignment was to master an understanding of the company's "Sales Equation."  This broke each day's sales volume into six discrete metrics, which ran in parallel courses during a season.  My manager wanted me to create an interface which would show previous seasons' equation metrics and comparable store sales in order to more accurately forecast gross margin in future years.  The next major assignment I was given was to redesign the manner in which daily sales were published to leadership.  This required comprehensive research of the back-end systems available to me.  The brand used the MicroStrategy tool (MSI) with tables accessible via Microsoft Access.  Using a combination of SQL and Visual Basic code, I designed, tested and implemented the new daily sales.  As opposed to the old process, which required manual work of about forty-five minutes, all queries were automated.  When the publisher (a rotating responsibility within the group) opened the excel file, it would create the required distribution files along with composing the accompanying e-mail.  The user then had the option of either sending it to himself for review or blindly sending it out to the leadership team. 

Several other automation projects followed.  I created a database to handle home office forecasting.  The system held line item projections for each department, account and season.  Projections could be easily reviewed and changed.  One additional feature programmed into my solution was the ability to see the forecast as of a particular date.  This was useful for tracking a department's performance across several periods.

After that implementation, VSS became the first brand to port to SAP, a very powerful accounting system.  Being the only member of my group who spoke fluent finance and programmer, I was put into a high communication role between the two teams and tasked with a smooth transition.  After several frustrations, we were finally able to achieve success.

During my time at VSS, I received two outstanding performance awards (Angels Awards).