Professional Journey
With over 30 years of executive leadership in Retail Management, Global Sourcing, Product Development, Quality Improvements and Supply Chain Management, I have built a career on a simple premise: if you can dream it, I can source, manufacture, and optimize it.
I operate a boutique consultancy designed to give businesses direct access to elite, battle-tested global sourcing strategies. Whether you are a fast-growing startup navigating your first production run or a massive corporation needing "fresh eyes" to fix a stalled global sourcing model, I bring an unmatched depth of hands-on experience. My expertise spans multiple continents, diverse materials, intricate production methods, and strict regulatory landscapes.
My Foundation: Built from the Retail Floor Up
My mastery of global sourcing didn't happen overnight in a corporate vacuum. It was forged through a true, 360-degree journey across every layer of the retail ecosystem. Before transitioning into global sourcing, I cut my teeth in store-level retail management and sales at Champs Sports and PACSUN, learning exactly how products perform in front of the living, breathing consumer.
From there, I climbed the operational ladder at Sports Authority, mastering the foundational engineering of details in retail. I did the heavy lifting basic roles to start: manually setting up SKUs, running the print room for high-level buyer reports, executing inventory allocations, and managing the complexities of re-buying. I served as a merchandising assistant and an assistant buyer, gaining an intimate understanding of margins, inventory turns, and merchant strategies. It was through this rigorous, hands-on journey that I found my true calling, passion, and lifelong love for Product Development and Global Sourcing. I don't just understand the final factory invoice; I understand the entire heartbeat of a retail business. So in total, I bring over 30 years of retail, ecommerce, private label, supply chain, global sourcing and supply chain development.
My advisory framework is built on two unshakeable pillars that guarantee execution where others fail:
1. Competitive Intelligence & Factory Discovery
Finding the right manufacturing partner isn't about running a generic search or picking the first supplier on a marketplace website. True competitive advantage comes from knowing exactly who is manufacturing for your top competitors and identifying who should be your potential partner.
Through decades of deep industry immersion, I utilize advanced supply chain tools, proprietary systems, deep industry networks, and aggressive trade show auditing (such as the Global Pet Expo, Canton Fair and other major international manufacturing summits) to deconstruct the market. I unmask the hidden global supply networks behind the world's most successful brands, giving my clients immediate, backdoor access to top-tier, enterprise-grade factories that are usually hidden from public view.
2. "Trust but Verify" — The Power of the Plane Ticket
In global manufacturing, everyone’s PowerPoint presentation looks flawless, and every sales pitch promises perfection. My philosophy is simple: Get on a plane and go see it for yourself. You cannot audit a factory, protect your margins, or guarantee a 5-star customer experience from a computer screen.
I physically walk the production floors worldwide to verify the reality behind the pitch. When I evaluate a potential partner for you, I uncover the ground-truth answers to the critical questions that define your success:
● Operational Reality: What are this factory’s genuine manufacturing strengths and hidden weaknesses? What other products do they make, and what other major global brands trust them with their production?
● Daily QA Standards: Do they just have a Quality Assurance manual on a shelf, or do they rigidly follow strict QA protocols on the line every single day? How clean and optimized is their production floor? Is their raw material warehouse organized, or is it a bottleneck waiting to happen? Walk the production floor over and over again. Do not spend your whole visit in their sample room.
● The Human Element: I sit down face-to-face with the factory owners, plant managers, and engineering teams. In global sourcing, your relationship with the ownership dictates your pricing priority, your production slotting during peak seasons, and how they handle production issues. I make sure you are partnering with the right people.
● Sweat the Small Stuff: Detail specification sheets, golden samples, product shipment inspection, 3rd party lab testing, legal requirements(FDA, Prop 65 and more), safety stock, MOQs, payment terms, golden samples, port of exit, port of entry, optimal container size, packaging strength, packaging colors, master cartons, drop testing and so many more…
When you work with Kennedy Sourcing Solutions, you bypass the learning curves, the cultural miscommunications, and the costly mistakes, gaining immediate access to a verified, optimized, and fiercely protected global network of trusted manufacturing partners.
Career Blueprint and Key Wins
Look around your home, your office, your home gym, your gaming room or your pet’s toy bin: chances are, you have probably already bought, used, and loved a product that I have personally sourced, manufactured, and brought to market.
From the sporting goods and fitness gear you train with, to the office supplies and tech on your desk; from the pet products your animal companions adore, to the gaming products and collectibles you enjoy; all the way to the vital consumer healthcare and adult incontinence products that provide daily comfort and dignity, I have spent over two and a half decades quietly engineering the 5-star products that fuel everyday life.
Below is a blueprint of where I have driven massive commercial success and the exact corporate-grade expertise I now bring to your business:
● Role: Executive Product Development & Global Sourcing
● The Wins: Architected and scaled private label sourcing strategies (including brands like Frisco) that directly contributed to Chewy’s meteoric e-commerce profit and growth. Mastered the "customer-first" product development engine, driving over +200k of 5-star reviews and establishing gold-standard supplier quality matrixes in the pet industry.
● The first private label employee hired, built the Frisco private label team and sourcing process from scratch, growing it to the #1 selling hardgoods brand exceeding +$400M in sales with over +6k skus.
● Brands: Frisco, OnGuard, Chewy, America Journey, Bones & Chews, Tylee’s Table, Disney, Lucas Films, Pixar and Marvel.
● CNBC - Even Jim Cramer of CNBC fame loves the quality of the proprietary or private label brands at Chewy, stating the Chewy private label products are better than the national brands and similar to what Costco does with their Kirkland private label brand. The highest of praise from a legendary financial and investing leader.
Office Depot
● Role: Global Sourcing & Product Development Leadership
● The Wins: Managed complex, high-volume global programs across diverse material groups (paper, plastics, electronics, tech accessories). Optimized vendor matrices across multiple countries of production, delivering millions in annualized cost savings while maintaining strict corporate compliance and quality assurance.
● Profitably sourced over +900 skus in the writing instruments, binders and filing categories under the Foray and Office Depot private label brand names. Delivered a 64.8% category margin significantly outperforming their national brand benchmarks.
● Brands: Office Depot, Foray and Ativa.
GameStop
● Role: Vice President of Sourcing - Gaming, Technology, & Collectibles
● The Wins: Spearheaded sourcing and product development for the rapidly evolving gaming, tech, and collectibles space. Navigated highly complex licensing requirements, intricate molding and production methods for collectibles, and fast-turn manufacturing timelines to capture shifting market trends.
● Lead the private label team to a 92% increase in private label sales with higher margins, lower return rates and higher product customer ratings compared to their national branded buddy products.
● Brands: GameStop, Atrix, Minecraft, Nintendo, Sony, Pokémon, Hasbro, Marvel, Star Wars, Mandalorian and more…
Sports Authority
● Role: Product Development & Sourcing Lead – Sporting Goods and Fitness Products
● The Wins: Developed and sourced multiple sports hard goods, cleated footwear, fitness products and fitness equipment across a vast international factory footprint. A key member of the original private label team.
● Brands: Sports Authority, Estero, Bodyfit by Sports Authority and SA Gear.
● Role: VP of Product Development and Private Label – Healthcare
● The Wins: First Private Label hire, established a private label process, achieved significant cost savings vs. national brands all while delivering a premium, more absorbent adult incontinence product from USA and Italy manufacturers.
● Brands: Carewell
Entertainment & Media IP
Navigating global sourcing for multi-billion-dollar entertainment licenses requires rigorous compliance, immaculate factory auditing, complex tooling/molding capabilities, and flawless execution. Throughout my tenures at Chewy.com and GameStop, I have successfully quarterbacked the product development and manufacturing pipelines for an elite roster of world-renowned licensed partners:
● The Walt Disney Company (Including Disney Classic Characters and seasonal collections)
● Pixar (ToyStory, Monsters Inc and finding Nemo)
● Lucasfilm (Star Wars & The Mandalorian franchises)
● Marvel Entertainment (Avengers, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Captain America properties)
Gaming & Pop Culture Powerhouses
● Nintendo of America (Pokemon, Super Mario, and flagship franchise merchandise)
● Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation hardware accessories, apparel, and collectibles)
● Microsoft / Xbox (Licensed peripherals, gear, and gaming lifestyle products)
● Major Collectible Studios (Intricate molding, vinyl collectibles, figurines, and high-turn pop culture blind-box lines)
The Sourcing Advantage: Whether you are dealing with complex licensing audits mandated by entities like Disney, navigating FDA-level regulations in healthcare, or manufacturing high-turn collectibles with intricate molding methods—your brand and your margin are entirely secure in my hands.
