NANCY K. VASSE-HANSELLhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/nancy-vasse-hansell • Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118

nkvakamax@gmail.com • cell: 216.990.2098

RETAIL MANAGEMENT 8+ YEARSVisual Merchandising / Retail Store Operations / Customer Service Excellence / Onboarding

Process Improvement / Inventory and Cost Control / Staff Development / Presentations and VIP Events

High energy, creative and enthusiastic seasoned retail sales and management professional with over 12+ years of specialty retail experience. Has built and led highly productive sales driven teams through emphasis on product knowledge training and outstanding customer experience. Exceptional ability to establish rapport with customers, gain trust, and build strong repeat and referral business. Possess excellent problem solving skills.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Spirit Halloween______________________________________________ Woodmere, OH Store Manager August 2016 – November 2016

Manage all aspects of running the store; keeping the sales floor running smoothly, training, balancing customer and staff needs and meeting sales goals. Helped launch this 10,000 plus square foot store from bare walls to opening. Hire, train and coach associates. Consistently one of the top stores in the district. Excellent shrink results. The store exceeded every benchmark of success including payroll control, sales plan, charity contributions and email collection.

Won multiple contests between stores for KPIs (Key Performance Issues): average dollar sale, units per transaction, email collection and contributions to Spirit of Children, a hospital charity.

Umbra Studios______________________________ _ Cleveland Heights, OH Owner/Artist November 2015 – July 2016

Offers color solutions/problem solving. Design and create murals, specialty finish painting and artwork for theaters (Ensemble, Dobama) and private residential clients.

Orvis_________________________________________________ Woodmere, OHStore Manager June 2012 – November 2015

Consistently one of the top ten stores in the company. In 2014 was one of only five stores in the company to meet yearend sales goals, additionally the store met every other benchmark of success including payroll control and raising conversion and dollars per transaction.

As Manager raised store’s sales from 1.5 million to over 2 million plus raising dollars per transaction over 5% two years in a row. Raised in store sales conversion from 26% to over 33%.

Part of first group of only ten employees chosen from entire company for the new Manager in Training program. Selected as one of six managers to initiate the “Women’s Champions” company team efforts, offering insights,

feedback and suggestions as Orvis rebranded and redid their women’s line of product. Successfully organized and supervised spring and summer series of “Learn How to Fly Fish for Free” classes for

our customers. Averaged over 275 students per season with very positive feedback from the students. Planned and ran successful V.I.P. events throughout the year. Instituted and championed the practice of

collecting customers’ emails to create private event emails.

Received numerous letters from clients praising outstanding level of service. Praised for this repeatedly on reviews.

Key Holder September 2009 – May 2012

Part of the original team that completely set-up and launched this new Orvis store. Responsible for keeping the sales floor running smoothly, training, balancing customer and staff needs and meeting sales goals. Overhauled and systematized past season over stock. Better inventory control, less lost product and more sales.

Smith and Hawken ___________________________________ Woodmere, OH Store Manager May 2006 –September 2009

Created a powerful in-house selling culture combined with great customer service. First year store exceeded previous year’s sales by 19.6 %, beating every other Smith and Hawken store in the nation. Successfully managed all aspects of the store, including hiring, training and supervising a staff of ten plus, giving customer seminars, building trade outreach and sales and ordering live goods for the store. Grew sales from less than one million to over two million. Top salesperson in store. Excellent inventory/audit results.

Petland of the Heights_________________________________________________ Cleveland Heights, OHSales Manager January 2006 – May 2006

Part of the team that launched this new store of over 8,000 square feet; completely merchandising an empty store, assisting training new staff of 25 and personally running the sales floor. Assisted in the buying of live stock. Consistently top salesperson. Cut payroll costs by 48%.

Cleveland Museum of Art March 2001- July 2005Buyer/Product Development October 2004 - July 2005

Yearly volume of stores over $1M. Brought in new vendors and buying sources. Tracked inventory and sales levels as well. Created display and merchandising plans for three in-house stores.

Wholesale Coordinator December 2002 - October 2004 Successfully sold products produced by the Cleveland Museum of Art to museums and stores worldwide.

Instituted the strategy of using targeted marketing/review of data for making marketing decisions and creating wholesale departmental reports that could track sales history, customer names, and segment marketing tests and efforts. Ended 2003 and 2004 with the wholesale budget in the black and under budget for expenses for the first time.

Museum Store Selling Supervisor March 2001 – November 2002 Top trainer for new associates and top salesperson.

Umbra Studios Cleveland, OH Owner/Artist 1994 - 2001Offered color consulting, special paint finishes mural design/painting and similar interior design problem solving. Never had to spend a penny on marketing due to excellent word of mouth referrals from clients. Mural specialty: nature and unusual/specialty finishes

EducationBA Studio Arts University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL – Cum Laude average, Women’s Scholarship Honor Society Awards “Out of the Box” Outstanding Customer Service Award – Cleveland Museum of ArtVolunteer program – Boy Scouts of America – Outstanding Leadership AwardAward winning Jewelry designer

Memberships Retail USARetail Management Executive Group