JOB POSITIONS
Store Manager at A&P, and moved through increasingly responsible positions until achieving several Regional Director-level Operations positions to include Director of Alcoholic Beverage Marketing & Operations, Director of Retail Productivity and Director of Store Systems. Promoted to the A&P Corporate Offices as IS Director Retail Support Services and named Team Captain of the corporation’s everGReen transformation initiative centered on integration of new technology, business process, and people.  Promoted to IS Vice President, Store Systems Support.  Promoted to IS Vice President, Enterprise Application Management and Services. Promoted to Vice President & Chief Information Officer.

CURRENT POSITION
Vice President & Chief Information Officer, the Senior IS executive directly responsible for the enterprise’s Information Technology portfolio, infrastructure, services and strategic direction.

TYPICAL WORK DAY
Being in retail segment, and my department enabling most core functions of the business, my job is 7 days a week 24 hours a day. I work out of the corporate office in NJ with a staff of 250. Typical day is morning briefing with my senior managers, project update meetings, problem solving and strategic efforts.

POSITIVES
Challenge of providing excellent technical tools to my business users throughout our store, warehouses and administrative offices.

NEGATIVES
Restriction on capital to invest in system upgrades.

LIFESTYLE
It is demanding like most senior level positions. I learned very early in my career the importance of work life balance and I have never lost focus on that no matter my position. I also promote within my team that value of life out of work as I believe it creates a more productive work environment.

COLLEGE PREPARATION
My Business and Economic courses provided a solid understanding of the work place and my general education classes a solid cultural understanding. Looking back I would of liked to take advantage of summer internships to gain exposure to different business sectors.

CAREER ADVICE
Spend the time to gain the business knowledge that will provide a solid foundation for a career in Information Technology. Being able to understand the business needs and translate into technical solutions is the key to maximizing value for your company and your role.

SHU EXPERIENCE
SHU was a commuter school when I attended and it was very different from the environment of today.