Susan Garvey
VP of Professional Development
Susan M Garvey is a Retail and Business Executive with specific concentrations in Productivity, Process and Profit Improvements. Susan has 24 years of experience having been employed by three major retailers: May Department Stores Company, Michaels Stores, Inc. and most recently with Savers – TVI. Susan began her career in 1987 in Boston, MA as a Project Manager converting lease-hold operation to in-house management for Customer Service Cost Centers (aka “Loss” Centers!) and successfully managed both the Operations and Human Resource functions simultaneously for a May Department Stores branch store in the Boston area.
In 1993 Michaels stores recruited Susan to fix “broken” stores by troubleshooting operations and training teams. Susan managed and opened stores in New England and New York. Promoted to Michaels Corporate office in 1997 in Irving / Dallas Texas, she was responsible for handling high profile Project Management responsibilities in Store Operations. Promoted to Director – Merchandise Operations and Business Processes in 2001, Susan was responsible for streamlining many processes, gaining efficiencies and helping to lead the team for which set the solid foundation for a successful Supply Chain structure.
Susan then went on a special assignment for Michaels to address the growing obsolete inventory that was of concern to both the Executive team and an area Wall Street was monitoring closely with all retailers at the time. Working with IS, Susan developed an in-house system enhancement to eliminate the obsolete inventory at maximum profit as well as provide a system to prevent the situation from occurring in the future. This was a major win for the company at all levels and a unique program and process at Michaels.
Susan has worked as an Consultant from 2005-2006 with a food services company in the Boston area then returned to Michaels Stores in 2007 to Manage the Store Remodel Project for a year, managing 31 Remodel Project in 8 months while the firm searched for a permanent Manager.
Susan moved from Texas to Arizona in 2008 with Savers – TVI where she quickly turned around an underperforming district of stores, delivering impressive sales, profit, and labor metric improvements in short order.
In addition to being a dynamic and successful business leader, and Project Manager (*PMP Certification in process), Susan is innovative, enthusiastic, and passionate about results and continuous improvements, often initiating projects and taking the lead on them. Susan is known for digging in to every detail, making sure she absolutely understands every aspect of the business that she is working in. She quickly establishes both credibility and rapport with every level of the organization.
Susan lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.
