Marie O'Callaghan
Cork,County Cork
Summary
Senior Leader in a Sales and Operations management.
A keen interest in Food with a Nutrition and Strong retail background with over 25 year experience in sales and buying.
Energetic and upbeat leader with well-coordinated and hardworking approach. Looking for dynamic role with room for advancement. An Ambitious promoter and skilled people manager with deep understanding of market trends and successful strategies to achieve sales and marketing results. Strengths include leveraging data to optimise approaches and capitalising on new opportunities.
Overview
26
26
years of professional experience
11
11
years of post-secondary education
Work history
Sales & Operations Director
The Cards and Payments Awards Ltd
London
02.2022 - Current
- Identified revenue growth opportunities increasing exposure for sponsors and entrants.
- Optimised sales methods to best engage, acquire and retain customers in entering the awards, the longest standing awards in the sector.
- Improved lead generation, working collaboratively with marketing to develop enhanced selling tools, collateral and campaigns, increasing Linkedin followers by 600% and engaging new social media channels.
- Prepared winning sales proposals to address and overcome potential client objections, increasing sponsorship by 30% year on year.
- Boosted sales performance, establishing clear, measurable sales objectives for each event.
- Consistently achieved high-level customer satisfaction through responsive account management.
- Recruited, trained and motivated distributors to foster ongoing favourable partnerships.
Operations Manager
Capstone Financial Services Ltd, Petinsure.ie
Cork, County Cork
01.2015 - 02.2022
- Developed, recommended and implemented strategies to improve employee work quality and speed in a small contact end to end centre.
- Aided senior leadership by recommending corrective actions and improvements to company operations implementing a trust pilot approach and gaining a 4.7 out of 5 star in 18 months.
- Strategically scheduled and managed 12+staff members, maintaining high-performing business operations.
- Minimised discrepancies by effectively training employees on best practices, policies and procedures in our pet insurance products and plans.
- Served as key corporate representative, liaising with various stakeholders in support of operational excellence, web design, marketing, product design, complaints strategy and sales growth plan.
- Reduced operational costs and improved operations by analysing current processes and customer feedback to improve products and day to day management to services.
- Worked constructively with sales team generating new business opportunities and supporting company growth in the pet insurance market to gain place to 2nd largest pet insurer.
- Managed and motivated high-performing teams for successful KPI attainment.
- Drove performance while managing and maintaining customer expectations, quality standards and SLAs.
- Analysed financial data to track and achieve budget targets.
Trading Manager- Soft Drinks, Crisps and Snacks
Musgraves
Cork, Cork
09.2012 - 01.2015
- Reviewed product performance on periodic basis to refine marketing and merchandising strategies across Centra and Supervalu Brands in Soft Drinks and Snacks.
- Anticipated and planned for department seasonal needs in Both Centra and Supervalu Nationally.
- Identified implemented trading strategies, selling through at full price and markdown to achieve closing stock target.
- Facilitated inventory flow management to reduce backstock.
- Drove insights for strategic planning and development across Centra stores for Soft drinks leading to increase in growth by over 30% by reducing sugar and increasing exposure to healthy drinks adding a new bay of future brands such as Vit Hit and Flavoured waters.
- Enabled data-driven decision-making through reliable and timely performance reporting.
- Partnered with cross-functional teams to deliver details and visual assets for social media promotions in both the Centra and SuperValu Brands.
- Analysed sales reports against conversion KPIs and key input metrics to inform merchandising strategies.
- Developed creative and innovative visual merchandising solutions to support sales growth.
- Monitored seasonal displays, reviewing data generated through direct customer feedback and mystery shopping reports.
- Managed in-season trading, balancing profit maximisation with risk management.
- Worked with marketing and procurement teams to formalise range and sourcing strategy.
- Built inventory, sales and OTB plans to deliver on financial goals and KPIS.
- Applied historical and seasonal analysis findings to inform range strategy development.
Category Manager - Foods of the World
Sainsburys
London, London
05.1999 - 08.2005
- Evaluated commercial risks and exposures to achieve favourable terms in foods buying for Salisbury's in their 420 stores.
- Managed a Team of 12 buyers purchasing organic grocery, pasta, foods of the world, canned good and condiments across Sainsburys 420 Stores.
- Conducted competitor market analysis to identify new strategies and market trends implementing organic food strategies, Free from area and Speciality foods bays. Market leading strategies.
- Monitored suppliers to verify performance and maintain smooth operations.
- Employed fact-based decision-making, rooted in category, customer and shopper insights.
- Kept up to date with industry news and latest trends within assigned category.
- Coordinated store visits to maintain knowledge around retailer ranges and merchandising and gain valuable future insights to stay ahead of future trends,
- Built and nurtured productive client relationships to meet requirements working with major suppliers Unilever, Masterfoods, Mars etc to build category leadership.
- Managed and negotiated contracts to achieve compliant, low-risk business transactions.
- Managed sourcing projects, achieving optimum risk allocation and best value.
Graduate Programme- Product Development
Kerry Foods
Dublin, Dublin
07.1997 - 06.1999
- Assisted with day-to-day operations and completed assigned management tasks. in food production and R & D.
- Gained skills, knowledge and experience working across various departments including production, R & D and operations.
- Created written reports evaluating product performance and future operations.
- Launched the Homestyle burger with Sainsburys across 200 of their UK stores.
- Attended the Kerry Group Graduate training Programme with all their graduates in central training platform.
- Increased knowledge of company policies, protocols and processes proactively.
Education
Leaving Certifiate -
Loretto Abbey
Rathfarnham, Dublin 09.1987 - 06.1993
Bachelor of Science - Nutritional Science
University College Cork
Cork 10.1993 - 06.1997
Certified Insurance Professional - Insurance
Insurance Institute of Ireland
UCD, Dublin 01.2017 - 05.2018
Diploma of Higher Education - Corporate Governance
Glasgow Caledonian University
Glasgow 09.2022 - 05.2023
Skills
- Business growth strategies
- Responsive account management
- New business development
- Global distribution sales
- UK and Ireland market knowledge
- New account development
- Business development
- Complex negotiations
- Relationship management
Languages
English
Native
Work availability
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
morning
afternoon
evening
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Timeline
Diploma of Higher Education - Corporate Governance
Glasgow Caledonian University
09.2022 - 05.2023
Sales & Operations Director
The Cards and Payments Awards Ltd
02.2022 - Current
Certified Insurance Professional - Insurance
Insurance Institute of Ireland
01.2017 - 05.2018
Operations Manager
Capstone Financial Services Ltd, Petinsure.ie
01.2015 - 02.2022
Trading Manager- Soft Drinks, Crisps and Snacks
Musgraves
09.2012 - 01.2015
Category Manager - Foods of the World
Sainsburys
05.1999 - 08.2005
Graduate Programme- Product Development
Kerry Foods
07.1997 - 06.1999
Bachelor of Science - Nutritional Science
University College Cork
10.1993 - 06.1997
Leaving Certifiate -
Loretto Abbey
09.1987 - 06.1993
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