VP, Wholesale

Coach is a global fashion house founded in New York in 1941. Inspired by the vision of Creative Director Stuart Vevers and the inclusive and courageous spirit of our hometown, we make beautiful things, crafted to last—for you to be yourself in.

Coach is part of the Tapestry portfolio – a global house of brands committed to stretching what’s possible.

A member of the Tapestry family, we are part of a global house of brands that has unwavering optimism and is committed to being innovative and wholly inclusive.

Title: VP, Wholesale Americas

Primary Purpose: The VP, Wholesale Americas will have overall responsibility for the strategic leadership and operating results of the Wholesale business across the US, Canada and LATAM (Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Peru). This includes accountability across all categories. This position reports to the SVP, Digital & Wholesale and is based in Coach’s Headquarters in New York City.

The VP, Wholesale direct reports include:

• Sr Director, Leathergoods Sales
• Director, Footwear Sales
• Sr Director, Planning & Operations
• Director, Field
• Director, Coach International (LATAM)
• Executive Assistant

The successful individual will leverage their expertise to…

• Own strategic vision and business objectives. Develop a roadmap for growth, profitability and increased brand equity.
• Continue to develop strategic partnerships with Wholesale accounts across tiers, with particular focus on Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, Macy’s and Dillard’s.
• Build customer-centric distribution strategies that ladder back to overall strategies with a focus on brand-accretive growth
• Drive growth in Footwear as a key growth category to strengthen Coach’s position as a lifestyle brand.
• Regularly travel to stores, reviewing overall presentation, business results, customer and product trends, and connect with key account leaders.
• Lead, inspire, and energize the team. Attract, develop and retain strong talent and bench for future growth.
• Encourage a data-driven growth culture of accountability.
• Ensure clear communication of Coach’s objectives and performance to Sales and Field teams.
• Liaise with functional partners across Coach to ensure high quality execution of all aspects of the Coach brand, product and store experience.
• Develop intimate understanding of different partners, competition and consumers and thus be able to influence product and brand needs for the individual markets.
• Lead the development of new and innovative sales and marketing initiatives to drive customer growth, increase market share and improve gross margins.
• Set and track key performance indicators and sales targets for continued improvement in execution.
• Report regularly to the Coach and Tapestry senior leadership teams for general performance review, KPIs, business improvements and necessary corrective actions.

The accomplished individual will possess...

• Exceptional relationship building capabilities across various functional groups (Merchandising, Design, Marketing, etc.) and with senior leadership teams.
• Strong influencing and negotiating skills, and ability to communicate effectively (verbal and written) with employees, customers and leaders.
• Proven experience developing and managing premium or luxury brands in department stores.
• An assertive and energetic store champion who enjoys being in the stores (at least 25% travel) and excels at motivating their teams.
• An enthusiastic, strong leader; an open and genuine communicator with both their team and customers.
• Solid relationships and credibility with senior department store merchandising leaders.
• Strong customer orientation and commercial drive. Acute understanding of the marketplace and customer preferences.
• Strong product sense; proven experience driving product assortments and partnering with Merchandising to build product concepts that drive business.
• High taste level with a clear understanding that Coach is a company with a unique brand vision and culture.
• Passion for the brand, its heritage and its future, as well as for the customer and the company’s core values.
• Able to articulate goals and set strategies for execution that will motivate others into action and ensure the team is delivering results.
• Strong business acumen, financial and planning skills. Ability to take analysis to insight and insight to commercial ideas.
• BA or BS degree with 15 or more years of experience.
• International experience, especially in LATAM, a plus.

Our Competencies for All Employees

• Courage: Doesn’t hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and “actionable” positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.
• Creativity: Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.
• Customer Focus: Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
• Dealing with Ambiguity: Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn’t upset when things are up in the air; doesn’t have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.
• Drive for Results: Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.
• Interpersonal Savvy: Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.
• Learning on the Fly: Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.

Our Competencies for All People Managers

• Strategic Agility: Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.
• Developing Direct Reports and Others: Provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments; holds frequent development discussions; is aware of each person's career goals; constructs compelling development plans and executes them; pushes people to accept developmental moves; will take on those who need help and further development; cooperates with the developmental system in the organization; is a people builder.
• Building Effective Teams: Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in their team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.

Coach is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and we pride ourselves on hiring and developing the best people. All employment decisions (including recruitment, hiring, promotion, compensation, transfer, training, discipline and termination) are based on the applicant’s or employee’s qualifications as they relate to the requirements of the position under consideration. These decisions are made without regard to age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic characteristics, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship, disability, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or any other legally-recognized protected basis prohibited by applicable law. 

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Tapestry, Inc. will provide applicants and employees with reasonable accommodation for disabilities or religious beliefs. If you require reasonable accommodation to complete the application process, please contact Tapestry People Services at 1-855-566-9264 or employeerelations@tapestry.com                                    

Visit Coach at www.coach.com.

Work Setup: Hybrid

BASE PAY RANGE $270,000.00 TO $300,000.00 Annually
Here are some of the benefits that we offer: Medical insurance, Dental insurance, Vision insurance, 401 (K), Paid Paternity and Maternity leave, Commuter Benefits, Disability insurance and Tuition assistance. Please click here for a complete list of U.S Corporate Compensation & Benefits.