COLUMBUS CONSULTING, LLC
MIAMI, FLORIDA

Columbus Consulting’s Board of Directors represents over 130 years of retail, consulting and software expertise. This expertise guides the strategy and operational effectiveness of the firm. The Board is chaired by Rick Amari and vice-chaired by Kate Gorman, with Jon Beck, CEO Columbus Consulting, Alain Krakirian, and Stuart Tattum as the elected Board members. Rick Amari is the founder of Columbus Consulting, which is currently recognized as the largest boutique consulting firm in North America that serves retail. Rick focuses on the Strategic IT practice, assisting retailers with IT Assessments and Strategy. The practice also includes Interim CIO services and working with Private Equity groups on Merger and Acquisition assessments and positioning. Rick has 30+ years of experience in the retail industry, specifically in the Information Technology discipline. Prior to starting Columbus, Rick held various positions over a 12-year career with L Brands (nee The Limited, Limited Brands) including CIO at Victoria’s Secret Stores and Group CIO with responsibility for cross-company Information Technology functions; including Express, Lane Bryant, Limited Too, and Lerner NY. Rick spent 9 years in both Information Systems and General Management leadership positions at Food City Stores in Virginia during the 80’s. Kate Gorman is a Partner and VP Sales, Marketing with Columbus Consulting. Kate is a senior level executive with over 25 years of experience in the retail industry. She has extensive leadership and practical experience in retail management, retail consulting and retail software development. She is a proven executive delivering bottom line growth through hands on management of core disciplines including sales operations, marketing, buying, inventory control, business intelligence, logistics and business process development. Prior to joining Columbus, Kate was most recently Executive General Manager for JR/Duty Free in Australia/New Zealand. In this role she was responsible for the growth of the organization from a start up to the leading Duty Free retailer in the region and was directly accountable for the EBIT results. In the decade before joining JR/Duty Free, Kate held leadership positions at ThinkFast Consulting, Retek and JDA, specializing in product strategy and solution development in merchandise planning, assortment planning, allocation, replenishment and business intelligence. Jon Beck is CEO of Columbus Consulting. His expertise includes Merchandising and Planning Strategy, Organization, Processes & Systems. Jon is a retail specialist with over 20 years of experience working with retail, wholesale and manufacturing companies focused on improving corporate performance through better planning, execution and analysis. A highly motivated business consultant, system architect and integrator with broad global experience, Jon has successfully designed and implemented planning and allocation solutions for nearly 100 clients, spanning apparel, footwear and hardlines. Prior to joining Columbus Consulting, Jon had his own consulting firm as well as being employed at JDA and Predictix. Through these experiences, Jon was involved in the design, development and implementation of many of today’s industry-leading planning and allocation software solutions, making him one of the most renowned experts in the industry. Alain Krakirian is a Partner with Columbus Consulting. Prior to joining Columbus in 2011, Alain headed up Buying, Planning/Allocation, and E-Commerce at True Religion Brand Jeans. Prior to that he was VP of Planning and Allocation at Hot Topic, where he led the function through the company’s growth from 100 to 700 stores, the launch of e-commerce, and the new Torrid concept. Alain has also held leadership positions at babystyle.com, The Disney Store, Kidsmart, and Clothestime. Alain has extensive strategic and tactical business experience leading the Planning, Forecasting, Allocation and Replenishment functions at Omni-Channel companies. He has an in-depth knowledge of the apparel specialty segment – wholesale, retail and e-commerce – including fast-fashion. Alain is an expert in business process reengineering and the development of algorithms to address unique and complex planning, forecasting, allocation and replenishment needs. He does this through adapting and configuring existing software applications as well as designing custom solutions. Stuart Tattum is a Managing Partner with Columbus Consulting where he has demonstrated a track record of delivering reliable, high quality, bottom-line oriented results for his customers in the retail industry. Stuart is a highly motivated professional with a unique combination of outstanding business and information technology skills. His experience includes significant business process and systems projects for US and international retailers and sophisticated project management in the area of software development. He is a retail software veteran with over 31 years of industry experience. PacSun Embraces Unified Commerce With the Help of Columbus Consulting The company built a Unified Commerce Roadmap that will deliver a seamless customer experience across retail … Finish Line Explores and Implements New Business Processes with Guidance from Columbus Consulting International Columbus Consulting helps Finish Line jump into new territory as the … Columbus Consulting Completes Merger of C3 Management Consulting to Strengthen Consumer Experience Expertise With this merger, Columbus Consulting culminates 2017 with significant company growth in … We want to hear from you. 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