Jennifer McIlwaine
Lead Vendor Manager at National Restaurant Association- Claim this Profile
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Bio
Brian Berlin
Jenn did an excellent job of managing a highly complex ecosystem of third party data and analytics vendors, moving multiple contracts forward simultaneously, and negotiating prices and service levels to serve the best interests of the company while also being fair and collaborative with each vendor. Navigating the contract phase was only part of Jenn’s formula for success. She was also focused on deriving innovative ways to drive more value for the company from each vendor engagement via the development of better vendor and stakeholder communication processes, and training customized to each user skill set. Her efforts resulted in a clear line of sight into the total third party data spend across all of Constellation Brands, and value delivered across multiple user groups throughout the term of each engagement. No matter how tight timelines became, how much budget pressure she was facing, or how complicated the process was, she always delivered with positivity, partnership, and professionalism.
Brian Berlin
Jenn did an excellent job of managing a highly complex ecosystem of third party data and analytics vendors, moving multiple contracts forward simultaneously, and negotiating prices and service levels to serve the best interests of the company while also being fair and collaborative with each vendor. Navigating the contract phase was only part of Jenn’s formula for success. She was also focused on deriving innovative ways to drive more value for the company from each vendor engagement via the development of better vendor and stakeholder communication processes, and training customized to each user skill set. Her efforts resulted in a clear line of sight into the total third party data spend across all of Constellation Brands, and value delivered across multiple user groups throughout the term of each engagement. No matter how tight timelines became, how much budget pressure she was facing, or how complicated the process was, she always delivered with positivity, partnership, and professionalism.
Brian Berlin
Jenn did an excellent job of managing a highly complex ecosystem of third party data and analytics vendors, moving multiple contracts forward simultaneously, and negotiating prices and service levels to serve the best interests of the company while also being fair and collaborative with each vendor. Navigating the contract phase was only part of Jenn’s formula for success. She was also focused on deriving innovative ways to drive more value for the company from each vendor engagement via the development of better vendor and stakeholder communication processes, and training customized to each user skill set. Her efforts resulted in a clear line of sight into the total third party data spend across all of Constellation Brands, and value delivered across multiple user groups throughout the term of each engagement. No matter how tight timelines became, how much budget pressure she was facing, or how complicated the process was, she always delivered with positivity, partnership, and professionalism.
Brian Berlin
Jenn did an excellent job of managing a highly complex ecosystem of third party data and analytics vendors, moving multiple contracts forward simultaneously, and negotiating prices and service levels to serve the best interests of the company while also being fair and collaborative with each vendor. Navigating the contract phase was only part of Jenn’s formula for success. She was also focused on deriving innovative ways to drive more value for the company from each vendor engagement via the development of better vendor and stakeholder communication processes, and training customized to each user skill set. Her efforts resulted in a clear line of sight into the total third party data spend across all of Constellation Brands, and value delivered across multiple user groups throughout the term of each engagement. No matter how tight timelines became, how much budget pressure she was facing, or how complicated the process was, she always delivered with positivity, partnership, and professionalism.
Credentials
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How to Develop your Career Plan
LinkedInJan, 2022- Sep, 2024
Experience
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National Restaurant Association
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United States
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Restaurants
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400 - 500 Employee
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Lead Vendor Manager
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Mar 2022 - Present
Managing Technology based vendors across the National Restaurant Association to include vendor relations, budget, contract negotiation, contract review and implementation. Managing Technology based vendors across the National Restaurant Association to include vendor relations, budget, contract negotiation, contract review and implementation.
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Constellation Brands
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Wine & Spirits
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1 - 100 Employee
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Vendor Partnership Manager
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May 2016 - Sep 2021
•Collaborated across business functions for integration of data with domestic & international sales, retailer, legal, procurement, finance, IT, data science, and corporate reporting.•Promoted collaboration among beverage teams of beer, wine & spirits, with over +1K employees.•Managed $22M budget, over 40 US vendors & 2 international vendors, achieved $1.3M favorability in most recent year budget.•Negotiated contracts to include services, costs, terms & conditions. Utilized “outside of the box thinking” working within fiscal year constraints resulting in a savings of $70K for one new contract and reduced another contract by 10%.•Adapted to quickly re-aligning priorities in an ever-changing environment. Assembled cross functional team of 10+ people within 2 hours to evaluate and determine the proper course of action resulting in a $50K savings.•Implemented a data acquisition process that evaluated data purchases against company priorities. This aligned vendors to company strategies within financial goals. Negotiated credits for underutilized or outdated services from prior multi-year agreements saving $185K.•Developed Thought Leadership principles with vendors to push relevant content to users through lunch & learns and reviewing new vendor program offerings. Fostered negotiation of “6 month no fees for latest programs” added to current agreement from vendor resulting in a $50K+ company savings.•Ensured vendor trainings for users were specific to business needs by reviewing business expectations with vendors across services for 35+ teams. •Implemented user review process to measure usage and effectiveness across 40+ services to ensure the right users were in place to maximize the return on investment.• Proactively reviewed and established criteria and team data needs for next fiscal year budget. Based on analysis increased budget for data purchase +$500K.• Provided over 1.5K hours of training as a team manager on vendor life cycle of contracts and services. Show less
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Senior Depletion Integrity Analyst
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Mar 2009 - May 2016
•Managed 250+ distributor suppliers with external data vendors focusing on timely delivery on data reporting accuracy. Conducted analysis and process improvements increased vendor timely reporting of sales from 71% to 95% (business day 5 complete metric).•Managed 3-person team, conducted daily audits of new reporting metrics established to ensured proper data collection, maintained data standards, and documented all processes.•Worked on data reporting for mergers & acquisitions across sales reporting vendors.•Established communication program increasing depletion department visibility across +100 employees. Increased employee awareness of the reporting process, understanding the responsibilities of the team and streamlining the communications increased data integrity. Show less
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Financial Analyst
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Mar 2006 - Feb 2009
•Created a workflow process and oversaw all areas for distributor contracts, shipments, and delivery of all Chateau high-end products ($1K per bottle at retail) from France to approximately 20 high end beverage distributors in the US. •Developed and authored user training manual and trained all incoming Field Sales Managers on process and system operations. Ultimately, delivering over 250 hours of training across lean team of 30 people.•Refined financial reporting structure with largest US supplier to bring payment system to current date, was in arrears 18+ months for reporting. Show less
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Education
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Canisius College
Bachelor of Arts - BA, English Language and Literature, General
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