McKenzie Ploen

Experience

• 

  University of Minnesota College of Design

  Jan 2015 - May 2018

  Dean's Office Student Worker

  • Responsible for answering phone calls, providing guidance to college visitors, assisting professors with projects and event planning, distributing staff mail, and training new student workers

• 

  The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc.

  Jun 2017 - Aug 2017

  Merchandising Intern

  • Gained experience in vendor management, procurement, sales trend forecasting and analysis, and advertising while working under the Assistant Buyer in Men’s Casual Pants and Furnishings

• 

  Target

  Jul 2018 - Jul 2023

  • Part of the Middle Mile Transportation Sourcing team, which is responsible for $880M in spend and 900k movements annually.• Oversaw the largest capacity relief strategy in Target’s supply chain, sourcing over 300 lanes and coordinating more than 12,500 moves in and out of 13 third-party logistics storage facilities to support 33 Target facilities.• Owned and ran the first third-party logistics transfers bid, resulting in a projected $11.3M (35%) in annual savings and introducing more clarity and consistency in project processes. • Improved the new carrier onboarding process, and onboarded 21 new carriers. Also put an emphasis on doing business with diverse carriers, growing spend to $28M, $6M higher than the team’s goal.• Partnered with the Operations team to avoid unnecessary spend by returning rental trailers. Sourced carriers to move over 1,000 rental trailers, reducing spend by $525k/month. Show less • Drove allocation and inventory strategies within the Fan Central department for the most SKU-intensive business in Hardlines. Developed relationships and led negotiations with more than 20 vendors, generating $46 million in annual sales.• Highly collaborative with partners to develop strategies and creative solutions unique to the business given the prevalence of localization, seasonality, and market variance.• Generated 45% improvement to GMROI in Hardgoods by implementing new department strategies, including prioritizing the most productive SKUs and markets. This approach resulted in reducing markdown and salvage risk by $116K and increasing sales performance by $1.8M.• Held a DE&I Captainship and worked to create a more inclusive and equitable environment for the division. Show less

  • Senior Logistics Analyst, Middle Mile Sourcing

    Sept 2021 - Jul 2023

  • Inventory Analyst, Fan Central

    Jul 2018 - Sept 2021