Xander Kent

Experience

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  Natural Capitalism Solutions

  Aug 2009 - Dec 2010

  Summer Intern-Associate

  Research, Report Writing, and Analysis:Researched energy efficiency solutions and subsidies to underpin key strategies for clients. Worked with Senior Consultants to develop strategies to support businesses’ bottom line through sustainable and environmentally friendly means. Compiled research on utility rebates and incentives and integrated them into a searchable excel database.

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  International Relief and Development (IRD)

  Jan 2011 - Jan 2012

  Agribusiness Consultant

  Strategy Development:Developed strategy for the Cashew-Value-Chain Enhancement Project a $3.5 million USDA food security project linking 60,000 target beneficiaries (rural cashew farmers) to international export markets. Strategy Implementation:Managed hiring, logistics, and bookkeeping for 4 cashew processing businesses providing jobs for 150 rural villagers and resulting in a 15 fold increase in incomes over traditional subsistence farming. Negotiated competitive bidding process ($100,000+) for cashew processing equipment scaling existing cashew businesses by increasing their processing capacity by 40 tons annually.Led trainings in business management to rural cashew farmers in the local language of Wolof. Show less

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  Africa BEECause

  Dec 2011 - Aug 2013

  Marketing Manager/Supply Chain Coordinator

  Grant Management/Implementation:Managed two U.N. Development Program grants providing training for of 534 beekeepers in 80 villages in the Gambia.Marketing: Created marketing and tiered pricing plan to engage tourist vendors at large resorts and hotels. Plan sold 1,114 liters of honey to tourist hotels and restaurants in first year. Average increase in beekeeper profits over historical village margins 250%. Supply Chain:Created a honey supply chain, set honey quality standards, and managed logistics from hive to shelf. Managed 10 Gambian staff and a network of certified beekeepers to ensure quality, quantity, and delivery of honey to customers. Show less

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  Belk

  Jan 2014 - Apr 2015

  Sustainabilty Manager/ External Consultant

  Sustainability Manager:Developed and piloted the first social and environmental supplier scorecard for Belk’s private brands team among top suppliers abroad with metrics from the Sustainable Apparel Coalition's Higg 2.0 Index.Created Excel based energy modeling tools bench-marking 300+ existing retail stores, aggregated energy savings opportunities, and implemented a 90 store energy retrofit project with $5.3 million in annual savings at an average ROIC of 30%. Led interview engagement task force with 30 senior department leaders identifying 10 companywide resource efficiency projects for the coming fiscal year. Used results to engage company leadership on high return resource efficiency projects.Sustainability Fellow:Led development of Environmental and Social Supplier Scorecard for Belk's private brands as part of a formalized engagement with the Duke Center for Sustainability and Commerce. Benchmarked apparel industry engagement with suppliers through a broad interview initiative and collaboration with the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC). Worked with private brands and sustainability department to launch initiative.External Consulting:Provided continuing consulting to pilot supplier scorecard, create a sustainability primer for the sustainability team to use in internal engagements, and to ensure the implementation of energy efficiency strategy developed while a EDF Fellow. Show less

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  The Dow Chemical Company

  May 2015 - Aug 2015

  MBA Sustainability Leadership Program

  Strategy:Benchmarked existing packaging processes and created strategic framework for engaging, improving, and scaling 40 existing recycling programs that manage all plastic containers Dow AgroSciences ships to market globally.Internal Collaboration/Engagement:Identified actionable projects to create business value and align with the Dow 2025 Sustainability Goal of Advancing a Circular Economy through 45 stakeholder interviews conducted across Dow AgroSciences. Led development of a packaging optimization project to consolidate internal processes, eliminate 600 annual hours of labor redundancy, and maintain consistent packaging metrics through product lifecycle. Show less

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  Amazon

  May 2016 - now

  Built, launched, and scaled data infrastructure for engaging with tier 1 Vendors on packaging change across Amazon globally. Translated and simplified data from Amazon packaging engineers into impact metrics of % air shipped to customers, % damage, and annual cardboard wasted. Scaled program to UK, DE, FR, IT, and ES through global training sessions. Worked with finance partners to translate waste into a real cost for the P&L to drive action at the business level. Further, built out reporting and forecasting tools to support P&L impact and waste reduction targets. Promoted into a Finance Manager role in Amazon Devices for further challenge and career growth. Show less Led external design team to develop a suite of eCommerce packaging solutions in footwear and apparel. Named first inventor on 3 patents; solutions to be scaled across all of Amazon Apparel for 2018 with expected operational savings of $5+MM annually. Managed collaboration sessions and follow up engagement with tier one vendors on the opportunity to reduce waste across the supply chain. Resulting conversions to Frustration Free Packaging (FFP) saved trees in support of the 1MM trees saved through right sized packaging since FFP inception. Tied direct contributions of packaging conversions to $6+MM in cost avoided FCF for 2017. Created frameworks and custom SQL queries for consuming and analyzing Big Data. Used frameworks to generate scorecards that identified packaging opportunity at an item or vendor level. Personally identified and eliminated 20+MM boxes and directly saved $30+MM in FCF for 2017 through data insights generated. Promoted to Senior Program Manager in 16 months for performance and successful launch of projects. Show less

  • Senior Manager, Restricted Products & Environmental Complaince

    Sept 2020 - now

  • Manager, Restricted Products & Environmental Compliance

    Jul 2019 - Sept 2020

  • Finance Manager Echo Devices

    Mar 2018 - Jul 2019

  • Senior Program Manager- Sustainability & Packaging Innovation

    Apr 2017 - Mar 2018

  • Product Manager- Sustainability & Packaging Innovation

    May 2016 - Apr 2017