Damith Jayalath

• Responsible for the Growth and Profitability of Steve Madden. • Heading the buying and merchandising Function. • Buying strategy and lifecycle management of all products across the brand. • Managing planning and forecasting process (WSSI, Sku level sales Monitor). • In season Management (Trading Calendar, Markdown Management, Stock Analysis). • Long- and short-term Business strategy. • Leads Operations, VM and Marketing Functions for the brand in the Region. • People Management (Define KPIs, Coaching and Mentoring, Feedbacks to constant improvement on individual performances) • Regular Meeting with Store teams. • Manages relationships with Principles and suppliers. • Overseeing the Ecom Function within the brand (Steve Madden. Me / 6th Street.com)

• Planning and Trading for Sports & Kids category across 17 markets. • Defining long term strategy and steering top performance brands. • Maximizing opportunity through several channels. • Driving steady growth & managing risk factors. • Coaching, developing talent plans and succession planning in a growing organization. • Developing and implementing processes improvements

• Responsible for the growth & profitability of the brand across 62 retail outlets spread across 6 Countries in GCC. • Leading a team of 10 to achieve annual turnover & LFL profit growth, by implementing effective planning & merchandising strategies. • Preparation of seasonal buying plans in conjunction with UK merchandising team. • Responsible of driving GMROI and ITR. • Establish and implement retail strategies and processes to achieve key performance indicators including revenue, margin, sell through & balanced stock levels. • Monitor market trends, research consumer markets and competitor's activities to identify opportunities and key issues. Recommend and tailor product strategies to ensure maximum margins. • Preparing and administering annual Budget. • Identified and developed online business for inhouse and 3rd party Ecommerce platforms within GCC region. • Responsible for implementation, and execution of marketing concepts (ATL & BTL), promotions and strategies across both brick and mortar and e-commerce channels as well as social media drive. • Developed a short- and long-term business plan for the brand that addressed product gaps, new markets, distribution strategy and profit estimates.

• Planned, implemented, and tracked sales and marketing strategies to promote brand products. • Responsible for complete buying cycle from pre buy planning to receiving of products in the store. • Developed and implemented favourable pricing structures balancing firm objectives against customer targets. • Oversaw product planning and demand management on monthly basis to maintain adequate product levels

• Responsible for top line and bottom line of the Brand in the region. • Building and action of the seasonal OTB and buying calendar for pre-buying, buying and post-buying activities. • Set up and Maintaining WSSI. • Drive and lead the team in buying meetings. • Plan and execution of markdown plan for GCC stores. • Supervise the merchandising team to ensure correct products are available in correct stores. • Preparation of annual sales and margin budgets and phasing. • Manage in season products for reorders and liquidations. • Training for personal development for the team of 5. • Product presentations for store teams and conduct training sessions for store managers to develop analytical strengths. • Regular stores visits to 20+ regional stores to ensure shops are with adequate inventory to achieve sales targets.