John S. Whitehead - Consultant
John has over 17 years of retail merchandising experience and has worked with some of the biggest names in Consumer Electronics: HP/Compaq, Intel, Motorola, XM Radio, Sirius Satellite Radio, Tele Atlas, NEC, Toshiba, Palm, Olympus, and Dell, among others.

John is skilled in bringing vendor's products to the retail sales floor. Throughout his career, John has focused on helping vendors be more profitable at retail by acting as an extended part of their executive management team. As Vice President, Marketing & Licensing for Micro Innovation, John managed the HP/Compaq PC Accessory Program for retail marketing & distribution where he worked with licensors to deliver retail marketing strategy for accessories. As a result, HP/Compaq received increased profitability through increased sell thru and placement, and increased marketing exposure.

As a buyer for Circuit City, John launched many new initiatives including training, product selection, a new import program, while maintaining supplier relationships. As a result, he helped to bring Circuit City's nascent PC business from zero to $2.5 billion in annual sales in only four years. As part of Circuit City's merchandising team, John achieved a number-one share position in handheld computers.

In his 13 years at Circuit City, John held a wide variety of positions that provided deep retail experience at many levels, including a Store / Field Management, Merchandising Control Buyer & Product Specialist, National Technology Buyer , Purchasing/Buyer for the Carmax Division, and Operations Manager & National Buyer for the Broadband Services Category. Having worked in all parts of the retail organization from buying, to inventory, to the retail sales floor, John brings a real-world perspective and deep understanding to the dynamics of face-to-face retail transactions.