With two decades of professional experience on a general management career track, I am a transitioning executive with broad experience at the intersection of strategy, operations, and program management. I've held multiple roles including consultant, corporate staff, and line management; often leading transformations and building programs. My success in these roles depended upon: bold leadership and a bias for action and value creation, creatively bringing the best in modern business thinking to bear on the most difficult organizational challenges, rapidly translating strategy into operational implications and executable plans, pragmatically ensuring critical projects are successful using keen understanding of individual and organizational dynamics, using logic, data, and KPIs to drive performance, top-grading talent, and building teams. Key professional highlights include: - SKU portfolio optimization program development/management, analytics, and implementation - Customer experience enhancement, operational excellence, and continuous/process improvement - Supply chain, inventory optimization, and lean manufacturing - Food/ingredient manufacturing, distribution, and regulatory compliance - Wholesale food procurement and vendor development/relationship management - Corporate and operations strategy analytics, development and execution - IT architecture and strategy - Building and aligning corporate innovation capabilities

Transitioning Executive @ I am seeking leadership roles in Chicago based businesses for which operational leadership and execution are critical to enabling growth. My target industries include: food, ingredients, manufacturing, industrials, distribution (generally B2B). I am also exploring opportunities in any product or service business that sells to those industries (3PL,'s, transportation, software, technology, equipment, other services, etc). From August 2015 to Present (5 months) Greater Chicago AreaVice President of Supply Chain and Inventory @ Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores (Ticker: SHOS) is a $2b+ national retailer primarily focused on selling home appliances, hardware, tools and lawn and garden equipment. SHOS operates through two segments - the Sears Hometown and Hardware segment and the Sears Outlet segment. Sears Hometown and Hardware stores provide customers with a wide selection of national brands of home appliances, tools, lawn and garden equipment, sporting goods, consumer electronics and household goods. Sears Outlet stores provide customers with primarily discontinued, obsolete, reconditioned, scratched and dented home appliances at prices that are significantly lower than manufacturers’ suggested retail prices. SHOS operates more than 1200 stores across all 50 states and Puerto Rico. I was hired to build and lead supply chain and inventory teams through multi-year transformational BPO, IT, and supply chain initiatives. Shortly thereafter Initiatives were scaled back and my role was eliminated as part of a broad corporate reduction in force. From April 2015 to July 2015 (4 months) Global Vice President of Supply Chain @ Corbion (CRBN) is the $1B+ global bio-ingredients company formed in 2013 by the merger of Caravan Ingredients and Purac (both formerly operating companies within CSM nv a $4B+ Dutch holding company). Headquartered in the Netherlands, Corbion has ten manufacturing plants in four continents specializing in fermentation, chemical processing, and ingredient blending. In this role I led global and regional teams in Demand Planning, Supply Planning, Inventory Management, Warehousing and Logistics, and Customer Service. From December 2013 to December 2014 (1 year 1 month) Vice President of Operations (Caravan Ingredients) @ Caravan Ingredients (a former operating company within CSM nv and now a brand within the Corbion (CRBN) portfolio) is a $450M leading manufacturer and supplier of the finest quality bakery and food ingredients, specialty chemicals, polymer additives and specialty blending equipment primarily to the North American market. In this role I led all manufacturing, supply chain (procurement excluded), and supporting activities (safety, quality, engineering, and planning) including five manufacturing plants, two distribution centers, and customer service. From August 2011 to December 2013 (2 years 5 months) Senior Vice President of Supply Chain @ Feeding America is a network of more than 200 food banks across the country that distributes more than 3 billion pounds of food per year to hunger relief agencies and food insecure Americans. In this role I led the national product sourcing and supply chain functions, along with the internal continuous improvement programs at the national office to enhance member service. Product sourcing and supply chain programs included: - donation sourcing from every segment of the food supply chain including manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers - fresh produce procurement from growers, packers, and shippers - purchasing of additional core commodities and consumer staples to augment declining food donation volumes, and - transportation services to leverage the scale of the network on behalf of individual food banks From July 2008 to August 2011 (3 years 2 months) Greater Chicago AreaProject Leader @ BCG is a global strategy and management consultancy with annual revenues of $2B+. As a consultant and project leader at BCG I worked in small teams on critical projects for Fortune 500 companies. I participated in the Industrial Goods, IT, and Operations practice areas and my project work covered everything from strategy to implementation. My clients were in a diverse range of industries including distribution, manufacturing, disease management, professional services, agriculture, and non-profit. Functionally, I did work in inventory and supply chain optimization, new supply chain development, IT architecture and operations reporting, innovation process design, recruiting, strategy, and acquisition assessment. From August 2004 to June 2008 (3 years 11 months) Nuclear Submarine Officer @ As a submarine officer on the USS Michigan Gold Crew, I completed six 11 week strategic deterrent patrols during my 3.5 year sea tour. During that time, I managed four different divisions of 5 to 20 sailors in several different departments, led daily operations of the submarine at sea as either the Engineering Officer of the Watch in the nuclear propulsion plant or as the Officer of the Deck in the control room, and planned and coordinated execution of maintenance and overhaul activities while in port. Trained and drilled in submarine warfare; gratefully I never had to use those skills. From June 1997 to July 2002 (5 years 2 months) Greater Seattle Area

MBA, Strategic Management @ The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania From 2002 to 2004 MS equivalent, Nuclear Engineering @ Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program From 1997 to 2001 BS, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science @ Washington University in St. Louis From 1993 to 1997 Nick Blawat is skilled in: Strategy, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Leadership, Process Improvement, Strategic Planning, Management, Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Change Management, Supply Chain, Business Strategy, Program Management, Management Consulting, Manufacturing, Logistics