MERILYN GRIFF
1534 Ninth Street
Fort
Lee, NJ 07024
(201) 592-8930
mgriff@griffmonster.com
SUMMARY
A manager, administrator and systems analyst who is fluent in French. Operational and financial experience in information systems, office management, purchasing, inventory control, accounts receivable, sales, customer service, human resources and marketing with a track record for improving efficiency and cutting operational costs. Major strength is problem solving ability combined with excellent computer and organizational skills.
Global conglomerate based in Korea with 55 affiliates in chemical, energy, electronics, industrial equipment, metals, telecommunications, finance and service sectors. Annual revenue $85 billion.
Sales Administration
Specialist
· Coordinate business
operations for importation and sale of Injection Molding Machines.
·
Support
thirty regional sales representatives to develop business and increase
sales. Provide product quotations,
competitive shipping rates, technical assistance and after-market support.
Negotiate contracts, financing, lease buyouts; facilitate customs
clearance.
·
Inside
sales; cultivated 23% of annual sales in 2003.
·
Prepare
monthly sales and inventory reports, analyze profit and loss financial
reports. Validate and control expenditures,
process orders and calculate sales commissions.
·
Developed
procedure to monitor and collect receivables; reduced past due payments and
retrieved uncollected funds.
·
Organize
national sales meetings. Project
manager for major international plastics industry trade shows in Chicago, NPE
2000/NPE 2003. Reduced cost by 38% in 2003. Responsible for new exhibit design,
logistics, booth services, facility installation and utilities, banquets,
housing. Coordinated with headquarters in Korea.
· Technical writer and editor
of marketing material, product manuals, catalogs; work with ad agency and trade
publications to create advertising copy and execute marketing plans.
· Interfaced with technical
group to produce trouble shooting guides and operating manuals designed to
increase productivity of service technicians and decrease plant downtime.
· Interfaced with IT
Department for website development and design of new J.D. Edwards Sales System. Received President's Award for major
contributions in creation of corporate website.
Manufactures and markets paper, packaging, chemicals and wood
products. Fortune 500 company
generating
annual revenues of $4.5 billion; employing 19,000 people in 40 countries.
Office Administrator
·
Managed
Chemical Division's secretarial staff and inter-business unit work flow
processes.
· Improved quality of output
and reduced office supply expenditures through consolidation of inventory and
purchasing.
· Interfaced with technical,
marketing, and customer service groups throughout the corporate network to
resolve business and customer issues. Acted as a liaison for eight regional
field sales representatives.
·
Provided
computer support to the division. Identified PC problems, installed upgrades
and consulted on Microsoft Office applications.
·
Responsible
for commercial and environmental projects. Participated on project development
teams to design on-line systems for account information management and customer incidences.
·
French
interpreter in North African business negotiations.
· Managed events including
annual Global Sales Meeting with 100 international participants. Responsible
for site selection, agenda, activity planning, and follow-up reports and
analysis.
RADVision,
Inc., Mahwah, NJ 1995
Develops, markets and sells innovative desktop
videoconferencing communication solutions for Local and Wide Area Networks.
Member of the RAD Group, a foreign based corporation with more than $125 million
in worldwide sales.
· Performed start-up
operations for new North American branch office created to promote
international sales and expand global distribution.
·
Responsible for all office functions including customer support,
billing, purchasing, inventory control, shipping, import/export transactions.
·
Developed
marketing strategies for product introduction into American marketplace.
Researched and conducted telemarketing to identify the market, locate
developmental partners and end users, and to establish nationwide network of
distributors and system integrators. Relationships established to develop
solutions for AT&T, Intel, and IBM.
·
Coordinated
trade shows, seminars and promotional conferences.
Euro-Tire, Inc., Fairfield, NJ 1983 - 1994
An importer and nationwide distribution firm with $9 million in annual
sales. Wholesale and direct mail divisions; retail locations in NJ and CT.
· Coordinated functions of office, warehouse and service locations.
· Managed a 950-customer, $4 million wholesale operation with total responsibility for screening new accounts, assigning lines of credit and collecting receivables.
· Established credit verification and collection procedures which resulted in less than 1% losses and a 15-day average on past due accounts.
· Supervised order processing for retail and direct mail divisions and instituted controls which eliminated charge card fraud; handled customer service problems.
· Managed employee benefits program. Selected and administered a health care plan with a $7,500 self-funding option which reduced benefit costs.
· Interviewed, hired and supervised sales and clerical staffs.
Systems Analyst and
Programmer 1983 - 1994
·
Reorganized
business operations by developing a database management system for 25
workstations in four physical locations.
· Increased operating efficiency and reduced staffing needs by automating order entry, order processing and shipping.
· Established inventory control and tracking systems.
· Designed accounts receivable billing system which reduced past due balances by 60%.
·
Trained
employees in Databus software applications.
Proficient
with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint; JD Edwards Sales System.
Fluent
in French; resided in Paris for eight years.
EDUCATION
University of Pennsylvania and New York University, 1983.
B.A.
with honors in French and Computer Science.
Sorbonne
and the Institute for Political Science, Paris, France.
Project Management Course,
1998.