Armin Kakas

Revify Analytics

Revify helps mid-market businesses ($10MM - $2B) move from data overload to profitable action. Our RGM-as-a-Service combines accessible, advanced analytics with expert Pricing & Revenue Growth Management advisory, providing a clear roadmap to unlock hidden margin leaks and drive revenue growth without enterprise-level complexity or cost.

Co-Founder

Revology Analytics

Revology Analytics is at the intersection of Advanced Analytics and Revenue Growth Management and specializes in impact and execution. If profitable growth, EBITDA expansion, and higher valuations are your goals, our strategies can help you achieve them.

We help mid-market companies ($10 million to $1 billion in revenues) overcome hurdles and elevate their business with pragmatic solutions focused on three critical areas:

1. Pricing & Revenue Management

2. Sales & Marketing Enablement

3. Commercial Analytics Transformation

Founder | Managing Partner

Pricing Lever

Consulting Partner for boutique Pricing Strategy advisory firm focused on Industrial Manufacturing and Distribution.

Consulting Partner

EBITDA Catalyst

Consulting partner for a specialized Revenue Management consultancy for middle-market and private equity portfolio companies. My advisory work focuses on three primary areas:

1. Margin Analytics & Optimization: Building 90/10 custom solutions for mid-market firms, primarily Manufacturers and Distributors, who want to augment their decision-making capabilities.

2. Promotion Effectiveness & Optimization: From distributors to retailers, provides crucial expertise to maximize ROI in this critical lever of profitability.

3. Sales & Customer Growth Analytics: Building on all-around analytics chops & deep understanding on the human sales execution factor, enables growth with both insights and Sales teams training & playbook development.

Reliancy

Senior Advisor for leading Sales & Marketing Enablement AI/ML advisory firm.

Senior Advisor - Revenue Growth Analytics

American Tire Distributors

I co-founded, built and scaled ATD’s first ever corporate analytics startup, driving incremental profits, valuation and industry profile for parent company ATD. Reporting to subsidiary CEO, I steered the data monetization strategy and execution of customer-facing ML-enabled SaaS solutions, growing the business from 0 to over 2,500 retail locations and manufacturers as customers. Additionally, drove ATD’s analytics transformation by prioritizing and building internal enterprise analytics solutions that augmented organizational decision-making capabilities, shifting the business to a data-driven culture.

A few key accomplishments in this role include:
• Forged key strategic partnerships with 10 of the 15 largest Point-of-Sale (POS) providers in the automotive aftermarket industry. Opened new revenue streams and paved the way for monetization of syndicated, anonymized POS transactional data.
• Led 15-member commercialization team (data translators, business development and sales ops managers) and influenced 50-member technical team to build innovative SaaS solutions that solved key customer pain points in competitive market and pricing insights, inventory management and optimization and profit / sales mix optimization.
• Realized substantial revenue and EBITDA growth for parent company in 3 years after conceptualizing and launching advanced analytics products across supply chain, revenue management and sales. 
• Represented analytics startup at industry conferences and served as trusted advisor and AI-translator to both ATD senior executive team and key clients within tire industry.

Vice President, Advanced Analytics Commercialization: Chief Customer Officer of Analytics Incubator

I was brought on to transition the revenue management function into a data science-driven department. I shifted the department to a Lean framework and expanded pricing capabilities by creating the company’s first in-house machine learning-enabled pricing solution that improved cash flow and liquidity using R, Python and Google Cloud SQL. 

Key accomplishments in this role include:
• Through architecting and deploying clearance price optimization platform, unlocked $300M in liquidity and $15M in gross profits from unproductive inventory despite difficult market.
• Developed and deployed descriptive and diagnostic price and margin analytics dashboards companywide using Tableau.

Director, Advanced Analytics: Head of Pricing and Margin Analytics of $5B Enterprise

Wells Enterprises

Recruited to transform administratively focused pricing team into strategic revenue growth management (RGM) group with analytics and strategy foundation for top 5 manufacturer of frozen desserts. Built RGM function from ground up, delivering volume and profit growth and providing actionable performance insights that optimized decision making. Shapeshifted business strategy and culture by establishing four key capabilities: 1) pay-for-performance mindset for promotions; 2) value-based pricing for private label business; 3) advanced analytics driven pricing architecture; 4) dynamic scenario analyses and optimization.

• Achieved 5% and 3% EBITDA growth in FY16 and FY17 despite relatively flat industry. Employed strategic price increases, restructured rebate programs across all channels, implemented rigorous pricing council reviews, and optimized price pack architecture.
• Brought order to chaotic pricing structure process by selecting team of 8 to create and implement standardized pricing strategy and processes and right size price and product positioning based on perceived price-value maps.
• Drove 13% in total Gross Profit $ in FY16 (+11% in unit volume and +2% in GP$ per unit) for anchor brand via tiered pricing strategy and optimized promotion plans that maximized in-store display and advertising support.
• Orchestrated launch of Tableau server and promotional data warehouse migration in MS Azure. Enabled self-serve descriptive and diagnostic price and margin analytics companywide. 
• Harmonized shipment and sellout data to produce macro- and micro-level promotion effectiveness platform that raised ROI from 80% to 92% in 1.5 years.

Director, Revenue Growth Management: Head of RGM and Advanced Analytics of $2B Consumer Goods Co. 

Best Buy

Accelerated dynamic pricing capabilities as lead of data science team in pricing and merchandising strategy analytics. Masterminded strategy and blueprint for pricing strategy across 1K+ stores. Engineered algorithmic framework to implement dynamic pricing for physical and online stores. Led global team to develop innovative solutions that drove business growth.
•	Designed pricing science roadmap, authored descriptive/predictive analytics capabilities, and directly contributed to the evolution and adoption of human capital/resources.
•	Cut 70% of budget by insourcing strategic planning and implementation function enterprise wide. 
•	Produced 30+bps jump in gross margin after introducing adaptive pricing techniques / capabilities.
•	Won Leadership Award for personal impact based on transformational strategies within pricing function.

Head of Price Analytics & Modeling: Building and Implementing Dynamic Pricing for $50B Retailer

MillerCoors

Collaboratively led a talented, tenured team of analytics professionals responsible for all aspects of revenue management for 500+ distributors and approximately 4k Walmart/Sam’s Club stores.

♦ Drafted an organizational roadmap for retail chain revenue management capabilities. Realized category and margin growth with the use of advanced price analytics.
♦ Successfully delivered unique and specific insights through a combination of integrated data and machine learning methods. Improved the quality and sustainability of newly presented insights.

Manager, Pricing Analytics and Strategy: Head of RGM for $700M Walmart / Sam’s Club Business Unit

GE Capital

♦ June 2011 - June 2012: Sales Force Effectiveness (SFE) Leader
♦ June 2008 - June 2011: Experienced Commercial Leadership Program (ECLP) Participant/Graduate
- 3rd ECLP rotation: Marketing Analytics (GE Capital Retail Consumer Finance - now Synchrony Financial)
- 2nd ECLP rotation: Marketing Analytics & Strategy (Vendor Finance - now part of Wells Fargo)
- 1st ECLP rotation: Price Analytics & Strategy (Equipment Finance - now part of Wells Fargo)
- ECLP Internship: Corporate Finance

Commercial and Consumer Finance Analytics and Strategy (various)

Revenue Growth Analytics advisor to executives in charge of growing Net Revenue, Gross Profit, and Sales Productivity | Posts and articles about Revenue Management + Machine Learning insights, methods, and processes.

As the founder of Revology Analytics, I have the privilege of offering mid-market businesses unparalleled expertise in advanced Revenue Growth Analytics & Management, focusing on three core advisory areas: Pricing & Revenue Management, Sales & Marketing Enablement and Commercial Analytics Transformation efforts. 

Beyond my advisory work, I am the creator of the Revology Analytics Insider, a bi-weekly newsletter offering readers unique insights into the world of Revenue Growth Analytics. You can catch the latest issues on LinkedIn and our website, revologyanalytics.com/articles-insights.

To learn more, please visit revologyanalytics.com

Revology Analytics is a Revenue Growth Analytics consultancy for middle-market companies in the Manufacturing, Retail, and Distribution industries.

We are an impact- and execution-oriented advisory firm founded on Outcome-Based Analytics™, with focused specializations in AI/ML-enabled Margin Analytics & Optimization, Sales & Customer Growth Analytics and Promotion Effectiveness & Optimization.

360training

Director of Analytics

Johnson Outdoors

Drive DTC revenue and consumer engagement by leveraging advanced analytical skills to provide insight, analysis, and recommendations to all 8 brand teams.
•	Lead development and implementation of long-term data strategy.
•	Architect and own development of Looker Studio dashboards and reports.
•	Ongoing consumer database development and reporting.
•	CDP/CRM management.
•	Modeling and segmentation.

Digital Analytics Director

Responsible for CDP, customer segmentation, and email marketing strategy for 8 consumer outdoor recreation brands. Led migration of third-party data platform.

Marketing Consultant

MasterBrand Cabinets, Inc

Led development of data reporting and warehousing for new eCommerce division. 
•	Developed new dashboards for eCommerce sales via retail partners (The Home Depot, Lowe’s, Wayfair), combining POS, web analytics, and competitor data.
•	Conducted market share and competitive review analyses.
•	Developed ratings & reviews Pareto analysis to identify emerging quality and logistic issues.
•	Created detailed weekly product reporting for product management team.

Senior Manager - eCommerce Analytics

Direct Supply

Responsible for GTM strategy for Health & Wellness (healthcare), the largest of Direct Supply’s four product segments. Initiated and executed all large strategic marketing initiatives for the division, which includes the healthcare equipment, clinical and rehabilitation markets.
•	Responsible for the launch of DS smart™, a software platform linking patient diagnostic   equipment with electronic medical records; included competitive analysis, market and website launch with full brand development for multiple buyer profiles across three distinct market segments. 
•	Developed go-to-market strategic and channel launch plans for new Direct Supply-branded and national brand healthcare products.
•	Executed innovative campaigns for adjacent and non-traditional market segments.
•	Hired, developed and mentored team of marketing professionals responsible for mar comm, sales enablement and training material for Health & Wellness. 
•	Trained 300+ sales professionals on new program launches.

Segment Marketing Director

Customer Marketing Director

BuySeasons, Inc.

Responsible for revenue, forecasting, budgeting and bottom-line results for retail ecommerce costume division, the largest of BSI’s four divisions. Created and implemented strategic marketing initiatives, customer acquisition and retention campaigns and managed marketing mix across all channels.
• Developed site wide marketing offer and promotional schedule and strategy for BuyCostumes and Costume Express to promote revenue streams and increase conversion.  
• Developed iterative testing plans for costume sites, focusing on A/B promotional offer tests, user experience and mobile optimization to ensure a positive customer experience and maximize response.
• Managed marketing mix and cost to improve overall marketing efficiency, leading to a 17% reduction in year-over-year cost per order in 2015.
• Led customer segmentation and brand identity research projects to identify niche markets and new product opportunities.
• Launched new high-end product line, The Nightmare Collection, a departure from current product lines and target market, providing an incremental revenue stream.
• Worked with major licensors (Universal Studios, Disney and Warner Bros.) to develop co-marketing partnerships to increase sales of licensed merchandise.
• Renegotiated three large vendor contracts, generating $300K in savings over two years.
• Managed conversion to a new third-party CRM/marketing database system to provide expanded customer management and tracking capabilities.

Digital Marketing Director / Director of Retention

F+W Media, Inc.

This role was with New Track Media, purchased by F+W Media in early 2014.
Responsible for all online marketing for 10 online storefronts and 13 consumer magazines (total annual revenue of $19 million).  Managed corporate email calendar and an ecommerce marketing team of 4 employees.
• Launched one new magazine and 2 related online stores opening revenue streams in new consumer hobby markets.  
• Developed cross-functional marketing strategy for new educational webinar and online television product and a new digital brand to leverage content for maximum revenue potential.
• Led marketing project to determine customer lifetime value and developed offer sequencing plan to maximize long term profitability and enable targeted marketing through customer segmentation.
• Designed new weekly and monthly report package utilizing Google Analytics data, internal fulfillment system data and ESP data.
• In 2013, revenue was up 10% over prior year in the ten storefronts.  Email revenue was up 27% in 2013 across all properties.

Digital Marketing Director

Responsible for all marketing efforts, revenue and bottom-line results for 11 consumer magazine titles with a total circulation of 260,000 and annual revenue of $6.4 million dollars, exceeding budget by 6% in revenue and 3% in profit. Supervised a team of two marketing professionals and completed all financial forecasting models.
• Implemented several cross-departmental marketing plans to increase customer spend to include related digital products, conferences, online retail and education.
• Planned and executed over 30 direct mail campaigns per year, generating $1.4MM in revenue, an increase of 3% over prior years. Also created monthly email marketing campaigns for 13 magazines.
• Identified cross-affinity strategies by testing successful campaigns across new customer groups.

Circulation Marketing Director

Reader's Digest Association

• Responsible for conversion of a fulfillment system—a key corporate initiative that generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings.
• Led a corporate initiative to create a new data warehouse to be used for departmental forecasting, budgeting and reporting of financial data.

Senior Marketing Strategist

Responsible for day-to-day operations of Book Marketing division that generated $70 million in annual sales, accounting for 26% of company’s revenue and 42% of profit, the most profitable division within Reader’s Digest North America. Responsible for strategic planning, new product evaluation, and divisional budgeting & forecasting. Supervised a staff of five marketing professionals.
• Oversaw all product management functions, including creative, logistical and analytical functions, for all 25 products.  
• Developed a book product concept with the editorial staff that became a $10 million product over several years. The company later launched a magazine based upon this concept.
• Reviewed and approved all marketing plans for the division, including approximately 50 mailing plans per year. Mail quantities ranged from 100,000 to over 3 million each.

Marketing Director

Digital Analytics Director at Johnson Outdoors | MSDS Northwestern University

Analytics and Marketing Director with strong skills in strategy and execution, data analysis and innovative product launches. Known for a unique ability to interpret data in ways that create strong brand vision and actionable marketing plans. Recognized as a strong collaborator with excellent strategic planning, team building and budgeting/forecasting skills.

•	Digital Analytics
•	Marketing Strategy
•	Product & Product Line Launches
•	Product Management
•	Budgeting and Forecasting
•	Advanced Analytics
•	Project Management
•	Customer Segmentation
•	Competitive Analysis
•	Catalog & Direct Mail Planning/Analytics
•	System Implementation and Conversion
•	CRM Management
•	SQL
•	Python
•	R
•	Google Tag Manager
•	Google Analytics
•	Looker Studio
•	Tableau
•	PowerBI

My CliftonStrengths are: Learner / Achiever / Analytical / Responsibility / Harmony

taplio

The Battle

Armin Kakas

Kristen Allen

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?