Brand Guarde

I created this company because I am passionate about fighting for the things that matter in life.
I started my first business with $400 and a dream of being able to provide a better life for my family and be present for them. After a couple years of hard work and dedication to that dream, we saw our first venture grow to a multiple 6 figure business that allowed me to work from home and watch our little girls grow up. This was possible largely due to the exposure and tools the Amazon platform gave our business.
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I have also experienced the pain and frustration of seeing those dreams threatened by doing business on Amazon. Our company has battled counterfeiters and unfair blemishes to our reputation while also navigating the shifting rules and confusing seller support. As we have worked to overcome those challenges, we have gained valuable insight into the processes and strategies necessary to succeed on Amazon.  We want to offer this experience from the trenches of e-commerce to help other businesses take control on Amazon and turn this marketplace into a channel of strength.​

Co-Founder

Legacy Market

I began dabbling in e-commerce with a dream of working from home and spending more time with my family. We started out primarily selling on Amazon.com in January of 2015. In our first year, my business partner (wife) and I were focused on learning about selling products online and mastering the Amazon platform. In year 2 we began to really grow our business, and by implementing some new strategies we able to grow to almost 250k in revenue in 2016. Best of all, my dream became a reality  when I left teaching in August 2016 to focus on Legacy Market, and I have loved every minute I get to spend with my family.  We are excited to work with new partners and expand in to new markets. We are poised to make 2017 the best year ever!

Owner

Hammond High Magnet School

I have the awesome privilege of helping educate students at an accredited World IB School. I love interacting with all different types of young people and inspiring them to think about the world from a different angle. I get to challenge seniors to learn wise financial principles and develop healthy money habits so that they avoid common pitfalls and have more options for the future. My Biology class constantly investigates how and why nature works the way it does. I so enjoy seeing the process of discovery take place. My vision is to see young people gain an appreciation for continual learning so that they can reach their full potential.

Biology and Financial Math Teacher

5 Stones Media, LLC

We help businesses target new customers and engage with current customers to drive action through Website Design, SEO, Social Media Management, and Email Marketing. Our mission is to see businesses thrive by becoming a strategic marketing partner.

Marketing Maestro

SLU Baptist Collegiate Ministry

Successfully planned and led a group of ten students on a three-week mission trip to East London, South Africa in June 2011.

Working with groups on the leadership team to plan and execute various events for the ministry.

Set up promotional displays on campus and actively engage college students with information about upcoming events.

Student Ministry Intern

Is your E-Com team struggling with maintaining MAP pricing or cleaning up 3p resellers online?  

If you are like many of our clients it can feel next to impossible because:
A) You don't have a great way to accurately track pricing and resellers online (especially big catalogs)
B) No one person owns the initiative or if they do it's an add on responsibility
C) You don't have a clear process to tackle the problems that gets results  

We have helped E-commerce teams for some of most respected brands regain pricing and distribution control online (Amazon, Walmart, and the across the internet).
 
We help them implement a 5 part LASER Framework:

• Legal Foundation for Enforcement (Reseller Policies / MAP Policies)
• Automated Monitoring via our Brand Guarde tracking software
• Seller Investigation and Identification
• Enforcement Module or Team (Physical letters, Email, Phone Calls) 
• Reporting key insights through your dashboard, email notices, and regular meetings

To learn more visit: www.brandguarde.com

Specialties: 
MAP Monitoring and Enforcement
Unauthorized Seller Removal
Brand Protection on Amazon and Walmart
Unauthorized Seller Investigations 
Distribution Strategy Consulting
Reseller Policy Creation
Amazon Brand Registry,
E-commerce strategy consulting

Learn more at www.brandguarde.com

Joe Kovacs

Buyers Products

Key Account Manager

E-Commerce Analyst - Amazon

Tinuiti

Responsibilities
•	Support all cross division client communication, projects, and deliverables 
•	Proactively assist in the maintenance and enhancement of the client’s brand and product on Amazon
•	Ensure & facilitate cross channel communication both internally & externally (Agendas, Actions Items/Follow Ups, Client Updates, etc)
•	Perform audits of client catalog data and make updates to enhance SEO and the customer experience
•	Troubleshoot operational challenges
•	Assist in deck creation for client presentations (QBR’s, Monthly/Campaign Recaps, etc) with data collection and analysis, and to ensure that formatting, grammar and flow of content is accurate and on-brand
•	Utilize BI Analytics and other performance dashboards to provide data insights, find areas of opportunity, and drive client performance
•	Identify opportunities for process improvement to simplify the path forward

Associate Account Manager

Lowe's Companies, Inc.

Responsibilities
• Analyze key performance indicators to identify opportunities to improve the online experience, streamline fulfillment, maximize assortment and drive conversion.
• Leverage inputs from CSAT, reviews and Q&A to continuously improve the overall customer experience for assigned brand(s).
• Act as the subject matter expert for the supported brand(s) assortment and strategy.
• Primary point of contact for issues pertaining to online SKU presentation and brand performance.
• Build and lead presentations with suppliers and merchants to drive strategic plans and analyze execution. 
• Provide accurate reporting and insights across the digital channel related to content, product information, assortment and competitive gaps/opportunities.
• Effectively improve conversion and basket by leveraging data to optimize cross-sell, up-sell and bundling strategies.
• Analyze competitive data to provide SKU and pricing optimization recommendations.
• Utilize knowledge of the shopping funnel and site technologies to optimize the search and browse experience for assigned brand(s).

Analyst Brand Advocate

Thermo Fisher Scientific

Responsibilities
•	Commercial Finance Auditing Procedures: Ex., Commercial Sales program accounts, customer pricing structure alignment, account structure maintenance, customer contract compliance requirements, account segment alignment, report structure alignment
•	Maintaining Incentive and reporting requirement structure and deadlines for over 300 customers.
•	Supporting the commercial sales team to provide up-to-date adhoc reporting for customers and senior management.
•	Incentive Plan creation and periodic quarterly updates - including variance analysis and forecasting.
•	Implementing all usage reporting and incentive structures for new customers.
•	Assisting the Finance team with yearly price-roll and pricing creation.

Selected Accomplishments:
o	Acting as Commercial Finance's SME in creation and testing of new invoice processing procedures to enhance and eliminate group credits and automate customer-service line price adjustment crediting.
o	2018 Acting Chair for Pittsburgh's LGBTA Employee Resource Group.
o	Incentive SME for enhanced new contract implementation guidelines for RSD's Commercial Finance Department.

Financial Analyst II

Responsibilities
•	Maintaining and sustaining group account structures, including mapping, coding and assignments, for all accounts falling under the Academic and Government segments maintained by the Finance department.
•	Providing quick and accurate reporting for fellow analysts, senior management and sales representatives to support and provide detail for the proforma/proposal process for Academic and Government segments.
•	Auditing and comparing sales data, reporting requirements and historical incentive payments to current contract terms and customer expectations.
•	Supporting the commercial sales team to provide up-to-date ad hoc reporting for customers and senior management.
•	Creating the incentive forecasting tool for estimated pay outs for customer incentives.
•	Meeting and exceeding deadline requirements for weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual incentives and sales reporting, totaling over a 150+ different evolving requirements for customer incentives and usage detail. 
•	Implementing all usage reporting and incentive structures for new and pre-existing customers during contract creation and renewal phases. 
•	Assisting the Finance team with yearly price-roll and pricing creation for customers in the Academic and Government segments, including interfacing with the Industry Directors and sales team to provide competitive and accurate pricing to reflect customer spend and industry standards.

Selected Accomplishments:
o	Creating, mapping and vetting an entire process flow for management of Commercial Finance's incentive payment checks after adoption of off-site Accounts Payable, Cash Applications and Accounts Receivable teams. Testing a new invoice-approval tool to provide timely and accurate payments for customers while revamping and building SOPs to outline calculation-to-cash for existing and new customers.

Financial Analyst

Responsibilities:
•	Providing 200+ daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly reports for Customer Channels Group’s North American and European customer service sites.
•	Maintaining and troubleshooting Microsoft Access databases that provide reporting to the aforementioned groups with items like customer returns and deduct and hold processes for 15+ warehouses throughout the United States.
•	Responding to adhoc reporting requests for all groups.
•	Working with all groups to provide analytical feedback on performance that will help drive improvement in all site goals.
•	Acting as a liaison between corporate functionality and site mechanics to provide lasting relationships.
•	Committing to all functions of the Performance Reporting Specialist role.

Selected Accomplishments:
o	Creation and implementation of a European Customer Service Quality Management evaluation completion program for sites through the EU.
o	Creation and implementation of an in-depth Quality Management and Performance Analysis process that allows for a better understanding of the agent’s holistic behaviour.
o	Creation and completion of Supervisory Reporting guides to better understand the tools that are provided by the team.

Performance Reporting Analyst

Responsibilities:
•	Running all databases to produce daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly reports for Customer Channels Group’s North American and European Customer Service Sites.
•	Creating and maintaining the Customer Channels Group’s US recognition program, including building monthly and semi-annual awards games and managing the teleconference experience for the agents and management participating.
•	Updating and maintaining the monthly business review for the Vice President of the Customer Channels Group’s Customer Service department.
•	Updating and maintaining all Customer Allegiance Score records through Medallia for North America and Europe at the site and agent level.
•	Running and analyzing  Customer Service Cognos reports for agent error and claims and deductions reporting.

Selected Accomplishments:
o	Creation and maintenance of Microsoft PowerPoint based games for the monthly recognition awards.
o	Steady support of site’s continuing improvement to meet performance goals.

Performance Reporting Specialist

Responsibilities:
•	Implementation of new and existing pricing agreements for non-contract and contract customers.
•	Providing general account maintenance, pricing inquiries, and pricing changes for Industry Directors and their teams (around 100 Sales Representatives) while updating and creating quarterly and ad hoc price catalogues containing over a million items.
•	Maintaining and eliminating line items on more than twenty different daily/weekly/monthly pricing audits.

Selected Accomplishments:
o	Creation of all quarterly price books and price rolls within the allotted time-frames set by the ecommerce group.
o	Maintaining a 24-hour turn-around for all phone calls and emails (approx. 300/week).
o	Understanding and maintaining a working relationship with Finance and Rebate Receivables, departments that notoriously conflict with the Pricing Department.

Pricing Coordinator II

Yankee Candle Company

Second Assistant Manager

Starbucks

Barista

Gap Inc.

Non-Sell Associate

CIGNA

Disability Claim Associate

Mick's Dodge

Finance Assistant

Caribou Coffee

STRATEGIC ANALYST & CHANGE AGENT with 8+ years’ progressive experience and demonstrated success in identifying opportunities for improvement and developing analytics tools and processes which optimize operational opportunities, efficiency, and quality. ADEPT LEADER & COMMUNICATOR skilled in effectively building rapport and developing relationships with team members, clients, industry contacts, and diverse cross-disciplinary partners through a consultative, collaborative approach. Core competencies in:

PROJECT MANAGEMENT    •    BUSINESS & DATA ANALYTICS     •     FINANCE & FINANCIAL ANALYSIS     •      RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT •   SOP/PROCESS DEVELOPMENT    •    CONTINUOUS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT    •     REPORT REVIEW AND DATA STORY CRAFTING •     E-COMMERCE OPTIMIZATION

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Joe Kovacs

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