Group Vice President - South

Follett Higher Education; Westchester (IL); On-site; USD 180,000 - 290,000; Full time

Job summary

Follett Higher Education is seeking a Group Vice President (GVP) to develop and implement corporate strategies across regions and stores, driving financial, operational, and customer-service goals. The role requires leading regional managers and aligning with Home Office initiatives and campus partnerships.

The GVP will oversee budgeting, omnichannel strategies, and program activations such as Follett Access and campus integrations, while ensuring compliance with policies and applicable laws.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of managing regional/district levels and multi-unit oversight.
• 10+ years of management experience leading 150+ employees.
• Strong financial acumen and retail industry experience.
• Excellent organizational, interpersonal, communication, and problem-solving skills.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership and strategic vision for multiple regions and stores.
• Establish budgets with sales and profit goals and monitor performance.
• Supervise regional managers, including staffing, training, and performance.
• Coordinate with Home Office departments to advance company initiatives.
• Visit stores to audit performance and ensure policy adherence.
• Plan marketing for contracts and renewals with campus partners.
• Engage with academic communities and campus events.

Skills

Financial acumen

Leadership

Communication

Problem-solving

Strategic thinking

Presentation skills

Staff development

Decision making

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Job description

Westchester, Illinois, USA

The Group Vice President (GVP) develops and implements corporate strategies to achieve the store's financial, operational, and customer‑service goals while addressing each Group, Region, and Store's unique challenges. The GVP will drive accountability for financial planning, omnichannel sales, expense management, goal setting, territory allocation, Follett Strategy, and Program activations and implementation as well as stakeholder relationships.
In addition, the GVP will be the corporate representative for Follett to our campuses and be accountable for communicating account performance and opportunities, industry trend data, implementing Follett solutions and growth initiatives such as Follett Access, Follett on Demand, and campus integrations of Follett Discover and collaborating to execute.
As a leader of teams, the GVP will motivate, coach, train and strengthen Regional and Store Managers as team leaders, retail operators, and business owners, serve as a resource and provide expertise on key customer issues, team staffing, and management, store operations and company policies and procedures, and ensure that our locations are meeting/exceeding the Operational Standards and that all operations are being executed in accordance to company policies, procedures, and applicable laws.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for providing leadership and oversight for a number of regions. Provides strategic vision in support of company objectives. Regularly communicates with school contacts regarding Follett business issues, stores, and industry trends. Establishes a budget with sales/ profit goals for each region and store and monitors each region and store budgets to measure sales/profit performance, monitor cash flow, track inventory, and insure compliance with company policies and procedures.
• Manages and supervises regional managers including staffing, selection, training, and performance management. Makes salary recommendations and when necessary disciplines and discharges assigned staff. Communicates with regions to provide updates using a variety of formats including conference calls and regional meetings.
• Works with Home Office departments to ensure company initiatives, store policies, procedures, and standards, Acts as an advocate for one Home Office department completing quarterly meetings and reports with the corresponding advocate.
• Visits stores to inspect their merchandise presentation, ensure loss prevention procedures are enforced, policy adherence, and verify customer service excellence. Suggests improvement and resolves any problems that may require high-level decision-making. Provides feedback to ensure correct product assortments, promotions, and planning for events.
• Works closely with business contacts, store transitions, and home office departments on new store openings and store closings.
• Accountable for the group's budget. Analyzes monthly stores' and regions' financial performance. Identifies any trends and adjusts budgets and store plans accordingly. Plans the annual budget and forecasts course materials and other department sales, profits, expenses, sets targets for course materials sales, and reviews regularly.
• Plans the coordination of marketing Follett for new contracts and renewals to a school in conjunction with the Marketing representative.
• Meets with key members of the academic community on campuses to remain informed of new developments, assess FHEG's reputation, and promote Follett as a leader in the college bookstore industry.
• Attend campus events.
  

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree is required. Master's is preferred.
• 5+ years of managing Regional/District Manager level, including multi-unit management experience.
• 10+ years of management experience leading a team of 150+ total employees, including training, developing, and coaching.
• Strong financial acumen and retail industry experience are required in this role.
• Strong organizational, interpersonal, communication, and problem-solving skills.
• High energy, self-motivated, with a positive attitude that is contagious to others.
• Ability to multi-task as well as stay on task and concentrate with constant activity
• Self-motivated and inspired to produce results.
• Must be able to make business decisions based on financial reports.
• Exceptional business etiquette and the ability to effectively conduct presentations and influence top management are paramount.
• Road warrior -- visit stores and audit stores' performance.
• Ability to solve problems and demonstrate critical thinking skills.