President, BrandsMart U.S.A.
brandsmartusa.com
THE STORY: I graduated from Brown University in Rhode Island, where I studied Organizational Behavior & Management along with History. I was considering becoming an attorney, but after college, I started in consulting at Accenture. I spent eight years there supporting many e-commerce and retail brands in defining and implementing innovative solutions to their challenges. Then I joined Office Depot to lead their merchandising efforts. After gaining additional experience at several other major retail brands, I joined Aaron’s in 2016. I’ve had multiple roles since — Chief Merchandising & Supply Chain Officer, Chief Transformation Officer, and Chief Operating Officer at the Aaron’s business. Most recently, it has been my pleasure to serve as President of Aaron’s since November 2020, and as President of BrandsMart U.S.A. since Aaron’s acquired the company in 2022.
WHY I CHOSE TO WORK IN COBB: The Aaron’s Store Support Center, which is what we call our corporate office, is located here in Cobb County at the Galleria. That area really showcases a lot of what Cobb has to offer, so it was top of our list when it was time to consider locations for a new BrandsMart U.S.A. store.
WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT YOUR JOB? I love leading a business that allows me to engage consumers and find ways to meet their needs. The market is always changing and customers are always changing, so you must be proactive, stay ahead of the curve, and innovate to keep up and develop new ways to meet their needs.
LEISURE TIME: Outside of work, I enjoy staying active by running and hiking, and I love watching sports. But most of all, I enjoy spending time with my family. My wife, Melissa, is a pharmacist, and we have been married for 27 years. We have two kids — Natalie who is a rising senior at Northeastern University, and Andrew, who is a freshman at The University Of The South in Sewanee, Tennessee. We also have two lively dogs — Sierra, a Portuguese Water Dog, and Baxter, a Maltese. They keep our house busy and interesting!
BEST ADVICE: I’m a big believer in avoiding complacency. Take challenges head on and use those situations to help mold you as a person — and as a business leader — so that you can face the next challenge that comes (and another one always will) with greater confidence and more experience.
WHAT’S NEXT? We’re super excited about the BrandsMart business. We have 12 locations now, eight in Florida and four in Georgia, including our newest location in Cobb County near Kennesaw State University, which opened earlier this summer. The store is doing tremendously well, and we couldn’t be more excited to bring BrandsMart back to Cobb County. Next up, we want to continue to grow the business — inside Cobb County, outside Cobb County — anywhere we need to be to meet the customers’ needs for home goods, such as furniture, appliances, and electronics, with the greatest product selection and the lowest prices available.
