Resume of Mark Connolly

Mark Steven Connolly

E-mail: Connolly.Marks@gmail.com                  Cellular: (214) 354-4199

LinkedIn Profile

Expertise: Effective communicator able to build relationships across disciplines from logistics to retail to corporate. Independent thinker with big picture sensibilities while staying focused on core business goals and directing the HR function to meet and support those goals. Expert in Employment Law, Employee Relations, Investigations, development of Policy and Procedure, Consensus Building and Team Building. Expert in developing and delivering training classes across a broad range of competencies and target audiences. Accessible and easy to talk to; able to coach and counsel in a relaxed manner that encourages management to seek guidance on HR issues.

Experience: Minyard Food Stores, Inc., Coppell, Texas (peak operation 83 retail stores, 7800 employees, 850K square foot distribution center)

1993 – Present Director of Human Resources and Loss Prevention (scope of responsibility for Retail, Distribution, and Corporate)

Human Resources Responsibilities:

♦ Managed Human Resource Department of 10, including oversight of the staffing function for 83 stores, a 300 person corporate office and a 300 person distribution center.

♦ Interpret governmental rules, regulations and procedures and create policy to ensure compliance.

♦ Managed all investigation processes pertaining to Employee Relations, Harassment, Discrimination and Loss Prevention issues.

♦ Managed recruiting process for entire company, from entry-level package clerks to fork lift drivers to senior retail and corporate management, including the pharmacy and executive recruiting.

♦ Created atmosphere which fostered an environment that encouraged management to seek guidance on cross-functional HR issues and which served to continuously develop management and leadership skills.

♦ Proactively worked for Union Avoidance through Positive Employee Relations and an Open Door Policy.

♦ Prepared and delivered position statements in regards to EEOC claims yielding a 100% dismissal rate.

♦ Proactively trained staff in TWC claims management resulting in 97% win rate and lowering of tax rate to .02% above the minimum.

♦ Utilized company’s weekly newsletter to write HR articles to develop and reinforce consistent HR practices.

♦ Responsible for professional development of salaried staff in both HR and Loss Prevention.

♦ Created, maintained and coordinated employee engagement programs to promote company goals in the areas of customer service, teamwork, and professionalism.

♦ Developed and managed centralized and decentralized on-boarding programs that provided comprehensive understandable explanations of benefits and company expectations which fostered employee engagement.

♦ Created and maintained Employee Handbook. Implemented legacy file to capture job specific knowledge across the department that had developed over time (and without documentation) in order to protect loss of company knowledge when a long-term employee terminated from the company.

Human Resources Development Responsibilities:

♦ Developed and/or facilitated classes on: Harassment, Interviewing, Employment Law, Loss Prevention, Unemployment Claims Handling, Performance Improvement Program (PIP), Onboarding Program, Performance Management, Diversity, Cash Control, and Workplace Violence.

Loss Prevention Responsibilities:

♦ Managed Loss Prevention Department of 8, including oversight of the Loss Prevention function for 83 stores, a 300 person corporate office and a 300 person distribution center.

♦ Coordinated implementation of covert camera systems, handled contract negotiation of new alarm systems, solicited bids, selected company and mapped out new installations.

♦ Developed LP investigators by training on investigation techniques, utilizing on the job training and review.

♦ Developed forms for standardizing investigations and store walk-downs.

♦ Proactively worked with management to identify and reduce internal theft.

Education: 1996 – Associate of Arts, Richland College, Richardson, Texas

Human Resources Certification Institute: Professional in Human Resources (PHR – lapsed)

Various Workshops, Courses, Seminars, Specialized Certifications

Skills: MicroSoft Office Suite, Oracle HRIS, ADP HRIS, Keyboard 55 wpm,

Intermediate Spanish (written and spoken)

Significant Achievements:

♦ Recognized need for bilingual staff and proactively hired to better serve our growing Hispanic employee base

♦ Began Spanish Club informally at lunch time leading into the company arranging Spanish language classes for management and selected corporate employees

♦ Managed Senior Recognition program altering the program to save money while providing more meaningful recognition.

♦ Initiated a cash loss initiative which reduced our cash losses from just over .6% of sales to under .2%.

♦ Slashed recruiting budget from $100k to $36k in one year while improving recruiting results.

♦ Created decentralized on-boarding program which allowed quicker turnaround time for retail.

♦ Reduced TWC tax rate to .2% above the minimum through effective training of claims handlers and management

♦ Negotiated rate change for 3rd party handling of WOTC from 15% of tax credit to 7%.

♦ Reduced hiring arc on new store staffing from 9 weeks to 6 weeks greatly reducing training expense.

Call Me!  214-354-4199