Retail Guru Ed Carroll Joins Weather Trends International’s Advisory Board of Directors

Weather Trends International is honored to announce that retail industry expert Edward P. Carroll has accepted an Advisory Board of Directors position with the company effective immediately.  “We have worked with Ed for 6 years to apply business-weather insights into the retail planning process and are absolutely thrilled to have him on our team,” said Bill Kirk, CEO of Weather Trends International.  “If you don’t factor in the weather in retail you’re missing a big piece of the planning puzzle and will always be surprised by too much or not enough inventory, badly timed promotional events and missed opportunities,” said Ed Carroll, former EVP of Bon-Ton Stores, Inc.  “I look forward to working with Bill and the team at Weather Trends to help the company change the way the world looks at long-range business weather guidance,” added Carroll.

Ed has served as a Chief Marketing Officer and executive committee member for over 30 years at The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc, Saks Incorporated, Carson Pirie Scott & Co, P.A. Bergner &Co. and Supermarkets General Corp.  This diverse experience and a consistent willingness to re-engineer and innovate have uniquely qualified Ed to assist others in optimizing business performance through a combination of organizational collaboration, strategic vision and marketing expertise.  Ed specializes in building market share and comparable store growth with unique and sustaining promotions; multi-variable factor testing; merger and acquisition planning and execution; internal staff development; marketing systems innovation and implementation; analytics management development; loyalty program development/implementation; proven sales promotion successes; Cause Marketing Branding; CRM systems development and strategic planning framing and implementation.

Ed is Board Chair for the National Retail Federation (NRF), Retail & Advertising Marketing Association (RAMA) and Board Chair for Goodwill Industries of SE Wisconsin & Chicago Area.  He is recipient of several awards to include Retail Advertising and Marketing Assn. Hall of Fame award winner voted on by the advertising and marketing professionals in the retail industry; National Retail Federation's Silver Plaque award winner given to the senior level executive who exemplifies the quality of leadership and positive contribution to the retail industry.