Global Retailer Helps Students Understand Sourcing Daniel Dias, senior vice-president of sourcing and May-Ling Martinez, senior vice-president of sourcing from Perry Ellis International came to speak about Global Sourcing to students in the Retail Leadership Seminar. They spoke of the importance of sourcing in the supply chain. They educated students on all of the aspects [...]

Offering Excellent Customer Experience Amy Casari, Enterprise Holdings Talent Acquisition Manager for Northeast Florida, came to speak to students about the consumer experience. Enterprise is the largest car rental company in the world as measured by revenue, fleet, and employees. The company hires over 8,000 college graduates a year. Amy shared how Enterprise’s mission statement [...]

Retail Student of the Year Elizabeth Early has been recognized as the Retail Student of the Year for 2022-23. As a senior at the University of Florida, her goal was to give back to the school that shaped her into who she has become. Elizabeth admits that as a freshman, she had no idea where [...]

Meet Gator in Retail: Susan Chronister Susan Chronister is the head of US and Canada Retail Sales for Belkin International. She serves on the executive board of the Miller Retail Center. Susan studied at UF and the Miller Retail Center, where she gained valuable connections and guidance toward a career in retail. While attending UF, [...]

Perry Ellis International Discusses Innovation Gina Avila, the Executive Vice President of Design and Merchandising, and Joan Kolski, the Senior Vice President of Merchandising for Perry Ellis International, visited Friday's Retail Seminar class to talk about the history of Perry Ellis International and its culture of innovation. Their focus as a company is to offer [...]

Being Innovative and Competitive Go Hand in Hand This week, the Miller Center had the pleasure of having Tom Goden, the Director of Pharmacy and Retail Operations for Walgreens in the Northwest region of Florida. Tom talked about the relationship between innovation and competitiveness. In a competitive market like pharmacy/retail, he showed us some of [...]

CEO and Chairman Matt Beall Visits Retail Society Matt Beall, CEO and Chairman, Bealls This week, Gator graduate Matt Beall, the CEO and Chairman of Bealls, visited UF students as part of a Retail Society gathering. Matt spoke about how his great grandfather started the company back in 1915. The historical company lost the business [...]

Valencia Key Internship An Inspiring Experience by: Kaylee Needham Kaylee Needham This summer, I had the honor of interning for VALENCIA KEY. After completing my internship, I discovered that VALENCIA KEY is far more than just a jewelry and lifestyle brand, but it is an entity that transcends its wearers to greatness and inspires love, [...]

Research to Protect Assets and Customers Read Hayes, Director, Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC), Research Scientist and Criminologist The Miller Center had the pleasure of featuring Dr. Read Hayes, the Director of the Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC), research scientist, and criminologist. Read started his presentation by talking about the types of crime that can [...]

Macy's Marketplace Elliott Glass, Digital and Customer Strategy Team Lead, Macy's The Miller Center was grateful to be able to welcome Elliott Glass, the digital and customer strategy team lead for Macy’s. Within digital innovations, Elliott develops ways for the customers to interact with Macy’s. He spoke about the innovations in customer experiences. The latest [...]