LakeWest Group

LakeWest Group's unmatched talent and experience allow retailers to complete complex projects quickly and achieve greater benefits sooner. We have assembled some of the best and brightest minds in retail. Each LakeWest Group member has a unique professional profile with numerous years of practical, retail line-management experience, as well as comprehensive experience in the consulting and professional services industries. Please feel free to explore the summary biographies of our executive officers.

Robert W. Antall
CEO

Mr. Antall has extensive expertise in the areas of strategic planning, business process improvement and information technology as it relates to the retail and wholesale distribution industries. Specifically this includes supply chain management, merchandising, distribution, logistics, forecasting, and replenishment. His clients include such prominent companies as Nike, Liz Claiborne, Toys 'R' Us, Polo Ralph Lauren, Target, and many others. Prior to joining LakeWest Group in 1994, Mr. Antall worked in the retail industry for twenty years in various management roles culminating as the Corporate Vice President, Information Systems, for a billion-dollar, multinational, vertically integrated apparel retailer. Mr. Antall began his career as a systems engineer for the IBM Corporation.

Ken Morris
President

Mr. Morris joined LakeWest Group in 2004. He is the former founder and owner of KMG Solutions, a software company that developed and marketed business process management solutions to the retail industry. Prior to founding KMG solutions, Mr. Morris was the founder and President of CFT Consulting, which was dedicated to serving retailers and their supply-chain partners for their technology needs. Mr. Morris also founded, nurtured and sold a software development firm that markets enterprise software to the retail community. The software, called XBR, is deployed in over 100 retailers worldwide. His experience includes strategy, selection, development and deployment of e-commerce, catalog, and traditional retail solutions for merchandising, in-store, finance, distribution, and logistics functions. He was IS Vice President at Lord and Taylor (a Division of the May Company) in New York and Filene's (a Division of Federated Department Stores) in Boston. He has also held various positions at Talbots, Stop & Shop Supermarkets, Grossman's (Home Improvement), Sears, and was Director of the New England Retail Technology Practice for Deloitte & Touche.

Walter C. Deacon
Executive Vice President

Mr. Deacon has worked for over 25 years with Retail and Consumer Goods companies both as a consultant and in Executive Management positions. Before joining LakeWest Group, Mr. Deacon was elected to the Partnership at PwC Consulting where he won the Chairman's Client Service award for outstanding client service during his twelve years with the firm. Working with such prominent companies as CVS/pharmacy, Gillette, Kmart, Sony, Staples, Publix Supermarkets, TJX and Sears, he specializes in the strategic application of technology to supply chain processes, including planning, procurement, replenishment, logistics, allocation, and marketing. Prior to PwC, Mr. Deacon worked as Director of Business Planning and Development for a regional mass merchant where he ran a large IT organization. Mr. Deacon started his career at American Management Systems in Arlington, VA where he worked on a variety of strategic improvement projects in both the public and private sector.

Sunita Gupta
Executive Vice President

Ms. Gupta has been the hands-on project executive during multiple technology transformation projects including enterprisewide technology engagements involving merchandising, merchandise planning, allocation, finance and operations processes and systems. As LakeWest Group's Point-of-Sale Subject Matter Expert, Ms. Gupta has been responsible for publishing the annual Point-of-Sale Benchmarking Survey results from the top 100 specialty retailers. The results have been utilized by many publications including the Wall Street Journal and Stores Magazine. Some of Ms. Gupta's many former clients include American Greetings, Cole National, Follett Higher Education Group, HomePlace, Jo-Ann Stores, Laura Ashley, Polo Ralph Lauren, and Vitamin Shoppe.

Hunter Harris
Executive Vice President

Mr. Harris has 17 years of management experience in the retail and distribution industries, focusing on assisting retailers achieve improved performance through strategy development, operations improvement, and business process reengineering enabled by information technology. Mr. Harris joined LakeWest in 2007 from Accenture where his clients included J.Crew, Gap, Williams-Sonoma, and Nike. His primary focus was assisting retailers implement forecast-driven solutions for planning, allocation, and replenishment. Prior to Accenture, Mr. Harris was the Vice President of Retail at SAP America where he was responsible for defining best-of-class products and services for SAP’s retail customers. Mr. Harris also held various positions, including Vice President, at Retek, Inc. and CFT Consulting, and began his career in retail with BATUS focusing on retail strategic and financial planning.

Charles Daggs
Vice President

Mr. Daggs has extensive retail systems experience with numerous applications for both corporate and store-level functionality. His primary area of concentrated expertise has been within the store systems and operations environment where he has assisted his clients in developing and deploying large-scale initiatives to facilitate business process changes that achieve strategic corporate goals. These changes have brought about a competitive advantage through the optimization of technology, business processes, and resources from the store back to corporate headquarters. His experience in strategy through implementation project phases has assisted numerous clients including Gymboree, Liz Claiborne, Naval Exchange, Dollar General, Nordstrom, and the National Gallery of Art. Prior to starting his successful career in Management Consulting, Mr. Daggs worked at Talbots for over ten years.

Gary Davis
Vice President

Mr. Davis joined LakeWest Group in 2004, bringing more than 20 years of experience with a variety of retail companies in the areas of information technology, merchandising, planning, process re-engineering, and change management. This includes identifying opportunities for systems and technology to assist in achieving companies’ strategic goals and objectives. With extensive experience in the areas of inventory management, merchandise planning, and store systems, Mr. Davis has led efforts with retailers in the evaluation, selection, design, development, and implementation of enterprise-wide and point solution systems. Some of the retailers Mr. Davis has worked with include The TJX Companies, Sephora USA, Charlotte Russe, J. Baker, Big Lots, TransWorld Entertainment, and Footstar.

Arvin Jawa
Vice President

Mr. Jawa began developing his expertise in the field of retail over 13 years ago during his entrepreneurial days in college, where he established his own retail apparel operation at the University of Rochester. Since then, Mr. Jawa has developed a thorough expertise in the areas of retail strategic planning and development, store operations, business process improvement, systems design and development, and systems implementation, all by way of the work he has successfully conducted for clients such as Toys 'R' Us, The Limited, L.L. Bean, Sesame Workshop and eZiba.com. Mostly recently, Mr. Jawa has been leading LakeWest Group's Consumer Technologies practice area, where he has been servicing and supporting clients through the design, development and implementation of several retail payment, loyalty, and CRM solutions.

Bud Schulhafer
Vice President

Mr. Schulhafer has over 20 years of progressive responsibility in retail both as a consultant and in executive management positions. He has extensive experience in Strategic Planning, Merchandise Planning, Inventory Management, Information Systems, Change Management, and Organizational Design. Specific relevant experience includes "Best Practice" review, assessment, and change management of integrated merchandising technology, process, and organizational design in both expanding and mature retail organizations. His industry experience spans the specialty, discount, department, grocery, and off-price retail sectors. He has experience in a wide range of merchandise planning, allocation, and replenishment applications available in the marketplace today.

Mark Schultz
Vice President

Mr. Schultz has an extensive financial, retail, and consulting career with an in-depth understanding of financial processes and retail systems. His retail experience has centered on ERP package selection, implementation and systems integration, replenishment, price management, and CRM. Former clients include American Greetings, Bergdorf-Goodman, Cole National, Eddie Bauer, Sunglass Hut, Tandy Corporation, The Children's Place, and Thrifty Drug Stores. Prior to joining LakeWest Group in 1991, Mr. Schultz was a management consultant for Coopers & Lybrand and served as a financial systems analyst for Progressive Insurance. Mr. Schultz is a non-practicing Certified Public Accountant.