约翰·利维

John Levy has fifty two years executive experience in retail merchandising. Twenty years with a family owned Department Store (Levy Brothers), after which he founded and built his own specialty store business (The Better Half) over a thirty-two year span. He also conceptualized and organized the formation of a nationwide trade organization (The LLAMA Group) and served as it president.

At Levy Brothers where he was a 4th generation family member, he rose through successively more responsible merchandising positions to become company President. He had close and continuing contacts with the principals of major manufacturers such as Estee Lauder Cosmetics and Pendleton Woolen Mills as well as many others of similar renown. He was a member of two major resident buying offices servicing department stores across the nation. (Independent Retailers Syndicate) 和 (Mutual Buying Office). Levy ran store principal meetings for both offices and had ongoing contacts with the CEO’s of both large (100 Million Plus) as well as smaller stores. 在 1975 he experienced the trials and tribulations of a bank orchestrated Chapter Eleven proceeding.

在 1976 he founded a woman’s apparel specialty store catering exclusively to large sizes and named it The Better Half. He successfully expanded to a four store operation and in January 2008 sold the company to an employee. In the fall of 2008 Levy will begin teaching courses in fashion merchandising and retail buying at Kean University, one of New Jersey’s largest institutions of higher learning with a population of over 13,000 学生.

Levy founded and established a nationwide trade organization consisting of homogenous, non-competing specialty stores across the country all specializing in better large size womens apparel. (The LLAMA Group). The concept was to use the buying power of the group to accomplish that which could not be done at the individual store level. So with a “ten million dollar pencil” the group: (1) utilized group purchasing to negotiate price; (2) secured exclusive styles with the LLAMA label; (3) established a figure exchange program which tabulated merchandising and expense figures for comparison purposes; (4) produced two 4-color fashion catalogs each year with individual footprint capabilities; (5) published a monthly newsletter; 和 (6) 计划每年两个成员会议在纽约和在会员店位置. 该集团聘请了产品开发经理，并租了一个纽约的办公室. 利维被选为董事长兼运行组前四年之后，他担任名誉主席. 这个小组成为一个 “力市场” 并建立了一个先例证明，小企业联合起来能够与更大的对手竞争. 利维善于克服个别业主的自我的，并将其塑造成一个可行的商业单位. 这个原型的组织，然后通过零售商的其他团体仿效.

利维竞争笋被称为运动 “体育粘土” (猎枪目标的运动). 他是NSCA的终身会员 (国家体育粘土协会) 和CTSCA (康涅狄格旅行者体育粘土协会).

他拥有纽约大学工商管理学学士学位，在零售业的一大. 利维是门萨国际的一员, 与智商在第98百分位只开放给个人.