Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
References
Awards
Timeline
Generic

Courtney Barfield

Washington D.C.

Summary

Highly experienced senior-level professional in the Retail Store and Customer Servicing Specialty field, with a proven track record of success. Demonstrated expertise in entrepreneurship, leadership, personnel management, marketing, and financial skills. Former Nationwide Vice President at DryBar, a rapidly growing retail company, where I achieved significant results. Also served as a disruptive store leader at Alchemy43 and COO of venture-backed wellness salon Varnish Lane. Strongly motivated and determined to lead and serve an organization that offers opportunities for career growth. Committed to furthering my entrepreneurial spirit and objectives.

Overview

30
30
years of professional experience

Work History

Executive National Director of Retail (East)

Lovisa
09.2023 - Current
  • Partnered with the founder and global CEO on executive board initiatives, including expansion strategies and product development
  • Identified, hired, and trained high-performance teams, fostering operational excellence and long-term growth
  • Implemented scheduling and staffing efficiencies, reducing payroll costs while maintaining performance
  • Increased stock integrity and reduced loss by 60% within six months
  • Successfully turned around 20 impairment locations, moving from negative EBITDA of -17 to positive EBITDA
  • Reduced travel costs through strategic planning and streamlined operations
  • Identified and secured real estate locations for the next fleet of stores, ensuring growth alignment
  • Developed and implemented a robust recruiting strategy, achieving stability and retention with a full succession plan
  • Delivered significant market turnaround: from -26% decline to a +5% increase in sales by year-end under my leadership
  • Tripled KPI performance, positioning the Americas as the top-performing region globally

Chief Operating Officer

Varnish Lane
03.2021 - Current
  • Senior Executive responsible for all aspects of enterprise and retail store operations
  • Implemented the annual operating & business plan – including store and location expansion from 3 stores upon onboarding to a current 7 stores under my purview to a forecasted growth of 12, pending funding
  • Doubled company revenue stream while marginally increasing profit profile on a per store, and Varnish Lane, basis
  • Developed and implemented of standard operating procedures within stores to drive maximum efficiency, growth, and uniformity for scale
  • Hired and staffed a management and front line team from a crew of 20 full-time equivalents to 110 professionals
  • Architected personnel and staffing plan that ensures the highest standard of services rendered while ensuring productivity, cost management, and customer satisfaction while increasing company pride and culture
  • Managed fastidiously corporate and store budgets to ensure overhead, administrative, and other costs align with revenue
  • Established the Varnish Lane Training Program (VLTP) for all incoming hires to ensure the expectations, standard of customer care, and roles are clear and repeatable to scale
  • Oversaw all supply chain cycles of inventory management from vendor negotiations to sales tracking and throughput to yield a model that minimizes cost, manages cashflow, and maximizes revenue/profit
  • Expanded customer reach from retail stores and services to online sales of products that increased revenue, profit, and customer loyalty
  • Engaged with Co-Founders to raise capital and strategize on corporate and tactical business plans for company growth
  • Spearheaded marketing campaigns that involved successful utilization of various social media channels as well as state law and certification for best practices in the field

Vice President of Stores

Alchemy 43
02.2019 - 03.2021
  • Senior Executive responsible for all aspects of retail store management
  • Defined culture, ethos, and core values to include development of recruitment, retention, and reward programs for retail store personnel
  • Result—Increased retention by 88% and productivity of staff by 30% as measured by customer throughput
  • Upon 1st Quarter in the role, successfully took all 4 stores to positive EBITDA
  • Developed training curriculum to focus on scaling the business through customer-centric and product up-sell initiatives
  • Designed marketing campaigns with heavy use of social media to drive awareness and customer volume at all stores
  • Resulted in 4.6 times increased in memberships compared to prior year
  • Launched National 2-day campaign that increased average tickets and saw triple digit comp increase for kickoff to Q4-2019 and resulted in the largest 2-day revenue in history of company
  • Improved customer experience, through personalization of services and increased product offerings hence increased revenue generation at all 4 stores nationwide
  • Resulted in increased client acquisition which represented 43% of new revenues
  • Handled all aspects of store expansion and growth
  • Opened store in New York City with zero guidance or supervision
  • From location selection, to build out, hiring of personnel and grand opening, the Flat Iron Store achieve great success as measured by strong revenue growth and +EBITDA within 3 months of opening
  • Fastidious P&L management of budget to maximize revenue and yield increasing profitability
  • Decreased in-store costs while improving customer experience
  • Negotiated with vendors in the entire supply chain to decrease cost of golds sold and improve the bottom line at each store
  • Restructured organizational processes in stores to gain best in class operational process and flow

Vice President of Stores

DryBar
01.2016 - 02.2019
  • Key leader in charge of store expansion and management
  • Grew the DryBar storefront nationwide from 23-140 locations
  • Built high performing and accountable teams that delivered highest customer satisfaction and yielded high retention rates at all geographic locations
  • Included but not limited to, hands on interviewing of each store staff member
  • From customer interfacing beauticians (stylists), to administrative support, management, and regional directors
  • Team constituted of 14 Regional Manager Direct Reports, 1 East and 1 West coast regional director report, 16 Logistic coordinators, and 8 Lead Educators, with over 2,800 Stylists nationwide
  • Knowledge of and compliance with state-wide laws for all operations
  • Strict P&L Management and oversight—Balanced investment spend and costs of goods sold with projected growing customer revenues to yield highest profitability quarter on quarter until business scaled to be the standard in hair beautification
  • Provided Corporate Leadership with accurate forecasting for nationwide revenue, COGS, and profitability through all segments of services & products
  • Drove predictable growth to satisfy cashflow requirements with investors
  • Doubled market profit margins from 17%-35% by building a loyal client base, creating maximum booking opportunities, increasing ATS by driving the education of add-on services, at-home care, and dramatically reducing labor and operating costs by implementing efficient and cost effective processes and procedures
  • Optimized schedule platform to gain maximum efficiency& profitability
  • Spearheaded Strategic Partnerships: Aligned with Netflix and HBO to gain National exposure for over 100 store locations
  • Partnered with Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, Sephora and Ulta for pop up initiatives to gain brand awareness which ultimately resulted in closing deals for store locations inside of Bloomingdale’s (SOHO) and Nordstrom NYC/Vancouver
  • Retail products then marketed inside Ulta and Sephora making it the top selling products in their respective first year launches
  • Created NexGen Stores concept with heavy retail focus and became the new footprint for all stores from #70 on
  • Increased retail sales on average by 130 % over prior years once the concept shop launched
  • Created and launched holiday campaigns with store and online retail growth
  • Sales (online + in-store): $468,555 (prior year: $220,526); yielded +112% growth YoY
  • E-Comm Total Product Sales: $295,816 (prior year: $110,772) yielded +167% growth YoY
  • Total gift Sales: $36K (prior year: $25K) yielded +44% growth YoY
  • Black Friday: $84.7K Online, $53.7K In-store
  • Saturday: $32.3K Online, $46.7K In-store
  • Sunday: $40.9K Online, $32.2K In-store
  • Cyber Monday: $138K Online, $39.9K In-store
  • Led National Design Summit meeting that hosted all architects/ executives/founders/construction teams to discuss and put in place all capex items and plan for growth as we scaled nationwide
  • Opened full bar in 3 Las Vegas locations double the size of normal stores
  • First year yielded over $2M in sales
  • Keynote Speaker and face of DryBar to Directors, National Store Managers, and Stylists nationwide

National Field Director

DryBar
01.2015 - 01.2016
  • Instituted company-wide audits for all training and store operations to ensure compliance and accountability
  • Implemented a balanced score card Initiative Program that tied to the operational audit with key performance indicators
  • Scout new locations and develop real estate strategy based on company growth goals and key demographics
  • Introduced and implemented roll out of new time keeping system (Kronos) across all channels
  • Established weekly & monthly P&L flash reports to provide visibility at store locations’ performance relative to projections
  • Developed and implemented marketing promotions to build strong pipeline for future growth
  • Integral to growing the business and employee base from 30 managers to over 150 with over 3800 employees
  • Managed all aspects of Visual Merchandising including creating, execution and evaluation of impact on sales
  • Oversaw all inventory management procedures to ensure limited shrinkage and optimal inventory in all retail locations
  • Launched National Stylist Appreciation Day campaign that reached and gave back to over 3k stylists
  • Increased membership YOY by 12% company-wide as well as increased cost per ticket by over 50%

East Coast Field Director

DryBar
08.2014 - 01.2015
  • Promoted in role due to tremendous success as Regional Manager of D.C
  • / Virginia and Maryland
  • Incorporated New York City, Philadelphia, and Miami into the HR, P&L, and Marketing responsibilities in prior role
  • Opened over 20 locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and New Jersey, 3 in Miami, 3 in Philadelphia
  • Applied operational algorithms established from prior role and had all stores EBITDA positive in 7 months

Regional Manager, D.C./Virginia/Maryland Stores

DryBar
03.2013 - 08.2014
  • Drove top line sales and increased each market revenues by an average of 28% year over year
  • Recruited, trained, and mentored 22 new managers and built succession plans so that all, including me, I could grow
  • Established from concept to implementation first ever nationwide store operations plans that increased uniformity, quality, efficiency, compliance, and accountability
  • Developed operational algorithm for store success
  • Manage labor costs and cut down on operational costs to yield profits
  • Integral to nationwide store growth through geographic research, opening, marketing, and staffing
  • Traveled to potential store sites & collaborated with architects and designers on store design and customer potential
  • Monitored contractors to ensure opening date deadlines were met
  • Recruited, interviewed and trained all levels of personnel from store managers, assistant managers to stylists, assistants and receptionists
  • Determined schedules for receptionists and technicians that ensured a steady flow of business
  • Coordinated training sessions for pre-opening teams
  • Worked collaboratively with the Product Development Team and Lead educators
  • Researched vendors and ordered merchandise for shops
  • Established policies and procedures relating to HR, dress codes, store opening/closings and daily operations
  • Lobbied, advocated, and successfully pushed to: Pass law for all salons/ spas in MD to be able to serve alcohol to clients
  • Governor deemed July2 National Buttercup (DryBar Logo) Day in MD
  • Increased regional memberships by 16%; which in turn yielded increased recurring revenue and increased customer attach

Owner & Managing Director

Courtney Styles
03.2002 - 03.2013
  • Founded, operated successfully and grew mobile beautification and hair style service
  • Delivered 5-star level of customer experience as demonstrated by 98% repeat customer service calls
  • Handled all aspects of client management, oversight of delivery & quality assurance

Customer Experience Provider

Ratner Companies
08.1994 - 03.2002
  • Front line stylist with a diverse expertise and customer base for hair style services

Education

GRAHAM WEBB INTERNATIONAL
Arlington, VA
08.1994

VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY
Richmond, VA
06.1993

References

Available Upon Request

Awards

  • Top Stylist in Washington, D.C., 1995-1997
  • Various Leadership and Excellence Awards, DryBar, 2013-2019

Timeline

Executive National Director of Retail (East)

Lovisa
09.2023 - Current

Chief Operating Officer

Varnish Lane
03.2021 - Current

Vice President of Stores

Alchemy 43
02.2019 - 03.2021

Vice President of Stores

DryBar
01.2016 - 02.2019

National Field Director

DryBar
01.2015 - 01.2016

East Coast Field Director

DryBar
08.2014 - 01.2015

Regional Manager, D.C./Virginia/Maryland Stores

DryBar
03.2013 - 08.2014

Owner & Managing Director

Courtney Styles
03.2002 - 03.2013

Customer Experience Provider

Ratner Companies
08.1994 - 03.2002

VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY

GRAHAM WEBB INTERNATIONAL

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Courtney Barfield