Workshop/Seminar Information

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Robert Dyer
Divisional Merchandise Director
Wal-Mart

Robert is a highly experienced Retail Industry Executive with over 40 years of diverse and multi-faceted experience, both domestically and internationally, across retail, consumer packaged goods, and marketing companies.

In 2010, Robert joined Wal-Mart as the Divisional Merchandise Director for the Pacific Division, where he is focused on store merchandising execution, customizing store assortments to their market demographics, and other merchandising focused strategic initiatives.  In his last engagement, as the Vice President of Center Store for Save Mart Supermarkets Robert was responsible for all category management activities and P&Ls for the Dry Grocery, Frozen Foods, Dairy/Deli, Liquor, General Merchandise, and HBC departments.  This responsibility covered 249 stores across 3 banners – Save Mart and Lucky (conventional formats) and Food Maxx (price impact format), with stores primarily in Northern California and inclusive of Reno, Nevada.  Robert played a key role in the acquisition and integration of 130 Albertsons stores, where his primary task was the development and institutionalization of customer-centric category management principles into the Merchandising and Operations Teams of Save Mart and Food Maxx. 

Prior to joining Save Mart Supermarkets, Robert spent nine years as an industry consultant affiliated with Winston Weber & Associates, Inc., where Robert worked with retailers and suppliers in the U.S., Asia, Canada, and Mexico.  He has consulted on various retailer and supplier initiatives involving Center Store, Non Foods, and Fresh product categories, where he specialized in management strategy, organization structure, business process re-engineering, change management and category management skills development.  His client list included HE Butt Grocery Company (U.S. and Mexico), Save Mart Supermarkets, Raley’s Supermarkets, Liquor Control Board of Ontario (Canada), Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, Gigante (Mexico), Wellcome Supermarkets (Hong Kong), Hormel, Pennzoil-Quaker State, Del labs, and U.S. Smokeless Tobacco.

Robert Dyer has held various sales management roles throughout the industry, such as, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Advantage/Billings, Vice President of Category Management at PIA Merchandising, Trade Marketing Manager of Sales Technology and Communications at Reckitt & Colman, Senior Director of Marketing at Catalina Marketing, and Director of Sales and Customer Service for  Information Resources, Inc.  He started his retail career with the Vons Companies in various retail operations, and Information Systems management positions, where he helped pioneer personal computer usage, scan data analysis, segmentation marketing, store cluster analysis, and strategic store design and development.

Robert has a BS degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California, and is a graduate of the USC Food Industry Management program.

Ms. Bright is responsible for developing and implementing policy and strategies for stakeholder management within AT&T’s Global Supplier Diversity.  She has performed these responsibilities since 1998.  She has more than 25 years experience in the telecommunications industry and has developed professional expertise in the areas of supply chain inclusion, marketing, training, public relations, product and project management. After earning her Journalism degree at San Francisco State University, Ms. Bright worked for one of the largest cable companies in Silicon Valley. She gained valuable knowledge about industry transformation during the deregulation of the cable industry and this experience proved useful when she later joined AT&T when the telecom industry was in the midst of a divesture.   

Ms. Bright has held a variety of management posts within AT&T in: Sales and Service, Training, Billing Services, Product Management, and Channel Support. In her current position Ms. Bright oversees Supplier Diversity internal and external outreach and stakeholder initiatives.  Her team develops public relations strategies, communications and manages several stakeholder relationships important to AT&T.  Each year AT&T participates in over one hundred outreach events to meet prospective diversity suppliers in its efforts to maintain a diverse global supply chain. Ms. Bright has conducted numerous workshops about supplier diversity best practices for several chambers of commerce, regional business councils of the National Minority Supplier Development Council, the Women Business Enterprise National Council, and other supplier diversity advocacy organizations. 

She is a board of director member for the Northern California Minority Supplier Development Council.  She has served local communities as President of Jack and Jill of America, Contra Costa County and as a member of the Professional Women of AT&T, Telecom Pioneers and is a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI).  She has been recognized by Diversity Plus magazine, the California American Indian Chamber of Commerce, Center for Creative Leadership and Up The Hill Foundation.