Company Promotions – June 2016

Posted on June 2, 2016

We are thrilled to announce the following promotions:
 
Adrienne McKinney is being promoted to the General Manager position at the Marietta store.

Adrienne has been working at ATS serving in the capacity as MT since June of 2015. She began her MT training in the Marietta location. She had her retail supervisor training at the Riverdale location. She then went on to Athens where she received her production supervisor training and had the opportunity to run production operations.  Adrienne finished up her training at the Marietta location where she has been overseeing all store operation since November of 2015.  Adrienne has many years of management experience.  Her previous position before coming on board at ATS was DTSM (District Training Store Manager) for Family Christian Stores.
 
Kendra Hill is being promoted to the General Manager position at the Riverdale store.
 
Kendra has been working with ATS for a year and six months.  She has been working as the Assistant Manager of the Riverdale Georgia location for the last year.  She comes to the company with over 15 years of experience in retail management, project management and merchandising.  Prior to working at ATS, Kendra worked as a District Manager covering the South Florida Market with a retail service company that provided merchandising, assembly, in-home projects and new store set-ups. There she hired talent, trained and placed employees on projects she managed for major retailers such as Target, Lowes, Kmart, Office Depot, Family Dollar, Office Max and Staples.  She also worked as a Regional Manager for a Fashion House in Miami Florida. There she covered Puerto Rico, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, New York and Tennessee. While there she worked closely with the sales team, the business analyst and marketing team to ensure new roll-outs and key markets were growing.  Originally from South Florida, Kendra attended undergraduate school and studied Education & Counseling at Grambling State University and focused on International Business at American Intercontinental University.  She is very excited about her new position with the company and the opportunity to use her experience and education to help impact company growth.
 
Mary O’Rourke is being promoted to the General Manager position at the Chattanooga store.
 
Mary joined the ATS team in December 2015 as an MT.  She spent the last seven years as a Store Manager with Savers. She has extensive management experience in the textile rental business. Mary started her career as a Service and Logistics Manager for Steiner Corporation. She was promoted to Plant Manager, and in 1994 became a General Manager for Cintas Corporation and was responsible for all operations in Alabama and Tennessee. Continuing her opportunities with Cintas, Mary relocated to Grand Rapids, Michigan working with the engineering team to design a “state of the art” facility designed to service western Michigan and Indiana.  In 1999, Mary accepted a General Manager position with Aramark Corporation in Atlanta, Georgia. Her duties as General Manager extended from all business operations in the facility, including overseeing an onsite water treatment plant as well as managing fleet operations for all divisions of the corporation. Mary spent the next several years using her vast operations background to help turnaround smaller family businesses into a profitable state.  In 2008, Mary joined the Savers team as a Store Manager and managed 3 different stores in the Chicago market.  During this time, Mary also oversaw several critical corporate projects.
 
Sandy Gandy is being promoted to the Satellite Assistant Store Manager position at the Bessemer store.

Sandy has been with ATS since 2014. She was only seeking employment starting as a cashier. Within two weeks of her employment with ATS she was asked by her supervisor if she would like to be a part of the Front End, needless to say Sandy said Yes! After Sandy’s 90 day evaluation out of over 200 employees Sandy ranked #2. She was then asked by the Store Manager if she would like to be a part of Leadership and become the Night Supervisor. She was excited even more this time. So overwhelmed with emotion she had to decline…No Transportation for the Promotion. That did not get her down Sandy worked even harder and after a month she had that CAR! Sandy transferred in July 2014 to the Bessemer Store where she has been.  In November 2015 Sandy entered the Manager Trainee Program. Before ATS Sandy was an Assistant Manager at Lil Caesar’s. One night change her life…she was robbed in the store at gunpoint. Sandy feared for her life knowing she had to work. After that incident Sandy resigned she was afraid that it would happen again. Things happen for a reason because that situation put her in a whole different direction. Sandy attended Alabama State majoring in Business Administration from 2005-2007. Sandy’s faith in God has elevated her to being SUCCESSFUL!
 
Jared Speaks is being promoted to the Assistant Store Manager position at the Mobile store.

Jared has been with the company for 8 months now. He previously worked for Wal-Mart as an ASM for 3 years, support manager for 1 year and zone merchandise manager for 1 year. Before that he supervised 1 year for Rite Aid. His journey thus far with ATS has been quite the experience in which he has enjoyed a lot. Getting the opportunity to experience and learn from his peers and leaders in other stores such as Tuscaloosa and Alabaster has been very helpful throughout his training process. He has a family which is very proud of his choice in moving to Mobile to begin the exciting journey working for ATS. He has 3 older sisters and 3 younger brothers so he came from a large family in which he wants to make proud. His goal is to work his way up as far as possible into the cooperate world of ATS. He looks forward to growing with the company as the company grows.
 
Lourdes Olvera Ibarra is being promoted to the Assistant Store Manager position at the Tuscaloosa store.

Lourdes has been with the company for four and half years. She was born in Mexico. In 2003 she moved to Alabama, (a whole different environment and language). She had to learn English as soon as possible and without any documents she didn’t aspire to be more than another Mexican worker in the USA. God helped her and she was able to learn the language, graduate with an Advance Diploma and get her documents. In January 2012 she started working with Americas Thrift Store thanks to the recommendation of Adela Molina-Zapata and later that year she married her husband Juan. She started working as a sales floor dropper and six months later she became a clothes pricer then later became a grader. As the production process changed she was given the opportunity to become a CTQ and from there a Supervisor. She is thankful that the company has given her the opportunity to grow and not just be another statistic. Now with two beautiful babies and a loving husband, she is very happy to have completed the MT program.
 
Rachel Watts is being promoted to the Assistant Store Manager position at the Rainbow City store.

Rachael has been working with ATS for a year and six months.  She started out as the Clerk in Rainbow City from 2014 to 2015.  From there she moved into the Retail Supervisor position from July 2015 until October 2015. In November 2015 she moved into the MT Program.  Rachael worked for KTH Leesburg Products (Honda’s Largest Supplier) from 2001 until 2009 as their Staff Accountant.  At KTH Rachael started out as their Accounts Payable Clerk and worked her way up to Accounting Staff.  Rachael has been married for 16 years and has a 26 year old daughter name Chrissy and a 6 year old son name Tristin.  In her spare time, Rachael likes to camp, ride four wheeler and spend as much time as possible outside.
 
Venus Smith is being promoted to the Assistant Store Manager position at the Huffman store.

Venus has been working with ATS for 3 years. She started as a Night Supervisor in 2013 and joined the MT program October 2015. Venus supervised the Family Assistance program for the State of Alabama at the Department of Human Resources from 2005 to 2012. Venus received a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology/Child Development in 2012 from Kaplan University.
 
Chuck Ellison is being promoted to the Loss Prevention and Safety Field Investigator position at America’s Thrift Stores.

Chuck joined America’s Thrift Stores in July of 2015 as a Project Coordinator. During that time he helped transition the company’s cash handling processes. From December of 2015 until May of 2016 Chuck has been working through the MT training while also conducting investigations regarding shortages for the company. Before coming to ATS Chuck worked for Target from 2007 to 2015 in Assets Protection, Leadership, and Investigations. In 2015 Chuck graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Montevallo. 
 
Deanna Dupree is being promoted to the Manager in Training position at the Alabaster store.

Deanna began her tenure at ATS a few months ago as the dock supervisor at the Alabaster store. She is now in the Manager in Training program at the Alabaster store. Deanna’s past experience was the Manager for Maplesville recycling. She was the owner/operator for KayeCee’s Antique Mall for 12 years; where she handled payroll, quarterly taxes, scheduling, development and implementation of operational procedures and job descriptions.  There she establish rules and guidelines for order and productivity for up to 250 separate vendors in a 52,000 square foot retail sales floor facility.  From 1988-1999 she worked as a Controller for the Colonial Pipeline in Atlanta, Ga.  She graduated from Bessemer Technical College with an Associate’s Degree in Electronics.
 
Earnest Neal is being promoted to the ALDM for Georgia position.

Earnest joined America’s Thrift Store in April, 2014 as a Management Trainee in our Chattanooga, TN store.  He was promoted to Store Manager in our Riverdale, Ga. store in September of 2014.  Earnest joined America’s Thrift Store with a background in operations and logistics. Earnest will now report to Cynthia Perlman
 
Carla Tipton has been promoted to the Retail Supervisor management position at the Pell City store.

Carla started working for ATS in March 1997 as a Zone Worker. She mapped out Cities for Zone Solicitors. In 2000 she transferred to Alabaster as Office Clerk and five years later came back to the Pell City location. Carla has been an instrumental Leader, training Office Clerks as well as all levels of Management within the Company. Carla is a hard worker and is always willing to learn more. As of March 2016, Carla has been promoted to Retail Manager in Pell City. In her new role she supervises the sales floor staff.
 
Cindy Ramsey is being promoted to the Retail Supervisor management position at the Tuscaloosa store.

Cindy started with ATS as a store clerk in October 2014. In her time with ATS, Cindy has made herself an invaluable asset to the business in Tuscaloosa. She is also a member of the Office Training team serving to train and assist the Gulf Coast Region. Prior to joining ATS, Cindy worked in sales at Spiller Furniture, as well as in Human Resources at Florida State University. In her new role, Cindy will serve as supervisor for the retail staff in Tuscaloosa. 
 
Denise Lovell is being promoted to the Processing Supervisor management position at the Alabaster store.

Denise has been employed with The America’s Thrift Store as a very successful Clerk. Her previous experiences before The America’s Thrift Store was as a claims Adjuster for Standard and non- Standard Insurance Company. She was also employed as an Office manager for Communications Company. Denise was with U.S Army from 1983-1992 where she was an E4. She had Primary Leadership development course, Small arms repair, warehouse and administrative. In her new role she will supervise the processing team at the Alabaster store.
 
We would also like to welcome the following people to the ATS family:
 
Kathleen Locey, she is a new Manager in Training at the Riverdale store. Kathleen brings over 12 years of retail management experience to ATS. Kathy has worked for off priced retail Big Lots, Kroger and Publix grocery store chains. She is an articulate communicator and effective trainer skilled in achieving employee buy-in organizational goals.  She has the ability to plan, prioritize, multi-task, and work in a fast-paced environment.
 
Danny Morris, he is a new Manager in Training at New Southern Wholesale. Danny is a recent graduate of the warehouse/logistics program at Shelton State Community College. He has experience in sales at City Electric and AT&T. Danny has warehouse management experience and was also the logistics trainer while at BLG Logistics.
 
Marty Wheeler, he is a new Manager in Training at the Mobile store. Marty has a varied background in sales and professional baseball management with the Kinston Indians, Kinston, NC and the Savannah Sand Gnats, Savannah, GA. Marty came to us recently from United Cerebral Palsy of Mobile and Central Alabama. He has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from The University of South Alabama.
 
David Horn, he is a new Manager in Training at the Alabaster store. Past experience was an Account Executive for Dedicated Personnel, Inc.  He spent 10 years with the Shelby County Community Corrections as the Executive Director where he supervised a staff of 32 employees; and supervised daily activities of community Corrections program.  He began his professional career in 1997 as the store Manager for Thrift Stores Inc. in Columbia, SC. There he supervised a staff of 50 including office manager, cashier, drivers, and solicitors.  David has his Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing and Business Administration from Troy University.  David has professional memberships as 2013 Graduate of Leadership Shelby County, Past President AACC (Alabama Association of Community Corrections); Drug Court Task Force Committee Member for State of Alabama and Member of Advisory Council for AL Sentencing Commission.
 
Clarence Alexander, he is a new Manager in Training at the Huffman store. Clarence has over 27 years retail management experience and has supervised small and large staff operations. He came to us from Save-A Lot Grocery Store. He attended Jefferson State Community College and has an Associate’s degree in Retail Management.
 
Cari Brookshire, she is a new Manager in Training at the Alabaster store. Cari’s previous experiences was with Dollar General as the Store Manager. She managed several Dollar General locations in the Montgomery and Prattville area. She also has experience in logistics management with Local Trucking Company, Winn-Dixie and Aldworth Trucking. Cari studied business and accounting at Airbags Vocational School.  
 
Bradley Christopher, he is a new Manager in Training at the Decatur Store. Brad has been a Store Director with Food Land and Belle Foods in Decatur, Alabama. He has more than seven years store management experience. He has his Bachelor’s of Business Administration in Accounting degree from The University of Alabama in Huntsville – Huntsville, AL
 
Ben House, he is returning as an Assistant Store Manager at the Athens store. Ben worked for ATS previously at the Mobile store as an Assistant Store Manager where he was in charge of processing. Marty’s previous work history also includes One Main Financial where he was the Senior Branch Account Executive and sales at AT&T Wireless. He has a Baccalaureate of Arts, International Affairs from Florida State University and a Baccalaureate of Arts, History from Florida State University. He also has German Studies from The University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. He currently serves our country as a Platoon Leader – First Lieutenant in the US Army Reserve