Katja Gerber

VP & GM leading HP's eCommerce business for its largest region, the Americas, across Category Management, Marketing, Sales, Merchandising, Content, UX, Operations, Customer Service, Strategy, and Planning. Managing team of 600 people across multiple countries. Full P&L responsibility for $600M business. Doubled Operating Profit in two years by driving profitability across the entire value chain through margin expansion and OPEX management.

Managed HP's eCommerce business for its largest country. Accomplished turn-around, returning the business to growth for the first time after five years. Increased Operating Profit by 41% YoY. Reinvigorated operating cadence and moved to tight real-time performance metrics. Performed change management, integrated business unit into regional structure, and drove alignment across the company.

Defined short- and long-term strategy, directed planning and forecasting, scoped external business development, led strategic big bets to success. Managed teams of 300 people across multiple countries for end-to-end store operations (incl. factories in China and Mexico, warehousing logistics, order management, fulfillment) and customer support (incl. near- and off-shore Contact Centers). Saved >$1M OPEX. Rated top talent and “strongly exceeds expectations.”

Product Lead for Innovation Labs team in Apple’s e-commerce organization (the world’s second-largest online retailer with presence in ~40 countries). Developed omni-channel strategy, drove innovation initiative on the future of commerce across online and retail. Defined vision, led product strategy, identified new domains, built online and mobile shopping platforms at the intersection of product, tech, UX. Integrated Beats by Dr. Dre e-commerce activity during the largest acquisition in company history.

Drove >40% of Swiss direct sales revenue; achieved highest growth with largest portfolio of multinational key clients in travel, telco, consumer goods, banking. Launched innovation project across Europe with >150 CEOs. Won Innovation Best Practice Award. 5 published best practice cases. Awarded Best European Client Pitch. Selected public speaker. Consistently rated top-performer and “strongly exceeds expectations.” Successfully completed 6-month leadership development program for top 1% high potentials.

Directed 5 sub-contracting companies (market research, branding, legal, apparel production, store design) for branding of soccer in Qatar ($2M budget) and development of sports apparel brand, including comprehensive business plan. Administered corporate services: Strategy and corporate development (including new business), financial (planning, reporting, cash flow), legal (contractual, brands, company foundations), main liaison for Board of Directors.

Led competitive benchmarking of online banking user interface with team of experts for major Swiss bank ($>1T AUM). Prepared acquisition target profile ($25B AUM) and key positions recruitment for medium-sized Swiss bank.

Led 70 students as MIT $100K Pitch Contest Director to organize event of the largest university entrepreneurship competition. Teaching assistant for Competitive Strategy (60 students). Cross-registered at Harvard Business School and MIT’s computer science department.

Selected as one of 40 students nationwide among all 200K Swiss students (0.02%) to be admitted to the Swiss Study Foundation based on proven excellence and potential to achieve exceptional accomplishments in society.

Won awards for highest Matura grade of class (100 students), best French Matura exam as selected by the French Embassy, Matura Project, and Schollenberger Prize for highest grade of the school (750 students).