
Sean Prestia
SUMMARY
Starting early in my career, I developed a data-driven approach to my work, with a bias toward efficient execution of business strategy. With more than six years of experience in roles ranging from Finance, M&A, and Product Management in the hydroponic industry, I have a proven passion for gathering and analyzing complex data to drive revenue and cost savings.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE​
Hawthorne Gardening Co., Vancouver WA – Product Manager
October 2018 - October 2020
Portfolio product management of 25+ brands under 3 product groups – HVAC, air movement, and filtration totaling $135M+ in annual revenue.
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Developed the strategic direction for the CanFilter & MaxFan brands. Grew the business from $11.5M to $32.2M over two years via lobby efforts, quality improvements, and inventory readiness.
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Delivered an incremental 40% gross margin on the CanFilter Original product line via R&D testing and raw material cost outs, while also improving the user experience.
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Collaborated with cross-functional teams, including marketing, engineering, procurement, regulatory, and R&D, on the product development lifecycle for the CanFilter & MaxFan brands to increase product quality.
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Hawthorne Gardening Co., Port Washington, NY – Sr. Analyst, Finance/ M&A/ Corp. Dev.
July 2014 – October 2018
Managed P&L, balance sheet, and yearly budget of $250M+ using SAP PRD, SAP BPC, and BlackLine.
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Completed monthly and quarterly close process of 5 business units, utilizing SAP Business Intelligence Platform (BIP), and maintained month-end and year-end reporting packages.
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Met with senior management and conducted financial due diligence of 6 acquisition targets. Acquired EcoScraps, CanFilter, and GroIO via M&A efforts.
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Developed market sizing model of cannabis consumption used to understand the impact of future legalization in each state and forecasted the total US cannabis market size at over $100B.
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Implemented financial templates for ad hoc reporting to track marketing budget, sales, and new product revenue forecast resulting in driving sales of higher margin products.
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Scotts Miracle-Gro, Port Washington, NY – Analyst, Operations
April 2013 – June 2014
Worked with Northeast sales team to track in-store POS, inventory levels, product profitability, and sales commissions.
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Utilized SAP Business Warehouse (BW) to create daily and monthly point-of-sale (POS), profitability and inventory reports to help drive sales to more profitable products.
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Created customer specific reports for Home Depot, Lowe's, and Walmart to track daily sales, ad fund expenditures, and inventory levels.
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Eppendorf North America, Hauppauge NY, – Technical Support Representative, NY
October 2010 – March 2013
Provided customers with product and service information on all products including PCR, Cell Manipulation, Pipettes, Centrifuges, CO2 Incubators, and Mixers
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Became the lead technical support rep for the Cell Manipulation line of products
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Won sales contest for most service contracts sold in one month by a technical support representative
EDUCATION & AFFILIATIONS
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Hofstra University – Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Finance
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Stony Brook University – Bachelor of Science (BS) in Biochemistry
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Huntington Oyster Bay Audubon Society – Treasurer · 2018-2019