Management Team
Sharon Gardner, Co-Founder and President
Ms. Gardner has more than 20 years of experience in the retail enterprise software industry with a focus on business-to-consumer and business-to-business retail commerce. President and co-founder of VendorNet, now a fully owned subsidiary of GSI Commerce Inc., Ms. Gardner is responsible for pioneering innovative cross-channel fulfillment solutions and the concept of virtual warehousing by leveraging the Internet and industry best practices to cohesively connect retailers to their suppliers.Prior to founding VendorNet, Ms. Gardner held executive positions at Ecometry Corporation (now Escalate Retail), a leading enterprise order management software provider, serving as Vice President of Client Services from 1990 to 1997, responsible for the company's client support, training and installation functions, then as Vice President of Product Management and Marketing from 1997- 2001, helping the company launch a successful IPO.
Prior to her tenure at Escalate Retail, Ms. Gardner served as Group Director, Client Services at Acxiom Corporation, a leading direct marketing services firm. There, Ms. Gardner was instrumental in building and maintaining a strong client base for Acxiom's catalog fulfillment services division, which provided telemarketing, order management, data processing, and warehouse fulfillment services to major retail and catalog companies.
Michael Helm, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer
Mr. Helm is the primary architect and chief engineer of the VendorNet Commerce Suite platform and is instrumental in driving the evolution and development of its core technologies. Mr. Helm is a supply chain expert with 20 years of experience designing and delivering technologies to the retail industry.Prior to co-founding VendorNet, Mr. Helm managed a successful technology consulting firm, which provided retail system design, development, and deployment services. Mr. Helm's company supported a number of marquee accounts with new and innovative technologies that enabled real-time collaboration between a retailer's catalog, stores, and return/repair operations. Mr. Helm also held top research and development positions at Ecometry Corporation (now Escalate Retail) and held logistics management positions at First National SuperMarkets.
Mr. Helm has a Bachelor of Engineering and a Masters in Manufacturing Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute of Massachusetts.
Eric Rankin, Vice President, Development
Mr. Rankin has more than 18 years of retail application software development and management experience. As Vice President of Development, Mr. Rankin is responsible for VendorNet's development life-cycle methodology and manages its business integration tool set that delivers exceptional efficiencies and reliability in the supply chain network.Prior to joining VendorNet, Mr. Rankin was with Ecometry Corporation (now Escalate Retail), responsible for the design, development, testing, and implementation of e-commerce and back-office systems. During his eleven year tenure at Ecometry, Mr. Rankin also held key management positions with responsibility for customer installations and technical support.
Mr. Rankin is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Computer and Information Systems.
Jay Andrews, Senior Vice President, Field Operations
Mr. Andrews leads VendorNet’s Sales, Marketing, and Professional Services organizations with responsibility for domestic and international markets.Mr. Andrews is an accomplished executive with more than 25 years of experience increasing organizational performance through sales, marketing, operations and the alignment of business strategies. Previously, Mr. Andrews held various executive positions with private, as well as public technology and professional services organizations including JDA Software Group where he was Group Vice President and managed the consulting services organization with oversight of US, Canada, and Latin American regions, and Technology Solutions Group where he served as a Senior Vice President with responsibility for the global supply chain practice. Mr Andrews began his career in technology with Logility as the Director of Channel Sales and Infinium Software where he was a Director of Major Accounts in North America.
Mr. Andrews holds a Bachelor of Arts, Finance and Management from Houston Baptist University.
