Ryan Martinez Uses Grit and Strategy to Set the Pace at Crate & Barrel

In a post-COVID world, Ryan Martinez focuses more on the customer and strategy while his teams move faster and more intentionally than the competition

Ryan Martinez, VP of Supply Chain, Crate & Barrel

(Photo by JCPenney Portraits)

BY FRANK DIMARIA, HISPANIC EXECUTIVE

Ryan Martinez came from humble beginnings, growing up in a neighborhood where residents experienced socioeconomic challenges. Crime was high and English was rarely spoken as a first language. Being raised in this environment provided Martinez with a certain grit that fueled his relentless pursuit of success.

His parents, of Puerto Rican descent who sacrificed on Martinez’s behalf, were both incredibly supportive. His mother pushed him to avail himself of every extracurricular program offered, and his father, a veteran of the US Army, helped him develop his strategic mindset.

“He taught me to think beyond the possible. I have him to thank for my entrepreneurial spirit. My drive was self-made, initially out of survival and ultimately out of a refusal to be mediocre. Grit is one of the most powerful tools a person could have. Without grit, no story is worth telling,” says Martinez, vice president of supply chain at Crate & Barrel.

Martinez drives Crate & Barrel’s operational excellence by overseeing the home furnishing company’s supply chain operations, end-to-end strategy, and supply chain processes across multiple distribution centers as well as home delivery centers in the central US and Canada. Martinez establishes the roadmap for the enterprise regions, one that focuses on key performance indicators, ensures the proper profit and loss management, and maintains operational excellence.

“I work with my teams to ensure supply chain agility and execution across the country, ensuring that the teams and partners are driving innovation, speed, and service across every market.”

Ryan Martinez

He sees to it that Crate & Barrel is meeting and exceeding the needs of its customers, offering quality products, having a safe work environment, and delivering orders on time, providing an excellent delivery experience.

In a post-COVID world, Martinez is focusing on the customer, and thinking and acting strategically. He’s proactive, nimble, and sensitive to the dynamic demands, constraints, and challenges in an altered supply chain. Today’s retail environment requires that his teams move faster and with more intentionality than the competition.

“I work with my teams to ensure supply chain agility and execution across the country, ensuring that the teams and partners are driving innovation, speed, and service across every market,” Martinez says.

Pace is vital in a world that is constantly changing, and digital is a significant part of that change, according to Martinez. Delivering to the customer becomes paramount, and distribution centers and the teams that run them need to be modern, consistent, and must execute flawlessly. “This means ensuring that we have people, systems, processes, and equipment that are constantly working at the pace of our customers,” Martinez notes.

For example, Crate & Barrel’s newest distribution center in Romeoville, Illinois, leads the digital optimization effort with enhanced technology in automatic storage and retrieval systems, modernized warehouse management systems, and investments in personalization equipment. All of this contributes to the organization’s centralized efforts around building a world class digital customer experience.

Over one thousand Crate & Barrel employees working at multiple distribution centers and home delivery centers are under Martinez’s direction. He employs an empathetic, authoritative leadership style, which he adopted from his years of experience in and out of the professional environment.

To Martinez, people centricity and customer focus are key and come first at Crate & Barrel. “[That means] having humility and understanding that your people are key to your operation and its success. Putting myself in their position but also ensuring that I never forget the customer,” Martinez says. He uses a clear communication style and sets expectations while serving as the standard.

To ensure his employees grow as the company grows, he invests heavily in them. “It means understanding that life happens, but also being fair and consistent so that there is always an understanding that we are here for the customer. It means upholding high standards and not compromising what’s right,” the VP shares. He goes on to say that leaders must go the extra mile and never forget the vantage point of each professional position.

Whether due to his grit, work ethic, or strategy, Martinez has had the privilege of being part of several successful organizations, including Merck, Amazon, HelloFresh, and Anheuser-Busch InBev. Working for Crate & Barrel has offered him a chance to work for a company that’s transforming and evolving. “It allows me to impact domestically and internationally, then add the incredible culture that is Crate & Barrel and how they demonstrate their mantra of L.O.V.E.–Living Our Values Every Day—and that’s the best part of the job,” Martinez says.

Being a first-generation Hispanic college graduate, Martinez knows and stresses the importance of STEM and employee diversity, both of which are integral to Crate & Barrel’s mission. In college he was in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. Later he participated in recruiting events at professional conferences and college campuses.

“I wanted to give back to the collegiate youth in the same way by affording them the opportunities to gain the experience they needed to be successful and recognized,” the VP says. The best part of STEM, according to Martinez, is that math is the universal language and science and technology do not necessarily need a specific first language.

“It shows the representation of intelligent contribution across all cultures.” Martinez utilizes STEM and an insatiable focus on people and innovation to build the teams today who will execute the dreams of tomorrow.

Hispanicexecutive.com