Faris Alami

Current

• Support Leader at TechTown
• Business Mentor at University of Michigan
• CEO at Integration Systems Management, Inc

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Past

• Chairman at Automation Alley
• Business Manager– Express Division at The Bower Companies, Inc
• Area Manager-Multiple Locations at Pure Beauty, Inc

• Area Manager - Multi Department Manager at Macy’s/Robinson’s May
• Regional Vice President-West and South Regional Training Center at Pacific International
• Proprietor at Sun Daze Enterprises, Inc

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3 more...

Education

• University of Michigan-Dearborn
• Oakland CC
• Arizona State University/Scottsdale CC

• Pima CC

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1 more...

Recommended

9 people have recommended Faris

Connections

328 connections

Industry

Management Consulting

Faris Alami’s Summary

Faris Alami continue to combine his cross-cultural experience, technology entrepreneurship, web-based marketing, management and human resources strengths to serve his clients and build programs for public and private groups. For some of his clients, Faris Alami manages their projects by building a virtual team of collaborating experts.

There are business managers, business expansion experts, and executive management consultants – and then there is Faris Alami, a dynamic and seasoned professional adept and experienced at all three.

Working with multi-unit national and international companies, Faris fosters high workplace performance, and adjusts management strategies to address the specific needs of stakeholders, vendors and clients.

The road to business excellence began for Faris when he started a marketing company in Tucson, Arizona at age 18. Since that time, and in increasingly demanding roles, he has served nonprofit organizations, five-star resorts, national marketing companies, fledgling companies, and major department store chains, and lent his expertise to service, wholesale and retail companies. Under his management, one client company experienced a 1300% increase in membership. Another reduced product returns by 58%, and a third company cut employee turnover by 92%.

Frequently requested as a speaker by agencies such as IAS, Walsh College, Non- Profit organizations, and the Troy Chamber of Commerce, Faris presents topics such as: Generational Diversity in the Workplace, Cross-Cultural Differences, Strategies for Employee Retention, Making Time Work for You, and Bringing Peace to the Middle East.

Faris Alami’s Specialties:

Managed growing, successful operations with up to $5 million in annual revenues by building team environments that emphasize creativity and progression toward a shared vision and common business goal. Give new strategic direction to enterprises that have multigenerational and multicultural composition, with focus on developing options and solving problems to increase productivity, sales, employment retention and customer loyalty,

Faris Alami’s Experience

• Support Leader

  TechTown

  (Non-Profit; Management Consulting industry)

  May 2009 — Present (8 months)

  - Support local companies (both startup and existing companies)
  - Business and technology strategy planning and execution
  - Entrepreneurial training
  - Evaluate progress of companies and make recommendation
  - Develop and execute funding
  - Identify, manage and mentor/champion company’s milestones

• Business Mentor

  University of Michigan

  (Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)

  August 2007 — Present (2 years 5 months)

  Mentor companies and student team on how to commercialize a technology or a business idea, from start up, funding, business plan, marketing plan and launching a new enterprise.

• CEO

  Integration Systems Management, Inc

  (Privately Held; Management Consulting industry)

  June 2003 — Present (6 years 7 months)

  ISM specializes in providing management, operations and marketing technologies to companies operating in a multicultural environment. Faris Alami builds his business consulting on three life experiences - a long record of success in running and managing businesses, experience as a staffing manager during which he mastered all aspects of human resources, and his well-honed sense of the requirements to succeed in a global multicultural environment.
  
  ISM clients include companies in the automotive, technology, and healthcare areas, museums, and community colleges. We have guided them successfully to meet a variety of challenges, including:
  
  • Public speaking and workshop presenter
  • Directed geographically dispersed staff to deliver completed projects at 20% earlier than scheduled
  • Negotiated vendor contracts diplomatically to effect 50% reduction in operating cost
  • Identified operation concerns and assisted making improvements to yield more than $40K in savings and retention of 6 employees

• Chairman

  Automation Alley

  (Management Consulting industry)

  2006 — 2009 (3 years )

  Directed, planed and implemented with a team the "Become the Employer of Choice" event, assisting local business understand how to attract and retain top talent by helping them understand the concept, then showcasing some local success stories and finally tooling them with resources and ideas that can be implemented immediately

• Business Manager– Express Division

  The Bower Companies, Inc

  (Human Resources industry)

  November 2004 — May 2006 (1 year 7 months)

  Human Resource Outsourcing Firm
  
  Led the staffing company into new sectors in the industry and created innovative ways to recruit, increasing gross revenue $400,000 and new contract hours to 25,000. Worked with both companies and job seekers to ensure the best fit for both candidates and clients.
  
  • Networked with civic groups such as Chamber of Commerce, placed ads in web-based forums and created newsletters to attract talent and new clients
  • Recruited, interviewed and placed top talent to match clients needs, increasing repeat business by 60%
  • Analyzed data and communicated key information to internal stakeholders, which resulted in billable headcount with one client increasing staff from 1 to 15(by 1500%)
  • Enhanced office branding efforts by creating 'H-R Best Practices' training seminar series & monthly newsletter
  • Searched for talent in nontraditional ways, such as social networking, resulting in cost savings and filling key positions in a shorter time

• Area Manager-Multiple Locations

  Pure Beauty, Inc

  (Executive Office industry)

  September 2001 — June 2003 (1 year 10 months)

  Lifestyle Product/Service Retailer
  
  Took a store that ranked 68th out of 70 to 4th spot in less than 6 months. Achieved the highest standard of retention and attraction of top talent, while receiving Achievement Awards for customer satisfaction, sales and operation. Moved on to manage six stores, increasing average sale as well as average units per sale almost 90% and driving the paid membership from 300 a year to 2000 a year.
  
  • Increased sales by 22% over previous year despite the falling economy and falling mall sales (-7%) by improving efficiency through elimination of non-value tasks and training store staff to be teamwork/customer oriented
  • Slashed returns of goods by achieving outstanding customer relations. Pure Beauty saw 158% reduction in product returns and over 13-fold enrollment increase in store membership program due to customer-centric culture created

• Area Manager - Multi Department Manager

  Macy’s/Robinson’s May

  (Public Relations and Communications industry)

  January 2000 — September 2001 (1 year 9 months)

  General Merchandise Retailer
  
  Started as a Brand Manager. Within three months, increased the brand sales 25% despite the fact that the overall store volume had decreased. Promoted to take over a division of six departments, which was recognized for 14 months as the top-performing division of the company ranked on sales, returns, employee retention, loss prevention, new credit applications, and Main Merchandising Idea (floor and stockroom overflow )
  
  • Upgraded present and future organizational capability by recruiting and developing talented managers to fill key position within the store, thereby transforming the managed area
  • Recruited, trained, scheduled and monitored 35 associates resulting in higher sales per hour and 98% retention rate versus 40% turnover store wide
  • Analyzed sales results and performed adjustment to maximize results; increased sales by 25% over previous year

• Regional Vice President-West and South Regional Training Center

  Pacific International

  (Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Staffing and Recruiting industry)

  August 1993 — March 2000 (6 years 8 months)

  Corporate Training Center
  Regional Vice President-West and South Regional Training Center
  
  Added 14 offices for the company, trained ten top-10% producers, and increased sales 15-fold. Created tracking systems to measure results for new offices. Managed ad campaign, leased offices, and negotiated contracts in more than seven states. I was the testing ground for the new corporate management training programs used in adding more than 500 offices nationwide in five years.
  
  • Coordinated and conducted semi-annual training event for 800-1000 executives and provided executive level support to all new managers
  • Conducted orientation and training sessions for all new hires (more than 500 individuals a year) including new executives, for all levels of the company, resulted in receiving Outstanding Achievement Award for four consecutive years and outstanding Loyalty and Dedication Award for five years

• Proprietor

  Sun Daze Enterprises, Inc

  (Marketing and Advertising industry)

  March 1991 — December 1993 (2 years 10 months)

  Clothing Design and Promotions Firm
  
  Worked with nonprofits designing and printing T-shirts to help them raise funds and awareness of their effort, then worked with top of the line resorts delivering T-shirts to all employees and gift shops. Expanded the company to ship internationally.
  
  • Conceived of, developed and administrated several advertising, distribution and sales support programs, resulting in $50,000 in revenues
  • Organized and put into place new international sales strategy, boosting international sales by $20,000
  • Managed a wide range of applications such as: payroll, sales, budgeting, distribution, invoicing, accounts payable/receivable, and inventory
  • Initiated contacts with local upscale resorts, resulting in contracts with La Palma Resort and Vantana Canyon Resort

Faris Alami’s Education

• University of Michigan-Dearborn

  CEE , Engineering , 2007 — 2012 (expected)

• Oakland CC

  General Studies , Art and Engineering , 2003 — 2006

• Arizona State University/Scottsdale CC

  Business Management , 2000 — 2003

• Pima CC

  Electrical Engineering , 1990 — 1993

Additional Information

Faris Alami’s Interests:

Organizational Development, Strategic Planning, Start up CEO, Midsize company CEO, COO, Interim Executive, Executive Temp, Director, President, Vice President, Senior Management, General Management, Operations, Marketing, Business Development, Sales, Management Development, Business Process, Root Cause Analysis, Metrics Development and Implementation, Analysis, Strategic Planning, Relationships, Online Marketing, Internet Consultation Culture Understanding, Intercultural Training, Cross Culture Training, Understanding Arabs and Arabs Culture, Understanding Muslims, Multi Generation Workplace, Bridging the Communication Gap Between Generations and Cultures, Improving employees productivity, Market Diversification

Faris Alami’s Groups:

Troy Chamber of Commerce, Workplace Leadership Council, Automation Alley, Profession in Transition, Employer of Choice Committee, International Visitors Council of Metropolitan Detroit, Mentor at University of Michigan,Ross School, CEO Advantage, Round Table, Ann Arbor Sparks, New Enterprise Forum, TechTown

•    Executive Suite
•    Plaxo.com
•    Consultants Network
•    Speakers and Panelists
•    ConnecTech Detroit
•    Motor City Connect
•    Retail Industry Experts
•    Global Entrepreneurship Week
•    TechTown
•    Detroit Young Professionals
•    Retail Industry Professionals Worldwide
•    Automation Alley
•    Startup Mastermind
•    SEMRUG - Southeast Michigan Rational Users Group
•    The New Enterprise Forum Ann Arbor Michigan
•    Troy Chamber of Commerce - Michigan
•    Harvey Hohauser & Associates
•    IVC Detroit
•    Managing a Multi-Generational Workforce
•    Medical Main Street
•    Entrepreneurs and Education

Faris Alami’s Honors:

• Diversity Business Leader Award by Corp! Magazine 2008
• ConnecTech Web of the Year Award for three websites 2008
• Automation Alley Member of the Year Finalist 2008
• Chairman- Automation Alley Profession in Transition
• Co-Chairman- Automation Alley Employer of Choice
• PR Champion Global Trade Mission- Automation Alley
• Board of Directors, International Visitors Council
• Mentor to MBA Students at University of Michigan
• Mentor for startups at TechTown
• Business Coach at New Enterprise Form
• Advisory Board Member at the Center for Transition
• CEO Connect Member- Ann Arbor
• Regional Skills Alliance Advisory Board Member
• Oakland County Regional Advisory Committee
• International Business Services Advisory Council
• Board Member of Oakland County Employment Diversity Council
• Pure Beauty Management Standards of Excellence Award
• Macy’s Area Manager of the Month Award (14 months)

Faris Alami’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch