Donna Perkins

Principal Consultant

PDI Enterprise, Gilbarco Passport, Accounting, Pricebook, Lottery, Inventory, Fuel, Scanning, Sales Analysis, Retail Automation

A highly experienced and self-motivated pricebook manager and implementation specialist, Donna Perkins has been a mainstay in the convenience store industry for over twenty-five years, focused primarily in retail technology and back-office systems. Donna is widely recognized for her pricebook knowledge, exceptional communication, and project management skills, guiding clients in the areas of inventory accounting and management, NAXML data standards, point of sale systems, software implementation, budgeting, PDI Enterprise, software documentation, and pricebook. Donna continues to grow her PDI knowledge base, most recently adding accounts receivable, some light cash management work, and working to add credit card reconciliation. She is a strong PDI Connections user and applies this tool to increase her knowledge and in assisting clients. She demonstrates an ability to apply broad based skillset in both retail and wholesale inventories working with team members to achieve success in both operations and administration. With a vast knowledge of the field, Donna is a true influencer, bringing diverse segments of the industry together to address and solve business challenges. She is an intelligent, energetic, dedicated professional with the knack of promoting technology standards in a positive and uncomplicated way so others can understand its benefits. Behind all projects, Donna’s main mission remains, to help retailers achieve more profit and more efficiency.

Donna demonstrates her role as a leader in the Convenience Store industry by sharing her extensive knowledge and expertise. She participates in industry peer groups, has spoken at numerous industry events, and authored several articles on topics such as pricebook, inventory, ordering, lottery, POS, loss prevention and more. Her affiliations include Conexxus, NACS, and PDI Connections (online community for PDI Users). She was the top user on PDI Connections for a year, and never below the top three while involved. She was featured as a Rising Star in Convenience Store Decisions in 2010. For sixteen years, Donna volunteered for Conexxus, working on technology standards, where she was elected as Chair of Lottery Working Group and served as Vice Chair of Retail Merchandise Working Group and Vice Chair of Membership and Marketing.

Donna’s rich wealth of knowledge comes predominately from her long tenure with Calloway Oil company. She most recently applied her skills in her role as Standards Manager for Conexxus, responsible for specific groups in Conexxus, administration of group meetings and standards documentation, Conexxus365 webinars and speakers, and representing Conexxus at various conferences through public speaking. Donna served many roles in her 22 years with Calloway Oil E-Z Stop Food Marts, Inc. primarily in pricebook and scanning and POS data interface (linking sales register to back-office PC). She was responsible for the set-up and maintenance of all items, costs, and retail pricing of inventory offered by E-Z Stop Food Marts including special promotions. She performed monthly closing of costs-of-sales within PDI Enterprise including lottery, and prepared summaries of store inventory counts and resolved issues between store and third-party inventory counts. Donna also acted as project lead for legacy Back Office system conversion, converting retail sites to PDI Enterprise while collaborating with PDI Consultants and internal employees to meet project deadlines. She previously led the team that reviewed several back-office solutions to purchase new software. She set up the first pricebook in E-Z Stop’s old back-office system and rolled out stores scanning. She also set up the first POS data interface maps for E-Z Stop and standardized departments in the process.

Donna grew up in the south – Florida, Georgia, and Arkansas, attending University of South Florida to earn her Bachelor of Arts in Spanish. While Donna once worked on a ranch and stared down a 2000-pound bull with nothing but a hotshot prod, life is a little more relaxing in her current hometown of Maryville, Tennessee. She enjoys vegetable and herb gardening, cross-stitch, scrapbooking, and reading. Donna’s favorite quote speaks volumes of her work ethic and character – “The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life.”