Candid Leadership: How Kourtney Corcoran Speaks Truth to Power | Manufacturing Series

Anthony Codispoti: Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they’ve overcome adversity. My name is Anthony Codispoti and today’s guest is Kourtney Corcoran, Chief Financial Officer at Signature Brands, a manufacturer and distributor of dessert decorating products with a focus on seasonal celebrations for leading brands including Betty Crocker, Pass, Easter Egg Decorating Kits, Pumpkin Masters, Cakemate, Popcorn Expressions and Gift Pop. They have received praise for their inventive designs helping home cooks and professionals alike add flair to their culinary creations.

Their mission is to bring joy and creativity to everyday cooking experiences offering items that simplify meal prep while adding a touch of fun. Courtney joined Signature Brands in September 2023 following a successful career at companies like Highliner Foods and Legal Seafoods. She began her professional journey at Bradley’s and has honed her expertise in strategic finance and leadership through several senior roles. Under her financial guidance previous organizations have achieved consistent growth and operational excellence. Courtney’s proven track record of supporting business development aligns perfectly with Signature Brands commitment to constant innovation. Her story is a testament to hard work, passion and perseverance in the competitive consumer products industry. Now before we get into all that good stuff today’s episode is brought to you by my company, Add Back Benefits Agency where we offer very specific and unique employee benefits that are both great for your team and fiscally optimized for your bottom line. One recent client was able to add over $900 per employee per year in extra cash flow by implementing one of our innovative programs. Results vary for each company and some organizations may not be eligible.

To find out if your company qualifies contact us today at addbackbenefitsagency.com. Alright back to our guest today the CFO of Signature Brands Courtney Corcoran. I appreciate you making the time to share your story today.

Happy to be here. Okay so Courtney you’ve been in the food industry for a number of years but that’s not where you got your start. Why don’t we go back to the 11 years that you spent at Bradley’s and tell us about what that was like and what you learned.

Kourtney Corcoran: Yeah so Bradley’s was just a great experience. I joined Bradley’s after I got out of college. I actually worked there summers when I was in college as well but my first role there full-time was a budget analyst and Bradley’s was just going through a lot of different things while I was there so when I first joined Bradley’s was actually owned by Stop and Shop and we did a spin-off from Stop and Shop in the first year that I was there and from there we were in a tremendous growth phase. We went from having 103 stores to about 135, 137 stores so there was a lot of growth and in my role as a budget analyst I did a lot of the analyses regarding the different stores and you know what would a store look like you know would there be cannibalization with our own stores was their competition in the market that we were looking at a store so you know the landscape at the time if folks remember we had Caldor, we had Ames, we had Kmart, a lot of those locations like Bradley’s are not around anymore but so those were some of the things that I would do I would model out what expenses would look like in that area so again a lot of growth and shortly thereafter we ended up running into some trouble because we had a new CEO come in and there was a new vision as to what the Bradley shopper might enjoy and so we changed the strategy and went to more of a premium price product and that was not what the Bradley shopper liked they liked Mrs. B and Mrs. B always added value I was always a value buy for the Bradley shopper and so shortly after this strategy was implemented we actually went into chapter 13 bankruptcy and so you know in that role while it was you know really difficult and really challenging I experienced so much and so much learning because we had creditors committees coming in and I also was able to you know work with the board of directors I didn’t mention at this time that I had got promoted to be the manager of financial planning and analysis and so again I was able to work with the teams within the organization as well we came out of chapter 11 we had another CEO who was really driving efficiencies we drove over a hundred million dollars out of the company which

Anthony Codispoti: I was so the chapter 11 happened previously

Kourtney Corcoran: yes

Anthony Codispoti: before the 13 that we’re okay

Kourtney Corcoran: exactly sorry but I meant chapter 11 not the chapter 13 because the chapter 11 happened before the chapter 13 so we came out of chapter 11 restructuring new CEO implemented all sorts of expense reduction had a new strategy brought Mrs. B back and then as we all know we have the walmarts and the targets and the coals come into the northeast and so again big challenges and you know we just couldn’t cut our way out of this and so at that point in time we went into restructuring again and at this point in time I had been promoted to director of fpna which for me at this time was you know a really great accomplishment on my end you know I was only at this point in time like probably six years out of college Brownlee’s was a 1.6 billion dollar company and so again you know just a great experience to be able to spearhead a lot of these initiatives work with the board of directors work with the creditors committee we did a lot in partnering with Caldor Caldor was always in it was also in a restructuring mode we looked at different ways might Bradley’s merge with Caldor maybe we could sell some of our locations to coals and do you know you know a partial restructuring with coals and at the end of the day none of those banned out and so unfortunately we ended up going into chapter seven liquidation I had the opportunity to be on the stay on team throughout the liquidation so spent another call it 18 months there just liquidating the company and so for me Bradley’s was just just an amazing experience because when I looked at what I did there I was able to see an IPO from Stop and Shop I saw an amazing growth period again from 130 to sorry 103 to maybe 100 I think it was around 137 stores I saw a chapter 11 I saw a chapter 13 and I saw a chapter 7 liquidation ultimately not a great turnout for Bradley’s but it was an amazing experience working there the people I met I had an amazing mentor there Judy Dunning who taught me a lot about leadership and she was a great again mentor to me and it was just a fabulous experience without a great turnout but

Anthony Codispoti: fabulous talk about cutting your teeth on a lot of different things I mean yeah you got to join this huge brand of 1.6 billion dollar brand got to see you know this incredible growth curve an IPO while you’re there and then yeah the landscape sort of shifted the competitors were coming in there were you know different forms of bankruptcy restructuring to try to you know okay can we kind of find our way again new CEO comes in with a new approach can we you know maybe try a little bit higher scale maybe that’ll carve out a space for us against the walmarts and and other competitors of the world ultimately didn’t work but you got to ride the ultimate way up and then crashing down and being in the finance roles that you were got to you know front row seat of like here’s how we handle things when like the poop really hits the fan

Kourtney Corcoran: yeah and and again like the learnings with you know as I mentioned and I didn’t get into detail on but we had a hundred million dollar savings initiative where I was working with you know all of the store managers in these hundred and 37 and it started to whittle down right but you know call it like at least over 120 stores going in and talking about okay let’s look at your staffing let’s look at this matrix so I built a matrix and again this was all new to me but built a matrix to say you know where can we staff differently let’s look at the hours that you’re open do we need to staff the fitting room you know the entire time you’re open or let’s look at hours where we’re busy you know the most busy and maybe for the first two hours of the time that we’re open maybe the person at the jewelry counter can you know also staff the fitting room let’s look at you know the back of the store where we’re receiving maybe on the receiving dock we don’t need x amount of people for the full time the store is open maybe we have you know a shift where we only need one person at 6 a.m. etc etc so all those types of things and through all of those initiatives again we successfully cut a hundred million dollars out of our organization and so it again it was not just the stores but looking at the the buyers and the merchandising allocators and can we combine some of these roles and create efficiencies throughout the organization

Anthony Codispoti: and some of this you were spearheading yourself and I’m am I correct in assuming that some of this you know you had some peers or some you know folks above you that were kind of leading you and guiding you and sort of teaching you some of these tools

Kourtney Corcoran: absolutely so it’s a little bit of both you know when I look at some of the things you know we we think about SGNA right so thinking about all of the different departments within Bradley so you think about okay the finance team supply chain IT you know HR and benefits and all of those things and as you roll them up and you look at okay what are we spending on travel and supplies and consulting and outside services and legal fees and accounting fees and all those things how do we get skinnier on those so I was absolutely spearheading that myself some of these other initiatives like the one I just articulated to you on the stores certainly the SPP of store operations was helping me on that but I was really trying to leave the effort as far as rolling things up and and building a matrix that essentially he could use to pull his store managers together and you know initiate the conversations and direct them that this is what we need them to do.

Anthony Codispoti: You mentioned the some of the promotions that you were getting along the way and you know you mentioned at the one point you’re just six years out of college and I forget the exact role that you had but pretty impressive for somebody of your age just out of school at a company this size to be promoted like that what do you attribute that to why were you sort of experiencing this meteoric rise?

Kourtney Corcoran: So you know first I would say that you know I’m definitely a workhorse and I you know very passionate about what I do I’m putting the time that it takes you know to get things done and I say that at that budget analyst role and and even maybe first like in that manager of FBNA role you know I’m definitely tactically make sure that you know my work is polished etc but I think that that the biggest thing is my ability to be candid to be transparent to put the elephant in the room on the table so regardless of you know the number of SPPs in the room or board members in the room I will speak up and say listen have we thought about this and also I will put something that’s unpopular on the table and and say it like it is and I think that

Anthony Codispoti: not something that everybody wants to do when you’re you know there with all of these big wigs in the room it’s kind of a little bit easier just to be quiet and go with the flow.

Kourtney Corcoran: Exactly and I and I do think that I do think it’s it’s a rare trait and depending on how bad the either the news is or if if it’s a really uncomfortable topic people don’t don’t want to say it and so that’s just something I really believe has has gotten me to where I am today I mean obviously on top of the hard work but I think that differentiates me as a leader.

Anthony Codispoti: Why are you so much more comfortable at having the hard conversation?

Kourtney Corcoran: You know part of it I think is something that my dad instilled in me since I was a little girl he just he was the type of person that said it like it was and I think that he anytime that I did that which was all the time he was just always so proud of me and I think that I always wanted to make him proud and so I think that I just never I never felt that I was doing anything wrong by saying it like it was and so it just again it was instilled in me and um and and you know what I don’t even always have to be right when I say what I feel needs to be put on the table I I just always have the courage to do that.

Anthony Codispoti: If you were to look objectively at your delivery of the heart the heart information is it just in your face sort of like just throwing it down have you kind of developed a way to say the hard things but deliver it in a little bit of a softer way?

Kourtney Corcoran: So I will say that it can be like bam in your face this is what needs to get said I will say that over time so listen 20 years ago it was absolutely definitely bam in your face this is how it’s going to be said it it could even the delivery could definitely not be delivered in the right way.

As time has gone on yes I have learned that there’s probably a better way to deliver things and I’ve worked very hard on that but I can’t tell you that there isn’t an occasion here and there that that delivery can sometimes still be bammed.

Anthony Codispoti: Yeah so you worked at Woodworkers Warehouse for about a year after Bradley’s and then you found your way to Highliner Foods in 2005 and you’ve stayed in the food industry ever since what is it about the food industry that has drawn you to it?

Kourtney Corcoran: So I love it and I first of all I love food so I mean it’s something that I can understand I don’t think that I so just to go back for a minute when I when I took the job at Bradley’s I had two offers I had the offer to go to Bradley’s or I had the offer to go to State Street Bank and it was just a no-brainer because I can relate to you know the retail and the product and all that stuff so as far as the food manufacturing like CPG industry goes it’s the same thing like I can relate to it I love the fact that I can see our merchandise in the store I can get the data on you know what our product is doing in the market compare it and again I love that I can like see it touch it like I can I have all our stuff in my office and I love the innovation around it so I just love it. The other thing I like about manufacturing and I would say now that I know manufacturing versus retail I like manufacturing better is because we’re actually making the product and the one thing that I loved about when I first joined Highliner which was fishery products at first and then Highliner bought fishery products was just learning about like how we make the product and how we cost the product and the bills of materials and just really getting into all that stuff around like how the business works. I love getting into all the trade programs and and how that’s so different than retail like we’re now selling to the retailers and I just loved all the learning and really digging in and understanding how how food and and beverage get sold because before this I was at Concord Foods and again that was a food product and beverage product too so anyway I just love seeing it.

Anthony Codispoti: You just you’ve really enjoyed that process of seeing okay here’s the raw product how does it get processed where are all the cost inputs and how can we sort of turn the dials to you know maybe knock off a center to you know here or there and make ourselves more efficient and then and then this product ultimately ends up on the shelf and hey we were we made that happen. Yep now you’ve got a bird’s eye view of that whole process.

Kourtney Corcoran: Yeah and I love seeing too the pride of the folks in the plants when you know we make product and let’s just say we we get a new account right like you know we get Krispy Kreme and wow you can show it in the boards in the plant and say hey you’re a part of making this and it’s just really exciting I love it.

Anthony Codispoti: Yeah okay so tell us how did the opportunity at Signature Brands specifically come about?

Kourtney Corcoran: So I worked at Concord Foods before this I was there for four years and I got a call from a recruiter asking if I would be interested in you know this potential opportunity and initially I would not have even thought that I would have moved to the Ocala area you know central Florida but my daughter lives in Tampa. She went to University of Tampa for her undergrad and then she went for her graduate at USF and so it’s an hour and a half from her I lived in Boston before that so it was a you know three hour flight and so you know now I get to see her every weekend or every other weekend and so you know I heard about the opportunity and it was it was an exciting opportunity to me Concord you know we had gone through a sale process and for the first two years we kind of thought it was going to sell in two years and the first sale process didn’t didn’t go through for different reasons and so wasn’t sure if we were going to be gearing up kind of quick enough and I just you know Boston the Boston traffic I had a two hour commute to work and a two hour commute home from work so you know what when I got the call from the recruiter I said listen I interested in the opportunity and it all came together

Anthony Codispoti: right because you had kind of you know as we’re talking about sort of the escalation of your career here you had had held CFL roles at multiple stops along the way and so you were in a pretty good place but yeah new opportunity comes about and so you start at Signature Brands in September of 2023 what was the first thing you noticed when you walk in the door what’s the first thing that the but let’s do this first what was the first thing that you saw that needed fixed the projections

Kourtney Corcoran: so yes so absolutely came in and we had projections for 2023 that were rolling up to the the sales projections had been reset significantly lower than what the budget was but the EBITDA projections were pretty flat to what the budget was and very quickly I’m talking within like less than a week and a half I dug in and it was crystal clear to me that there was no way that we were going to hit our EBITDA targets and so again as I described to you I’m very very candid transparent and you know not afraid to put out there what needs to get put out there there’s just no way that we’re we’re going to make these numbers and so you know the first thing that I needed to do clearly was get the CEO on board with this so you know it’s not like I’m going to go directly to the PE team and say hey you know like time out that we’re not going to make these numbers the the CEO at the time and he you know would self-profess himself to be a huge optimist you know I needed to go to him and say listen I mean there’s just no way that that these numbers are tracking and one of the things that he he would do is and and I’m sure he thought that these things would happen but he would kind of talk to to the other leaders in the organization and give them you know targets that okay well yes you can still save you know two million dollars in supply chain savings or you can still save two million in this procurement target or whatever it is and it was like we’re running out of time that those things are not going to happen in Q4 that it’s just like where are the action plans where are they coming from and so I I finally got him on board that okay here’s the projections I came up with and let him on board and and then kind of convinced him that it’s time to like set this straight with the PE firm that these numbers are changing significantly and so again within so I think I started September 26th and there was a board meeting on October the 15th and so

Anthony Codispoti: you guys were ready to deliver that news then I mean this goes back to your your skill your history of being able to have that hard conversation right right and so you got the CEO on board actually let’s back up for a second because it’s something I’ve always been curious about especially you know big organizations like this as you try to do projections and forecasts of what your sales are going to look like I I get the sense that it’s part art part science right I mean you’ve got relationships with retailers and you can kind of see you know like the orders that they’re placing but ultimately you do you really have a sense of you know what you can expect to sell in the coming you know call it 12 months so

Kourtney Corcoran: I think from from my perspective I think that we should um I I think that and listen I’m not going to give you a percent of you know sales leaders and do most of them like fail on the side of over committing or under committing I would say that most are probably more optimistic than than pessimistic but I think that there is that we should know I mean we should know pretty well where we’re going to commit and I think that that with that however anything can happen in the year right I mean we can we can get a customer that says okay you know I gave you a commitment for this and I’m I’m I’m not

Anthony Codispoti: pulling back yeah yeah something happened I I don’t need as much

Kourtney Corcoran: right but it’s important to have like lists of risks and opportunities so that you can kind of foresee here’s my budget and but I’ve got a list of I have like 20 million in opportunities and I have 15 million in risks so that you know you’ve got five million there in the bank that you can play with so you

Anthony Codispoti: kind of your buffer yeah exactly yeah

Kourtney Corcoran: um so to me that’s the important part the other the other thing that is super important is to make sure that that everybody is accountable to the numbers that they’ve committed so you have different conversations there’s a conversation where somebody can explain away okay I missed this number because like Target decided to change their number okay great but then it’s like I’m that’s the end of the conversation that’s not the end of the conversation in my mind the end of the conversation is okay well so what are you doing now look at your opportunities and if we’re in February and and try to fill in that gap somehow what are you doing like you’re still accountable to this number because we still have to hit our sales number and more importantly our EBITDA number so

Anthony Codispoti: can you right can you sell that same inventory to somebody else

Kourtney Corcoran: yeah exactly and so and I and I’m not going to dismiss here I mean I’m talking generally but I’m not going to dismiss that here we are a seasonal business and it is there is a longer lead time because we do get certain of our businesses our direct import so like our pause and our pumpkin master most of that stuff comes from overseas so there’s long lead times right now we’re even talking forecasts for 2026 however again I mean we need to be communicating with our customers so that they understand like you need to get your orders in now and so there should be fewer surprises and I think that it’s super important for any company to make sure that their forecasts are as close as possible and that they have that R &O list so that you have a buffer and that you’re all the end of the conversation isn’t okay well this happened okay great we need to understand the reasons but okay so what are you going to do to fill the hole

Anthony Codispoti: yeah and like you said it’s challenging with a business because yeah maybe we’re banking on selling so many pumpkin carving knives in this season and when you get the notice at the last minute that hey we don’t need as many of them it’s not so easy to go and you know find somebody to take the rest of that order so it can be a little bit more challenging when you’ve got seasonal products like that so you go back to this this early board meeting you know that it’s just a few weeks after you started you’ve got some hard news to deliver how’s that go how’s it received

Kourtney Corcoran: so it did you know I will say that the that our PE firm here is they’re very they’re very supportive in the sense that they know things change right I mean they know things change in the market they know that budgets are put together you know however long ago I mean however we are still accountable right because we’ve got we’ve got the structure of our debt and everything else that doesn’t change so it’s not like they’re not folding us accountable however if we have the conversation and explain why things changed I think I think for them though it was it was just a little bit like okay we’re in October and And now we’re finding this out. So you know what? They did have some tough conversations. And yeah, they had some tough conversations.

Anthony Codispoti: But probably from it, Courtney, you guys came up with better processes going forward. It’s like, OK, we’re going to learn from this. And we’re going to make sure that we don’t find ourselves in a similar spot going forward.

Kourtney Corcoran: Yeah. And I think that at the end of the day, I mean, that has been their overall commentary is just tell us. So whatever comes up, they are very receptive to whatever it is.

Anthony Codispoti: They just want somebody to shoot it to him straight, which is what your specialty is. Yeah. Exactly. So it sounds like a good match. Yes. So what is it about signature brands that has allowed it to be so successful in the spaces that it operates? I mean, you’re the premier brand in this space. What are you guys doing that’s so much better?

Kourtney Corcoran: So I think it is. So first, it’s our brands. Our all of our brands are the number one brands in the spaces that. I mean, that’s just unheard of. Yeah.

Yeah. And so I really think it’s, first of all, I think it’s our knowledge of the space that we are in. And it’s also the quality of our products.

And we’re always staying ahead of innovation. So let’s just take our sprinkles, for example. You know, we make all different kinds of sprinkles. And it might sound like, OK, how are you innovative with sprinkles? But we are.

And we have different fusion mixes. Or we just came out with this tackle box that is just flying off the shelf. We did these little eyeballs that are in a tackle box. I mean, we can’t even stay in stock on those. So I mean, it’s innovation. We have a really, really strong R &D and product development team, even on the Paz and the Pumpkin Masters. Again, staying ahead of what’s coming out and trying to stay competitive on a pricing standpoint. I also think our private label is also, you know, we partner with our customers on private label. If they want private label, I mean, of course, we definitely want to push our brands.

But we also want to partner on folks that need private label. The last thing I would say that’s a very successful are our licenses. So we’ve got a Disney license. You’ll see on our popcorn tins, we’ve got a lot of different Disney licenses that are very successful. And Betty Crocker is a license for our icings and our sprinkles.

Anthony Codispoti: And, you know, those names carry weight. People are seeking them out. You know, they’ve got lots of choices that they’re going down the aisles. Right? They see the brand that they like, that they’re familiar with, that they’re comfortable with. That’s the one they’re going to pick.

Kourtney Corcoran: And I’ll say, again, it is our product quality. So we have recently, one of our biggest competitors, or as I’m going to say was, is Wilton. And we have taken them out of a lot of sets in a lot of retailers. And it truly is the quality of our product, the taste of our product. You know, we’re just superior.

Anthony Codispoti: What’s baked into the culture there that allows you guys to be, to continually stay ahead of the curve, to be coming out with the new thing, the innovation?

Kourtney Corcoran: We’re just, I mean, people here just, and it’s a, you know, when you say they’re just really passionate about, you know, what they do, there’s a strong sense here of family. You know, we, we taught, I mean, our mission really is all around like bringing, bringing happiness and joy and, you know, celebrating, celebrating family moments. And, you know, recently we took out the word family just to like celebrating moments and memories because it’s not just about family. It’s, you know, if I want to do something with my friends around like having a baking night or something like that, or, you know, we’re, we’re going to be getting into like using these sprinkles as drink rimmers and things like that, or, you know.

Anthony Codispoti: Taking a kid’s thing, making it an adult thing.

Kourtney Corcoran: Yeah, yeah. Or if, you know, if, you know, like pumpkin carving, if like, what about if, you know, a bunch of men want to like have a, have a bear night and carve pumpkins and like have a guy’s night, you know?

Anthony Codispoti: How can we make it a little bit more masculine?

Kourtney Corcoran: Yeah. I mean, and it doesn’t, you know, we can be a couple’s night or you can do it and have kids. You can, you know, when people are, when people are, we get, we’re coming out now with these flavored sugars and there’s like pumpkin, there’s lemon, there’s cinnamon sugar. I mean, what about, you know, when in the, in the fall when you come out with the, those pumpkin beers and, you know, you can do a cinnamon sugar rim and you can hang outside while you’re handing out Halloween candy. So there’s just so many things that… Oh, sorry about this.

Anthony Codispoti: There’s so many parents that are listening right now that are getting very excited about what they usually, they previously thought were kids’ activities.

Kourtney Corcoran: Yeah. I mean, there’s just so many things. You know, we’ve got light up stuff. It’s just, there’s just so much that you can do. So…

Anthony Codispoti: And I would guess that it’s got to be hard to some degree to balance sort of financial discipline with, you know, still got to invest in the innovation, the R &D because, you know, coming up with innovative products, you’re going to have a lot of dogs that never make it off the bench. Yeah. You know, maybe you’ve got 10 dogs for everyone that you actually, you know, take to market. And so I don’t know, is it like, is there a part of you inside that’s sort of like, like stop spending so much on that?

Kourtney Corcoran: Well, we actually have a very thorough stage gate process where the different items will go through the different stages. And at every stage, there’s a different step that can take place. And so it’s all about asking for resources, resources, which obviously, you know, time is money. And so it will approve resources based on, you know, ultimately what we believe the costs to be. And then we obviously get to not too far down the road at P &L. And so based on what those costs are that are going to go into it, I mean, it essentially becomes a cost of the project, right? And then it’s like, does this make sense or not? And so to the point where we’re talking about those sugars, there are different things that we have to consider, even in the production side of things on those that we need to look at, because there’s, on some items, there’s different things that go into the production that we need to look at production safety too.

And so it’s a collaborative group of people so that we don’t miss anything in the step. And so if there’s something that would need to put into that product, it’s from my standpoint, it’s that has to go on the P &L. So does that end up making those sugars like from a cost standpoint, like a penny or two more? If that’s the case, then a penny or two more has to go into the cost. And then, you know, we talk about pricing and then, you know, let’s just say, and this wasn’t the case on this, but let’s just say that it gets to a cost that will result in a sell price that just doesn’t make sense for the market, then we won’t do that product.

Anthony Codispoti: So you kind of touched on some of the fun products that you guys are working on, some new ideas that are coming. And I think you probably wetted the whistle of a lot of the listeners. Is there something maybe a little bit more behind the scenes, maybe a little bit more nerdy from a financial perspective that you’re excited to be working on and putting in place there?

Kourtney Corcoran: So not on the product side. Yeah. Yes, so one of the things that is really true to my heart is this product that I used when I was at Highliner Foods and it was called Cue for Biz. And I don’t think many people have even heard of that.

I don’t know. And actually, I think Cue for Biz became this product called Prism. And it was amazing. It was, I could open up my computer every day and I could, you open it up, it’s four different quadrants. So there was a finance cube, there was a sales cube, there was an inventory cube. And so I could go in and I could see, okay, what did sales look like? But what are sales looking like yesterday? What are they month to date? What are they year to date? I could click and I could see it by Cue. I could see it by customer. I could look at it by sports.

Anthony Codispoti: Great reporting platform it sounds like. I mean, just amazing. I can look at like the financials. I could go in and look at inventory. I could see is inventory age? Like what’s in the 12 month bucket? What’s in the 15 month bucket? So this was just- There’s a CFO you’ve died and gone to hell.

Kourtney Corcoran: I mean, it was like my world. It was just great. And then, and then probably most people didn’t like this, but I could call the salesperson and say, hey, I’m looking at your sales month to date and you’re down versus plan in last year by X. What’s going on? So we’ve had a couple of different systems here. We have TPM, we have a forecast. We have all these systems that are kind of, SAP feeds into them, but they’re just like standalone solutions and they’re just not working that great. Like we’re not using TPM for promotion planning. The forecasting isn’t really what the sales team is using for forecasting, it’s used for something else. So we recently had someone come in and help us with the forecasting piece and it’s feeding this other system called de facto. And what I’m told is that within the next few months, I’m going to have something like that other environment that I use. It’s not going to be all the bells and whistles yet, but it’s a lot more than I have right now and I’m super excited about it.

Anthony Codispoti: That could be Christmas in July for you.

Kourtney Corcoran: I hope so, Anthony, I hope so. Your face lit up even more than talking about the sprinkles for the adult rim glasses there.

Kourtney Corcoran: Yes, it did.

Anthony Codispoti: So tell me about SB gives back. It’s an initiative central to the company’s culture.

Kourtney Corcoran: Yeah, it is. So we partner with the United Way, we partner with several schools, we partner with the Boys and Girls Club, we partner with a place there called the Kimberley Center. We do a lot to give back to the community.

Marion County is interesting in the sense that 90% of the people here live almost like at the poverty level and 10% of the people are well above the, I don’t know the word I’m looking for, but they… Very comfortable. They’re very comfortable, yes. Thank you for filling in that blank. And so if Signature Brand’s been doing that for a long time and I was involved in a lot of community efforts when I lived in Massachusetts and one of them is involved in helping as a volunteer at DC Department of Children and Children and Families and has a lot of that as virtual, I’m able to still be part of that. But I have also now been able to be on the board here of United Way and again, Signature Brand’s, I mean, again, we do a lot with United Way. And one of the big programs that we sponsor here is a program called Strong Families. And what Strong Families does is it takes folks that are at that 90% of the community and we do a program with them every year. And the folks who are really struggling to get that financial stability or, you know, they’re maybe just getting off of a, like rehabilitation program or they found themselves where potentially, you know, their partner has passed away and they’re older and they can’t afford their home anymore. They go into this program and it’s a year program, but the first 15 weeks, they actually take classes, they have a coach and they basically learn, you know, resume writing skills, how to be more involved in their children’s education, you know, how to build a budget, how to, you know, qualify for a mortgage, how to find

Anthony Codispoti: permanent- Great life skills that really aren’t part of any school curriculum, but as you rattle them off, really should be.

Kourtney Corcoran: That is exactly the umbrella, Anthony, is life skills. And it is just, I mean, it’s so uplifting and inspirational that these folks go from like self-reliance to independence. Like in this 15-week period, and then after they graduate, they still go through the program for the next X amount of weeks until they finish like the 52-week program. And it’s just incredible. And when you hear their stories and you see the gratitude that they have for the program after their lives have changed, I mean, again, that’s why we at Signature Brands, again, we want these folks to be building memories and just, you know, be safe and, you know, be able to live more comfortably and get jobs and, you know, feel like they’re contributing and feel like they’re, you know, giving back to their children.

Anthony Codispoti: That’s really great. Yeah, the description of that really warms my heart. Helping people through difficult times and, you know, learn these better life skills. Courtney, tell us about a serious challenge that you’ve overcome. What was that?

Kourtney Corcoran: How did you get through it? Yeah, so I, you know, while I was, I actually was when I first started at Highliner. So I went through a pretty challenging, difficult divorce. You know, they say you should always, you know, like put the children first and, you know, unfortunately that wasn’t what happened. And so it was tough. I mean, it was, you know, I was working at Highliner and as I told you, I was, I had left Bradley’s, I’d been the director of FB &A. I was like rocking it in my career. But, you know, you, I’m now a single mom. You know, I have three children and I, you know, it was a tough financial situation for me. I was working my ass off because I continued to want to, you know, climb the ladder and, you know, there was just this like awful nonsense that I was dealing with and it was, it was, it was tough. And it was, it went on for years.

And listen, I, it just, it was awful. And, you know, the way I got through it was really facing faith, I have a very, very strong faith. And just, I would say like work as well because it, like, I knew I was good at that. I always doubted, like, am I being a good mother right now? Am I, I just, but I knew I was good at work. And I also knew that I was good at work I had to, I mean, I had to like get up every day and be strong and try to be like, like as inspirational as I could, though at the time, I didn’t really know I was doing that. But I, you know, I set the example that, you know what, even like as much as you might be getting like beat down or like the nonsense, like you’re, you’re doing good at something.

And so, you know what? I just continued to grow in my career and I did the best I could, trying to like get through the financial struggles. And again, just all the, all just continue to call it nonsense and I survived and I did amazing in my career. And I got through that struggle.

Anthony Codispoti: When you’re going through tough emotional challenges like that, yeah, having things that can not only serve as a distraction like work, right? But also help to prop up your sense of confidence and your self worth while you’re dealing with, you know, just a cyclone of other things over here that may have you questioning everything that you’re doing and are you being effective? And you also mentioned faith being a big part of that. How, how were you able to lean on your faith during this time? How was that helpful to you?

Kourtney Corcoran: Yeah, and I, and during that time, like, but my father who I mentioned was, I would like, he was my, I mean, I was daddy’s girl and the whole thing. He passed away suddenly, like, and so, but again, my faith, I just, I have a very, very strong faith. I, when it comes right down to it, I can talk about work. Yeah, I can talk about, you know, trying to be like inspiration for my children. I can talk about all that, but at the end of the day, like my faith is what got me through it because I knew every day that I was going to be a part of that like God was there for me. And like he was going to like watch over me and whatever I was going through was like his path and that there was a reason why this was happening and that someday I would know what that reason was and that he would help me get through it. And he did.

Anthony Codispoti: Looking back now, do you see any bits of purpose to what you went through?

Kourtney Corcoran: I do, I really do. I mean, I, my daughter especially, she, I mean, tells me all the time what an inspiration I am to her. And she wrote me when she was in maybe 10th grade, the most beautiful, beautiful poem that I could have ever received. And I see, I see me in her. And there’s so many other things that I.

Anthony Codispoti: I mean, you were a living role model for your kids during that time of how to be tough and resilient when life is just coming down at you hard. Yeah. Yeah. Whether from that experience or just something that maybe you’ve done before or since, are there any daily habits that help keep you on track, help keep you centered? Yes.

Kourtney Corcoran: So, I mean, it’s definitely working out. I, and so I work out, I try to work out every day and not every day, let me back up, every work day. And so, I recently got a new puppy. And so that gives, brings me to three dogs, which is absolutely ridiculous.

I never thought in a million years that I’d have three dogs. But so typically I go and I jump on the treadmill for like 45 minutes. And then I take this class called GT3. But now that I have the new puppy because I’m at work all day, I like to make sure that, you know, she gets a chance to like run around in the morning and the whole thing. So I’m now getting up at like three o’clock in the morning so that she can run around for an hour. And then I head to the gym and do the, you know, 45 to an hour on the treadmill. And then I do the class and then I go back home to get ready. So, I do it pretty clearly. So that’s a fair question. Literally typically asleep by 7.30, you’d clock at night. Okay.

Anthony Codispoti: Yeah. Well, you live down in Florida now. You’re certainly not retired, but you’re at least you’re awake and sleep schedule. You’re getting a little bit more on track with that when you eventually get there. Yeah. Probably gonna start doing dinner at, you know, three or four PM, huh? Right.

Kourtney Corcoran: Yes. And I mean, different from my commute in the Boston area, it takes me 15 minutes to get home, 15 minutes to get to work.

Anthony Codispoti: So you still feel like you got a bunch of extra time on your hands.

Kourtney Corcoran: It’s just a complete, it’s a life changer. It really, really is.

Anthony Codispoti: Yeah. Courtney, every successful team has a, you know, or successful company has a great team behind them. Finding good folks, holding on to good folks can be a challenge. What have you tried and found success with when it comes to retaining and recruiting good people?

Kourtney Corcoran: So first I will say my team here is phenomenal. I mean, you need something done and done accurately and thorough. They’re tremendous. But I think that the way to motivate people and, you know, keep them happy is really number one, good communication. So making sure that they understand what the expectations are and just keeping them informed. Not just at a level of knowing what’s needed in their area, but also what’s going on, you know, at the company as a whole, but also empowering people to do their job. So not micromanaging, but giving them the responsibility that they deserve, you know, at whatever level they’re at in the company.

Anthony Codispoti: Now, Courtney, if you had to recommend a book or a podcast, a course, something that’s been really helpful or instructive for you that might be beneficial to our listeners, what would that be?

Kourtney Corcoran: Yeah, and this sounds really, I feel like it sounds a little bit outdated, but I would say the five dysfunctions of a team. I think that has been, for me, very powerful in my career. One of the things that it’s super important is high performing teams.

And if you don’t have one, I mean, at the senior level, and then as you trickle down, you need to have one because it just makes a night and day difference as to how the company operates, how successful you can be as a company. We rolled that out when I was at Highliner. Best team that I ever worked on. The COO there was Peter Brown, best leader that I’ve ever worked with, and we did a lot of work around that book.

And ultimately, once we got the senior level to that high performing team standard, we rolled it down throughout the organization. I changed the entire culture. It was fascinating and I became really passionate about high performing teams. And so it really, I think, changed me as a leader as well.

Anthony Codispoti: One little nugget from that book that you can share?

Kourtney Corcoran: It’s trust. It’s really building trust with the, it’s the first notch on the pyramid. It’s making sure that you build trust with the organization because without trust, you can’t even get to the next level. You can’t have candid conversations.

You can’t provide feedback necessarily to your other members of a leadership team or the team that you’re on because then people get defensive, you hurt their feelings, different things like that.

Anthony Codispoti: Courtney, I just have one more question for you. But before I ask it, I wanna do two things. First of all, I’m gonna invite all of our listeners to hit the follow or subscribe button on their favorite podcast app so you can continue to get great shows like today. Courtney, I also wanna let people know the best way either to get in touch with you personally or to continue following your story or that of Signature Brands, would that be?

Kourtney Corcoran: Yep, so to get in touch with me would be on LinkedIn. That’s where I am. That’s where I post things, et cetera, et cetera. And Signature Brands, you can go to signaturebrands.com.

That’s where all of our information is. You can also, we also have a pause and pumpkin master. You can find those on Instagram. And also our, we have a decorating channel too on TikTok.

Anthony Codispoti: Okay, I’ll see if my producer can find all of those social media handles and include them in the show notes. So last question for you, Courtney, as you’re looking to the future, what is the thing that you’re most excited about there at Signature Brands?

Kourtney Corcoran: So we’ve got some innovation going on in our popcorn world. So we are looking to expand beyond just our 21 and 18 ounce tins that you see right now around the holidays. We’re looking to get into potentially some bagged popcorn and some of the little boxes. So you, I think that that will help us to expand greatly on our popcorn side of things. So look for those at the holiday time.

Anthony Codispoti: Okay, this holiday, we’re recording this at the end of February, 2025. So maybe October, November this year, huh? Yep. Okay, fun stuff. Well, Courtney, I want to be the first one to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today. I really appreciate it.

Kourtney Corcoran: I had a great time. Thanks for having me on the podcast, Anthony.

Anthony Codispoti: Folks, that’s a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories Podcast. Thanks for learning with us today.