Building a Smarter Retail Future
With years of experience at Orgill, Jim Rivas steps into his new role at Tyndale Advisors with a focus on innovation and supporting independent retailers.
Earlier this year, Jim Rivas was promoted to president of Tyndale Advisors, the marketing arm of Orgill. Rivas steps into this role with a wealth of experience in retail technology and home improvement operations, which he looks to rely on as he guides Tyndale Advisors’ growth and innovation. Before his promotion, Rivas served as the director of retail technology at Orgill, where he played a critical role in enhancing the company’s technological offerings. He led initiatives such as the integrated e-commerce rollout for Central Network Retail Group (CNRG), contributing to Orgill’s nationwide expansion of tech solutions. His strategic vision and expertise in retail operations have been recognized by Orgill’s leadership, including President and CEO Boyden Moore, who emphasized Rivas’ ability to build high-performing teams and drive industry trends forward.
Rivas’ career spans more than 25 years, with leadership roles including vice president at Friedman’s Home Improvement and a decade-long tenure at Home Depot. His background in operations has provided him with a comprehensive understanding of retail dynamics, which he seamlessly integrates with technology to improve business outcomes. Now, as he takes on his new role at Tyndale Advisors, Rivas aims to continue supporting independent retailers. He brings a focus on excellence and innovation, setting the stage for Tyndale to expand its services in retail technology, digital marketing, and integrated solutions. This Hardware Connection question-and-answer article delves into Rivas’ career insights, his approach to leadership, and how he plans to navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of home improvement retail within his new role.
HC: How does your background as a hardware store manager inform how you approach serving Orgill customers?
Rivas: It puts me in a unique place where I understand everything at a very basic level, just being an operator. I’ve been a store manager; I’ve been a district manager; I’ve been a vice president—all of those things along the way. I always had a mechanical mind, so I want to know how things work, and hardware retailing really hasn’t changed a lot. It’s about having good operations, such as good operations around receiving; it’s having good data; it’s having good inventory, counting practices. Technology isn’t the solution for all of your problems. If you have bad practices, they will show up and be emphasized with technology every time.
HC: How do you apply your background in operations to the technology side of your job?
Rivas: When you deploy a system, you need some kind of organizational structure to support the technology such as signage. In my focus with CNRG as we were scaling e-commerce across the country, that’s one thing that we concentrated on: setting up supply chains for signage, the designs through Tyndale on directional signs, where to place store orders, how the process works, what you have to do with your POS system as far as invoicing orders.
HC: What technology has changed Orgill’s business the most?
Rivas: We have gotten a lot better at product data. We deploy a PIM (product information management) system with 1.3 million items in it right now. We’re constantly in the process of enriching those entries with images and supporting documentation, such as manufacturer information sheets or installation instructions. The hardest part is getting to that level of enriched data and presenting it so it’s searchable online.
