Corey Lindgren

About Corey Lindgren

I\'m a retail operations leader with 15+ years of experience spanning mass retail, high-end design, and fast-paced e-commerce. I specialize in identifying strategic growth opportunities, developing cross-functional teams, and scaling assortments that drive revenue, customer engagement, leading cross-functional teams across buying, vendor management, product strategy, logistics, and omnichannel optimization. I specialize in building and scaling businesses through strategic planning, data-driven decision-making, and operational excellence — whether in-store, online, or across integrated retail ecosystems.My leadership spans the full retail value chain: directing high-performing business managers, owning P & Ls, negotiating terms and contracts, shaping customer experiences, and driving complex initiatives that transform product assortment, merchandising, marketing, and fulfillment. I’m equally comfortable working on in-store display strategies as I am contributing to technical product roadmaps or supply chain process redesign.My career has taken me from designing furniture for global luxury clients at Costantini Design to leading buying and category management at major retailers like Walmart, Sears, Chewy, Zulily, and now TikTok Shop—where I help shape the future of U.S. e-commerce marketplaces.I thrive at the intersection of creativity and commerce. With a background in industrial design and user-centered research, I bring both product empathy and financial rigor to every decision. Whether building private label brands, optimizing supply chains, or launching entirely new retail platforms, my work consistently blends design thinking with bottom-line performance.Today, I lead marketplace category strategy at TikTok, where my focus is on seller acquisition, operational excellence, and cross-functional alignment that fuels rapid growth in a dynamic, high-visibility environment.When I’m not building businesses, I’m deepening my toolkit through continuing education in design research and strategy at Stanford and my recently completed MBA at William Woods University.I\'m passionate about data driven decision-making, behavioral insights, and mentoring the next generation of user centered product leaders.

Experience

1. Senior Category Manager

   TikTok

   Nov 2023 — Present · Seattle, WA, US

   Built the Home & Living category in advance of TikTok Shop’s 2023 platform launch, developing category strategy, defining technical product requirements, and leading seller acquisition, cold-start, and growth initiatives.• Research, analyze, and implement strategies based on creator, seller, and user behavior, increasing seller/creator matching by 28% and exceeding seller onboarding targets by 122%• Unlocked restricted categories including Lighters and Live Plants by building executive and governance consensus, developing comprehensive white papers that quantified market size, assessed vendor readiness, and modeled halo GMV impact across a $100B category opportunity• Drove category growth by 63% through business development, strategic account acquisition, defining market opportunities and leading department-wide cold-start and stagnant brand growth initiatives resulting in 278% GMV growth in participants

Education

• William Woods University

  MBA, Master of Business Administration

• Stanford University

  Continuing Education: Design

• The University of Kansas

  BFA, Industrial Design

Skills

• Design Thinking
• Visual Merchandising
• Rendering
• Technical Design
• Trend Analysis
• Illustrator
• Layout
• Furniture
• Fashion Design
• Apparel
• Graphics
• Tech Packs
• Autocad
• Concept Development
• Pro/Engineer
• Retail
• Design Strategy
• Drawing
• Brand Development
• 3d Studio Max
• Trend
• Cad
• Ideation
• Packaging
• Graphic Design
• Sketching
• Product Development
• Indesign
• Industrial Design
• Textiles
• Fashion
• Retail Design
• Research Design
• Logo Design
• Photoshop
• Textile Design
• Visual Communication
• Solidworks
• Adobe Acrobat
• Concept Design