What Happened?

About the Company

United Stationers Inc. is a leading supplier of workplace essentials, with 2014 net sales of $5.3 billion. The company stocks a broad assortment of over 160,000 items, including technology products, traditional office products, janitorial and breakroom supplies, office furniture, industrial supplies, and automotive aftermarket tools. The Company`s network of 77 distribution centers allows it to deliver these products to approximately 30,000 reseller customers. One of the Company`s wholly owned subsidiaries is an online retailer which sells direct to end consumers. This network, combined with United`s breadth and depth of inventory, enables the Company to ship most products overnight to more than ninety percent of the U.S. and major cities in Mexico and Canada.

About the Person

Janet Zelenka is Senior Vice President, Business Integration and Intelligence and a member of the senior leadership team of United Stationers, a Fortune 500 wholesale distributor of business essentials that offers sophisticated logistical capabilities and value-added services. Currently Janet is leading a significant transformational effort to integrate the company’s processes, platforms, and systems. She also heads the pricing function and is responsible for continuous development of enterprise-wide business intelligence capabilities. Janet joined United in 2006 as Vice President and General Auditor. She was promoted to Vice President of Finance in 2007. Her role was expanded and she became Vice President of Finance and Margin Management in 2012. Her duties have included pricing, financial planning, and analytics. Janet also led the implementation of a sophisticated activity-based costing system. Before joining United, Janet held a variety of executive positions at SBC/Ameritech (now AT&T) including CFO of the Information Technology (IT) Division and Vice President of IT, as well as leadership roles in several areas including: customer care, operations, financial planning/analysis, activity-based management, internal audit, and applications development. She also served as the company’s liaison to the Illinois Commerce Commissioners, and was a change leadership facilitator for the Ameritech Institute. Janet received her MBA from Northern Illinois University and her Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Rockford College. She is an invited speaker and writer on topics in audit, finance, change management, and information technology. A former member of the Institute of Internal Auditors, she is the co-author of “Self-Directed Audit Teams,” a piece that won Internal Auditor magazine’s article of the year (1996). Janet has a passion for improving the U.S. public educational system. Currently she serves as Treasurer and Trustee of the foundation for the largest high school district in Illinois. She is a former Trustee of her local elementary school foundation where she also served as Treasurer. A long-time supporter of the performing arts, Janet is also a former member of the Board of the Sherwood Conservatory of Music. Janet also recently became Treasurer of the United Stationers Charitable Trust Foundation.