Results-oriented senior general manager with Board and CEO experience, combining outstanding analytical and communication skills with extensive people management/team building experience. Consistent track record of making things happen and getting things done through nearly 20 years in management consulting and industry. Innovative thought leader with deep understanding of cost analysis, operations management, performance measurement, corporate and marketing strategy, bankruptcy/distress situations. Able to assess new situations quickly using a fact-based approach. Diverse consulting experience complemented by hands-on experience with operations, customers, and channels. Harvard MBA with chemical engineering undergraduate degree.
- Board-level leader and general manager for 3 newly-acquired manufacturing companies with 1,400 people and $400 million revenue; integrated acquired companies and parent operations with minimal disruption or loss of productivity.
- As interim CEO, led a team in developing business plan for a business-to-business eCommerce venture that was ultimately folded into ForestExpress, the forest-products industry eCommerce marketplace; received approval of $4 million venture funding.
- Co-managed a program to instill a fundamentally new operating philosophy in a large forest-products company; team consisted of 11 full-time people, plus several part-time members in each of 14 paper mills, and a budget exceeding $3 million/year. Senior management expected long-term program value of hundreds of millions of dollars.
- Managed operations of 2 bankrupt affiliates and 1 non-bankrupt affiliate of a bankrupt parent corporation through the difficult process of liquidation and sale, with particular focus on cash preservation; balanced interests of employees, suppliers, and customers to preserve value for the creditors.
- Implemented manufacturing planning and scheduling tools in an industrial-equipment manufacturing facility; new capabilities helped the company grow 150% over five years.
Industry Experience: industrial equipment, specialty chemicals, forest products, semiconductors, petroleum exploration & production, electric utilities, professional services
Functional Experience: board of directors, general management, manufacturing/operations, industrial distribution, planning, marketing, eCommerce, sales management
EXPERIENCE
Enron Industrial Markets LLC (EIM), Houston, Texas, 12/2000 - present
Subsidiary responsible for extending Enron’s trading and risk-management offerings to forest-products and metals markets. Prior to Enron’s bankruptcy filing in December 2001, EIM employed 240 people (excluding employees of manufacturing affiliates).
Vice-President, 2002 - present
Director, 12/2000 - 2002
Responsible for general management of two paper-manufacturing affiliates and one steel-processing affiliate having over 1,400 employees and $400 million in annual revenues. Physical volumes for EIM trading operations were supplied in part by these affiliates.
Chairman of Boards of Directors and Operating Committees of the paper-manufacturing affiliate companies. General management responsibilities included: overall profit/loss performance of affiliates; supervision of on-site managers; establishment of affiliate organization & governance structures and approval policies; integration of physical production with EIM trading and risk management strategy; coordinating affiliate and Enron corporate activities in sales, procurement, legal, finance, EHS, and public relations; approving sales-pricing policies; managing preparation of annual budgets; reviewing and approving proposed capital expenditures; and monitoring weekly and monthly operational performance.
Following the bankruptcy filing, two manufacturing affiliates were liquidated, while the other continues to operate. Additional activities in bankruptcy included: defining role of the remaining affiliate in Enron’s reorganization plan; managing value preservation and minimizing costs during affiliate liquidation; planning and implementing personnel reductions consistent with liquidation schedule; and overseeing liquidation of affiliate working capital.
Accenture, Houston, Texas, 1995 - 2000
$12 billion global management consulting and technology services organization, employing more than 75,000 people in 47 countries.
Interim CEO - Joint Venture, December 1999 - April 2000
Business-to-business eCommerce venture was funded jointly with a client. Venture-development team conducted market research, developed business model, and devised strategies for attracting alliance partners. Submitted business plan and funding needs to a venture-capital firm and received approval of $4 million first-round funding. Venture was folded into ForestExpress, the forest-products industry eCommerce marketplace, in May 2000.
Associate Partner, Strategy & Business Architecture Service Line, 1999 - 2000
Senior Manager, Strategy & Business Architecture Service Line, 1995 - 1999
Client service focused on manufacturing and natural resources industries, including forest products, specialty chemicals, and heavy equipment.
Participated in team selling of over $4 million of consulting services annually. Managed complete scope of consulting profession, from client development through project proposal, contract negotiation, project budgeting, and project implementation. Experience included eCommerce strategy, marketing and business-unit strategy, new-business architecture, competitive analysis, strategic cost analysis, and operations improvement. Activities of project teams included interviewing industry participants; gathering and analyzing data; presenting action recommendations to client management; and leading the client in implementing recommendations. Responsibilities also included recruiting and development of junior consulting professionals.
Bray International Incorporated, Houston, Texas, 1990 - 1995
$25 million privately-held international manufacturer of butterfly valves, valve actuators, and related control products; sales increased more than 150% 1990-1995.
Vice-President-Operations, 1994 - 1995
Assistant to the President, 1990 - 1994
Responsible for Manufacturing, Production, Materials Management, and Purchasing functions of 55,000 square foot plant employing 150 people. Responsible for over $10 million of inventory. Additional duties included: oversight of inventory management in six foreign subsidiaries; development of advanced sales and manufacturing information systems; and management of ISO 9000 certification process for sales and manufacturing functions.
Directed major eight-month project to relocate European operations from the Netherlands to Germany, including extensive on-site involvement in Europe.
Managed distributor support group which set pricing levels for over $1 million in competitive quotations each month and had final responsibility for profitability of competitive quotations. Group also provided customer service, applications engineering, and field-service assistance to distributors and end-users and coordinated marketing communications and product literature.
Managed network of industrial distributors in northeast US for one year. Member of Corporate Marketing Committee responsible for strategic marketing decisions. Additional duties included: management of international distributor sales; oversight of corporate budgeting process; acquisition and investment analysis; start-up of foreign subsidiaries; competitor analysis; and coordination of new-product introduction.
Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, San Jose, California, 1989 - 1990
$250 million developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital integrated memory and logic devices used in both commercial and military applications.
Manager of Business Planning, Operations Planning Department, 1989 - 1990
Directed substantial enhancement of corporate planning sophistication.
Developed annual operating plan. Formulated quarterly revenue and operating plans using inputs from marketing, engineering, and manufacturing and balancing production among multiple facilities. Compiled quarterly comparisons of competitor performance. Completed special projects in support of acquisition and investment proposals. Managed group of people responsible for scheduling weekly wafer fabrication, planning raw material requirements, analyzing factory operations and inventories, and monitoring milestones for new product releases.
McKinsey & Company, Inc., Houston, Texas, 1986 - 1989
Global management-consulting firm, advising senior client executives on strategy, organization, and operations, with 82 offices in 44 countries.
Engagement Manager, 1988 - 1989
Associate, 1986 - 1988
Managed and participated in consulting projects for clients in several manufacturing and service industries, including diesel engines, electric utilities, petroleum exploration and production, and oilfield services. Project focus included marketing and business-unit strategy, competitive analysis, and operations improvement. Project management included project planning; coordinating team activities; and acting as liaison among client executives, project team, and McKinsey partner. Other activities included: interviewing industry participants; gathering and analyzing data; presenting action recommendations to client management; and leading the client in implementing recommendations.
Cray Research, Inc., Houston, Texas, summer, 1985
$600 million pioneer of supercomputer technology, designing and manufacturing the world’s fastest computers for applications in petroleum exploration, meteorological modeling, analysis of intelligence data, and fundamental R&D.
Marketing Intern. Developed plan for marketing to the global petroleum industry.
Exxon Production Research Company, Houston, Texas, 1982 - 1984
Engineering and research affiliate of Exxon Corporation, focusing on exploration and production design and technology development for non-U.S. affiliates.
Research Engineer. Developed the thermodynamic-property calculation module for a $7 million engineering software project. Lectured in petroleum engineering classes.
EDUCATION
Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, Boston, Massachusetts, 1984 - 1986
Received Master in Business Administration degree, with distinction. Intramural athletics.
University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, 1978 - 1982
Received Bachelor of Science, Summa Cum Laude, in Chemical Engineering. Graduated first in class. Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Tau Beta Pi, and
Outstanding Senior in both chemical engineering and social fraternity. President of campus athletic booster organization. Intramural athletics.
COMMUNITY
Committee Chairman for Cub Scout Pack. Led 1st grade Cub Scout Den. Taught 5th grade Sunday School class. Member of church Finance Team. Participate in neighborhood security patrol. Past leader of YMCA "Indian Guides" father-son group. Past president of adult Sunday School class. Past block representative to neighborhood association.
SELECTED MANAGEMENT CONSULTING EXPERIENCE
ACCENTURE:
eCommerce. Managed Accenture's strategy consulting relationship with a start-up eCommerce marketplace for the global-forest products industry. Directed joint project to design, build, and launch business and technology components of the offering in the timber segment of the industry. The Q4 2000 launch was the first of several offerings by the new company.
Chemical Technology Solutions and Services. Led the development of a corporate eCommerce strategy for a global provider of specialty-chemical technology solutions and services. Major activities included: implementing an organization and governance model for eCommerce; recommending eCommerce demonstration initiatives in each of three business units; and educating senior executives on the opportunities and threats posed by
eCommerce.
eCommerce. Served as interim CEO of business-to-business eCommerce venture with seed funding provided jointly by Accenture and a large manufacturing client. Interim staff consisted of five people from Accenture and the client. Venture-development team conducted market research, developed business model, and devised strategies for attracting alliance partners to the venture. Venture submitted a business plan and funding needs to a venture-capital firm and received approval of $4 million first-round funding.
Pulp and Paper. Directed the formulation of the eCommerce strategy for a global forest products company. Three major workstreams focused on: implementing an organization and governance model for eCommerce; recommending and implementing four eCommerce demonstration initiatives in selected business units, based on analysis of threats and opportunities posed by eCommerce for the client; and selecting the highest-potential new e-enabled business models for the client to pursue. Initial $700,000 project led directly to more than $4 million of additional strategy and implementation work.
Professional Services. Led project for a global professional services firm to reposition one small service line relative to other service lines, with the objective of achieving comparable profitability on a stand-alone basis. Analysis focused on improving sales productivity of partners, determining the optimal mix of professionals by tenure and level, recommending more accurate methods of allocating firm overhead to service lines, and developing appropriate profit measures across service lines.
Pulp and Paper. Co-Program Manager (teamed with client Program Manager) of change program aimed at implementing a demand-driven operating philosophy in a global forest products company. Change program incorporated several efforts, including: educating decision-makers on the use of appropriate cost and revenue data in the new philosophy; communicating the program widely throughout the company and the industry; developing performance measures which encourage the new operating philosophy; defining marginal-cost behavior of manufacturing facilities; and building a decision-support tool to make marginal-cost and revenue data widely available.
Pulp and Paper. Managed pilot project for a global forest products company to develop a deep understanding of marginal production economics in one paper mill. Sub-teams focused on wood costs, process costs, and revenue. Findings demonstrated potential annual value of several hundred million dollars from adopting a “demand-pull” philosophy in operating decisions, rather than conventional “production-push” philosophy. Project led to implementation of substantial change program within the client organization.
Pulp and Paper. Led joint Accenture-client team in pilot project to strengthen role of paper-mill finance staff in managing the business. Identified operational-improvement opportunities, developed skills in mill finance staff by analyzing opportunities, and re-designed mill accounting processes to allow finance staff more time for ad hoc analysis. Analyses identified improvements worth more than $5 million annually in a single mill.
Earthmoving Equipment. Participated in joint Accenture-client effort to assess market among dealers for a package of information systems and consulting services. Collected dealer data, developed segmentation framework, and drew conclusions from segmentation.
Specialty Chemicals. Led joint Accenture-client team in understanding true costs of serving customers for a global additives manufacturer. Employed Activity-Based Costing methodologies to demonstrate true customer profitability can vary significantly from conventional profitability measures. Recommended subsequent client initiatives based on project findings.
Specialty Chemicals. Managed project to help a global chemical company refocus its North American marketing efforts to maximize growth and profitability. Constructed database of market segment characteristics and developed rigorous analytical framework to determine relative attractiveness of segments. Project was subsequently extended to global scope using same framework.
McKinsey & Company, Inc:
Industrial Equipment. Identified new market opportunities in North America for a European manufacturer of diesel engines. Performed detailed market assessments, including customer and competitor interviews, critical skill identification, and evaluation of segment fit with client skills and objectives.
Electric Utilities. Directed client team in development of residential marketing programs for a large electric utility. Evaluated all significant residential electrical loads for attractiveness. Selected highest impact loads and designed marketing programs around them.
Petroleum Exploration and Production. Led team of client and firm personnel in overhead cost reduction project for a mid-sized exploration and production company. Conducted detailed review of all administrative departments and activities in three locations. Developed specific plans for streamlining activities and merging three locations into one.
Petroleum Exploration and Production. Conducted review of operational efficiency in an oil field with over 1,000 producing wells. Identified changes to production pattern to optimize cash flow. Developed model for on-going evaluation of production pattern by operating personnel.
Oilfield Services. Performed profitability review of locations serving offshore drilling and production operators in the Texas Gulf Coast region. Analysis resulted in decision to streamline operations by combining five locations into two.
September, 2004 |
