VICE PRESIDENT/GENERAL MANAGER GLOBAL BUSINESS UNIT
As Vice President with full P&L responsibility, I led the carve-out and growth of a $160 MM global specialty chemicals business unit to $700 MM in revenue in three years. Profitability was increased from 4% EBITDA to 15% EBITDA over this time period. New product sales increased from 12% to 15%.
Recruited as Director of R&D to accelerate new product development in this private equity company. Promoted to VP of a $500 MM Global Business with responsibility for marketing and technical resources. My strategic plan to re-structure this hybrid business into a core/commodity business and a specialty/growth business drove a turnaround in profitability. As General Manager of the global specialty business, focused on coatings, composites, adhesives and electronics markets, I led a global business team to achieve profitable growth with the integration of 2 acquisitions, globalization of existing products, focused and aligned market development and accelerated new product success. Earlier, as Vice President Technology & Marketing, I led the development of several patented technology platforms and an increase of new product sales from 1% to 18% over 5 years through the implementation of project management, cross-functional teams and a stage-gate new product process. I have a B.S. in Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Polymer Science & Engineering.
2001 2007
$800 MM PRIVATE EQUITY CHEMICAL COMPANY
(Merged into $4 Billion Chemical Company in 2005)
VICE PRESIDENT GLOBAL BUSINESS UNIT
I was recruited into this private equity spin-out from a major, global petro-chemical company in 2001 as Director, Product & Applications Development, reporting to the President, to improve the return on R&D and to support the growth of specialty products. Profitability across the industry declined sharply between 2001 and 2003 however, forcing a 37% decrease in R&D investment. This challenge was met while keeping key personnel engaged, core technical programs on track, and introducing structure, discipline and project management to the organization. In 2003, I was appointed Vice President of a $500 MM Global Business Unit and chartered with developing a strategy for recovery. Our strategy restructured the business by product line, manufacturing resources and personnel into a core/commodity business unit and a specialty/growth unit.
I was appointed VP of the specialty/growth unit in January, 2004. The implementation of our strategy, led by my global business team and enabled by two acquisitions, allowed us to transform a $160 MM/4% EBITDA business in 2003 into a $631MM/12% EBITDA business by 2006 on pace to be a $700+ MM/15% EBITDA business in 2007.
The acquisitions, one minor and one major, were completed in 2005 to create a $500 MM specialty/growth business. In 2006, our first full year, sales volume was increased by 17%, revenue by 22% and EBITDA by 88% over 2005 pro-forma results. Synergy projects generated $9.3 MM of savings and are on pace to provide $13 MM of savings in 2007. Unit margins of products produced in the only Asian plant were improved 3x between Q1 and Q4 2006.
A new Division President was appointed from the outside in May, 2006. He is restructuring the Division, re-combining the commodity and specialty business units, and bringing his own hires into key roles. In March, 2007, it was agreed that I would leave at the end of Q1. As a result, I am currently seeking a new challenge, ideally as a business leader in a growth-oriented business.
05 Vice President $500MM Global Specialty Chemical Business. Expanded responsibilities following merger. Recognized with the Corporate Leadership Award for Market Development in 2005.
04 Vice President $160MM Global Specialty Chemical Business. Carved a specialties business out of a hybrid commodity/ specialties business. Built a market development organization and global business team. Aligned global market segment strategies with regional business plans and technical resources. Increased revenue by 58% and EBITDA from 4% sales to 11% sales in 2 years. Increased new product sales from 12% to 15% in that same time period. Decreased working capital by $8 MM. Led the acquisition of a $16 MM business in 2005. Provided due diligence, market analysis and regulatory approval support for a $200 MM acquisition made by our private equity owners that was ultimately rolled into our business.
03 Vice President $500 MM Global Chemical (Hybrid) Business. Marketing and technical responsibility. Analyzed market elements that destroyed market value from 2001 to 2003. Outlined market segmentation/product line opportunities to accelerate recovery. Gained board approval for strategy to restructure into a core/commodity business and a specialty/
growth business implemented in 2004.
01 Director - Product & Applications Development. Managed a $9 MM R&D budget with lab facilities in the U.S. and Europe. Implemented project teams, project management and stage-gate process with business/marketing engagement. Managed a 37% reduction in R&D spend between 2001 and 2003 while keeping key personnel and driving core projects.
1994 2001
$500 MM COATINGS RESINS COMPANY
(Acquired by $5.5 Billion Chemical Company in 2000)
VICE PRESIDENT TECHNOLOGY & MARKETING
This $500MM manufacturer of polymer resins for coatings and composites with 1100 employees was formed in 1994 through an acquisition followed by an IPO spin-out from the parent company. Acquired by a $5.5 Billion corporation with 15,000 employees in 2000.
I was recruited to this $500 MM resins company in 1994 as Vice President Technology, reporting to the President. My charter was to provide structure and leadership to the technical efforts of this newly formed company and to transform its product lines to meet the changing needs of the Coatings Industry. I faced the challenge of building nearly every element of the technical infrastructure. Through hiring, training and redefining expectations on the technical career ladder, a 75 person technical organization was revitalized to the highest standards of education, experience and skills appropriate for the industry while keeping R&D expenses at 2.8% of sales and voluntary retention near 100%. A 42,000 sf. lab/office facility was constructed on time and on budget. Process engineering was established as a core competence to improve the manufacturing reliability of existing products, the return on capital projects, and the success-rate of new product scale-up efforts. A 6000 sf. pilot plant facility was constructed to support these efforts. A business/technical leadership forum was established to manage the R&D portfolio. The discipline, quality and return on R&D was improved by instituting project management, cross-functional new product teams and strategic selling as operating norms. Applications expertise in targeted market segments was enhanced and utilized to effectively position new, existing and acquired products in the waterborne, high solids and powder coating lines to generate double digit annual growth rates. New product sales were increased from 1% in 1994 to 18% by 1999. Five significant new technology platforms were developed, patented and commercialized.
In 1999, I was named Vice President Technology & Marketing
and given added responsibility for the marketing and product line management in coatings. I upgraded the experience and skill sets of the five existing marketing positions, increased marketing resources by 30% through a reallocation of personnel and improved the efficiency and focus of the marketing efforts through clear role definition. The use of a market focus teams was piloted in one target area where revenue and profit were improved by 22% the first year. The role of product line management was enhanced to drive product rationalization, coordinate sales forecasts with plant utilization and to maximize profitability by product line. Technical and marketing leadership developed a 5 year manufacturing strategy, which drove a $5 MM decrease in annual manufacturing fixed costs and provided a road map for CapEx needs through the planning horizon.
00 Director Technology & Marketing Global Coatings Facilitated the transition of people, products, technologies and processes into new parent following acquisition.
99 Vice President Technology & Marketing
94 Vice President Technology
1984 1994
$3 Billion CONSUMER AND COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS COMPANY
93 Department Manager Technology Development. Led a 22 person long-range research group with an 8-year history of under-achievement to fully-engaged alignment with strategic business objectives in 1 year.
90 Department Manager Global Product R&D. Led a 20+ global technical organization with resources in the U.S. and Europe. Introduced 18 new acrylic products for the graphic arts and coatings industries. Improved collaboration with our Japanese joint venture partner. Chaired the Division Patent Council. Member of global business team.
88 Section Manager Specialty Chemicals R&D. Aggressively attacked product quality and line maintenance root causes to reduce on-going R&D support from 25% to 5% of resource utilization while improving overall first-run capability to over 99%.
84 Group Leader Industrial Coatings. Developed and patented 2 high solid acrylics products that sustained business leadership in this market segment.
1978 1984
$3 BILLION TIRE/CHEMICAL COMPANY
83 Section Manager Corporate Research. Led a cross-functional new technology team that developed, patented and commercialized new family of glass fiber reinforced injection molding compounds. Developed a business plan for the commercialization of this product line that gained business management go-ahead.
80 Senior Research Engineer Corporate Research. Conducted basic research on adhesion in composite structures.
78 Advanced R&D Engineer Corporate Research. Developed competence to serve as in-house adhesion science expert.
EDUCATION
Ph.D. University of Massachusetts, 1978
M.S. University of Massachusetts, 1976
B.S. Case Western Reserve University, 1974
PERSONAL
Age 58, married, 2 children
62, 220 lbs. |
