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Form of workCOMPANY BACKGROUND
Lex Products is a leading North American manufacturer of innovative power distribution and emerging energy storage solutions for demanding markets, including entertainment, industrial and the military. Founded in 1989, the company specializes in products designed to withstand rough use and harsh environments. Headquartered in Connecticut, the company also has offices and manufacturing facilities in California, Florida, and Scotland.
LEX’s board seeks to recruit a seasoned manufacturing leader who will follow through with the organization’s current business process improvement efforts and grow both the bottom and top lines, serving as Chief Executive Officer. It is expected that this individual will immediately impact and energize the organization around a shared vision and help shape the future direction of the company through continued commitment to safety and operational excellence, entrepreneurial energy and growth, operational accountability, and value creation. Investors are optimistic about LEX’s potential to unlock significant enterprise value with the proper alignment of leadership, strategy, structure, and execution.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
With overall profit and loss and working capital responsibility, the Chief Executive Officer will manage all aspects of LEX including sales, marketing, engineering, operations, supply chain, finance, and human resources. He/she will be accountable for all facets of the strategic planning and execution, day-to-day operations, and long-term shareholder value creation. The CEO will be responsible for setting strategic direction for the organization, analyzing operational improvement opportunities, aligning the organization’s management team to generate growth in revenue, cash flows and EBITDA. In the immediate term, the CEO must quickly assess LEX’s operating characteristics and implement actions that identify and win new opportunities. The successful candidate will develop and articulate a strategy of growth, innovation, and value creation for LEX, driving best-in-class practices.
In summary, the new Chief Executive Officer will be required to quickly get his/her arms around the company’s strategic and tactical plans and direct the overall activities such that performance meets or exceeds established performance metrics and goals for growth, profitability, return on invested capital, safety, environmental stewardship, organizational effectiveness, and efficiency, as well as quality, delivery, and all other elements of the end-to-end customer experience.
- Key initial responsibilities include:
- Grasping LEX’s business value proposition and key drivers of success.
- Executing in-flight improvement plans.
- Planning/ implementing LEX’s growth plan to continually improve business performance and investor returns.
- Assessing the state of the organization and effectively continue driving and improving a culture of accountability and continuous improvement, while maintaining a strong focus on core values.
- Working closely with the Board and other executive team members, to execute the short- and long-term strategic plan as established by the board, to continue developing corporate strategies and organizational structure as well as current operational and financial performance.
- Driving the overall financial, sales, and operational performance of the business as measured by profitability, EBITDA, cash flow, and return on assets.
- Engaging in front-line interactions with customers and the sales force. Building and sustaining strong relationships with key strategic customers.
- Driving sustainable growth by enhancing marketing, implementing best-in-class sales tools and processes, and fostering product innovation and new product development rooted in a deep understanding of customer and end user needs whether in support of the core business or pursuing adjacencies.
- Establishing high standards of performance and accountability for all managers and functions. Managing and developing the management team by means of recruitment, performance management, talent development, problem resolution and coaching.
- Maintaining positive morale, engagement, and direction of all employees to achieve company objectives by providing overall vision to employees and establishing environment of mutual respect.
- Identifying areas of opportunity for short- and long-term transformational change to improve profitability.
- Analyzing data or insights to determine industry and consumer trends. Devise long-term development strategies for product categories. Develop exit strategies for unsuccessful products.
- Forecasting and managing annual budgets to proactively direct the financial viability of the overall business and achieve desired revenue and EBITDA objectives.
- Continually studying the company’s market and competitive position and leading the company to develop products that maximize EBITDA growth.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE/QUALIFICATIONS
The Chief Executive Officer needs to demonstrate a track record of value creation. Candidates will possess broad leadership experience in manufacturing of highly engineered products and services in a B2B capacity. It is expected that the CEO will exhibit operational and financial competency, and have well developed commercial (sales, marketing, product) and strategic skills, gained through a variety of assignments in world-class companies.
Importantly, he/she will bring vision and energy to the company with a natural ability to engage people at all levels. He/she will have a focus on enterprise value enhancement, with strong financial aptitude, good operational understanding, commercial savvy, and outstanding leadership skills. The CEO will have a simple and straightforward approach, with a bias for action. He/she will have demonstrated the ability to improve an underperforming business with a clear result. While prior experience in the energy storage and/or power distribution space is a plus, it is not a requirement.
Successful candidates will have experienced the pressures and demands placed upon product suppliers over the past several years in areas such as quality, delivery, and cost. It is preferred that he/she will have started in a large company known for developing management talent, but will have been successful in smaller, more resource constrained companies later in his/her career. Prior CEO and/or private company experience is a significant plus, but not a requirement.
Additionally, the successful candidate will possess the following characteristics:
- 20 years + demonstrated business experience, with at least 5 years of general management (full P&L responsibility) in a $75 million plus business.
- Experience in B2B sales of engineered technical products.
- Significant commercial facing experience, including strategic planning/deployment experience and NPD experience to create organic growth/market execution strategies based on value proposition assessment.
- A demonstrated ability to develop an outstanding team and motivate commitment and performance with a personable approach.
- Successful market share growth in a fast-moving market with tough competitors.
- Effective leading change in a complex environment with a degree of ambiguity, where information, courses of action or goals are unclear or untried.
- Leadership abilities and strong critical thinking skills to conceptualize and solve commercial and operational issues, planning abilities which support the identification of growth areas and enable their execution, and communication skills to evangelize ideas and teach best operating principles.
- Evident ability to think both strategically and tactically, with a bias for action and results.
- Intimate customer experiences involving partnering to create mutually beneficial business relationships.
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
- Open, respectful, and able to relate with all levels. Operates without ego projection.
- Emotional intelligence: Reads others and uses that insight to bring them along; savvy at setting a pace of change that challenges the organization without burning people out; establishes accountability without blame; manages own emotions; embodies a growth mindset.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Able to clearly present goals and company direction in a manner that builds consensus and alignment.
- Forceful, but collaborative; Able to constructively challenge long-held assumptions and standards.
- Data and fact driven.
- Makes decisions in a timely manner.
- “Roll up your sleeves” mindset; Prepared to do real work when required; Understands the difference between a hands-on style (desired) and micromanagement (not desired).
- Confronts disagreements openly and professionally. Seeks resolution and moves forward.
- Ability to quickly establish credibility and build relationships. Comfortable on the shop floor, with customers, with the leadership team, and with the Board.
- High energy, especially when faced with tough challenges.
COMPENSATION
Compensation will be competitive and commensurate with experience. It will include a base salary, annual performance bonus, and long-term equity incentives.
