Chief Production Officer

This role is onsite and can be based at either our Louisville or Bardstown, KY offices.

What the Role Is

Reporting directly to the Co-President, the Chief Production Officer (CPO) at Heaven Hill will be a key member of the executive leadership team. The CPO will maximize the operations/manufacturing organization's growth and profitability through insightful leadership, effective management, employee development, and a strong focus on continuous improvement systems and processes.

This role will provide the leadership, vision, strategy, and direction across the following business units:

• Bottling Plant and Heaven Hill Springs Distillery Bardstown, KY
• Bernheim Distillery Louisville, KY
• Deep Eddy Vodka Distillation and Bottling - Buda, TX
• TJC Carolans - Dublin Ireland
• Black Velvet Distillation and Bottling Lethbridge Canada
• Additional responsibilities include: aging bourbon warehouse facilities, distribution facilities, trucking fleet, purchasing and supplier relations, contract manufacturing operations, corporate engineering and new product development.

How You Will Spend Your Time?

• Provide strategic direction and leadership to achieve production goals, quality standards, and cost effectiveness for multi-plant manufacturing operations including Bottling Operations, Distillation, Supply Chain, Engineering, Quality, New Product Development and Barrel Warehousing
• Lead the cultural transformation to a Lean/CI culture, driving continuous improvement in operational performance to support the company's growth plans with a focus on employee ownership for health, safety, and security of our facilities, streamlining business and production processes, improving quality, and reducing operating costs.
• Optimize manufacturing footprint, driving manufacturing initiatives that align to strategic and corporate goals.
• Implement and enforce best practices in manufacturing processes to enhance efficiency and productivity in union and non-union facilities
• Create compelling vision and lead continuous improvement culture, driving organizational change within the organization, enabling Heaven Hill to continuously improve performance.
• Build and lead a high-performing manufacturing team, fostering a culture of accountability, teamwork, and continuous improvement methodologies.
• Select, develop, and mentor direct reports to achieve business goals through coaching, mentoring and servant leadership, promoting professional development aligned with strategy to grow our people.
• Lead managers and direct reports to evaluate and take actions consistent with the company's overall strategy.
• Review financial statements, sales and activity reports, and other performance data to measure productivity and corporate goal achievement and determine necessary Operational actions.
• Direct and coordinate organization's financial and budget activities to fund operations, maximize investments, and increase efficiency.
• Identify opportunities for cost savings through process optimization and resource efficiency.
• Identify and drive implementation of corporate departmental policies, goals, objectives, and procedures, conferring with executive leadership team members, and staff members as necessary.
• Participate as key member of Heaven Hill Executive Leadership Team, providing insight into operations/manufacturing results and trends, contributing to strategic decision making, providing recommendations to leadership, and guide efforts to support organizational change while balancing corporate and department priorities.
• Maintain up-to-date understanding of industry trends and technical development.

Who You Are

• Bachelor's Degree in Business or related field; MBA preferred.
• Global manufacturing executive with a minimum of 10 years' experience gained through increasingly responsible leadership roles in manufacturing with significant leadership and progressive operational, manufacturing, and managerial experience.
• Familiarity with Lean Manufacturing principles and other continuous improvement methodologies.
• Demonstrated ability to influence/drive change.
• Excellent leadership and communication skills with a track record of building and leading high-performing teams in union and non-union facilities.
• Strong leadership and management capabilities with the ability to manage change and effectively lead a manufacturing organization, both union and non-union environments
• Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership techniques, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Ability to think critically and strategically and translate strategies into actionable plans, decisive, and results-oriented.
• Strong financial and analytical skills
• Executive presence and presentation skills.
• Superior interpersonal/collaboration skills with the ability to work with others at all levels of the organization.
• Proficiently utilize technology including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
• Ability to motivate and maintain effective working relationships.
• Self-starter and a team player that will thrive in an entrepreneurial environment.
• Ability to travel as required

Valued but not required Skills and Experience:

• Master's degree in business or related field
• Experience in Lean Manufacturing transformations
• Previous experience in the distilled spirits industry

Direct report to this position: VP Supply Chain, VP New Product Development & Quality, Director Health, Safety, & Security, Director Corporate Engineering, Director Distillation & Master Distiller, Director Human Resources, Plant Manager Bardstown Bottling, Plant Manager Deep Eddy Vodka, VP & General Manager Black Velvet Distilling.

Physical Requirements
While performing duties of job, employee is required to stand and/or walk moderate distances; use arms, hands, fingers to handle/feel objects, reach and use computer. Employee may occasionally lift and/or move up to 20 pounds.

Benefits

• Paid Vacation
• 11 Paid Holidays
• Health, Dental & Vision eligibility from day one
• FSA/HSA
• 401K match
• EAP
• Maternity/Paternity Leave

Heaven Hill and its affiliates are committed to fostering a diverse workforce as an Equal Employment Opportunity company. We invite applications from candidates of all backgrounds, without regard to race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, natural origin, gender identity or expression, age, disability, veteran status or any other legally protected characteristic.