Position: Business Unit VP & General Manager and Marine Global Business Development *Succession Planning Opportunity*

As a result of aggressive global growth and expansion, our client has retained us to fill a highly visible BU Vice President & General Manager role that will have concurrent responsibility as the Vice President, Global Marine Division Business Development across an extremely profitable business that has 15 global sites and that has made several strategic acquisitions over the last decade. This Marine business is a key contributor to the success of a global conglomerate that has seen its stock price grow over 10X in the last 20 years (gone from $220/share last year to over $375/share this year) and that has received numerous awards and accolades for Excellence, Quality and Innovation! Reporting directly to the President of the Marine business, this individual will provide strategic leadership to one of several critical businesses in addition to his/her global business development responsibilities across Marine’s global businesses and manufacturing sites. 

Our client’s parent company is a dynamic and fast-growing American corporation, and one of the world’s leading providers of highly sophisticated, integrated technologies for the defense, aerospace and marine industries. The corporation currently has some 50+ companies operating at the cutting edge of new technology developments. Its key strengths in world-class engineering, advanced manufacturing and service excellence are the “benchmark” for government and commercial applications in state-of-the-art materials, instrumentation and electronic data communication and power systems. 

Our client is seeking a versatile, charismatic, and inspirational leader who can thrive in a team-based environment. Due to its importance to the overall organization and high profile nature, this person will be earmarked for succession planning and promotion. Our client is committed to hiring the best of the best - total compensation will vary based on the individuals experience. The position can be based in San Diego, Houston or Coastal Florida!


The Role

The Business Unit (BU) Vice President & General Manager and Marine Global Business Development leader will hold full P&L responsibility for the growth and success of all manufacturing, engineering and field service operations for the business. As a key member of the senior leadership team, the successful candidate will work closely with the President and the global/regional VP’s on a range of strategic initiatives aimed at winning new business.  The individual will drive Global Business Development activities that will be critical to helping accelerate the company’s move towards long term “frame agreements” in support of the Marine strategy to establish itself as the single source supplier of choice for a wide range of existing and new customers.  Key to this effort will be the development and execution of technologies to “marry” Marine Instruments and Imaging, enabling products to seamlessly interface and communicate across platforms, resulting in a user-friendly customer experience.

Key responsibilities of the VP/GM BD role will include the following: 
• Execute a detailed business plan for achieving world-class levels of performance engineering, manufacturing/assembly, field service and business development excellence at the division’s operations. 
• Working with site management, manage the financial performance of the business unit’s operations, including improving quality, on-time delivery, profitability, cash flows, managed working capital, asset utilization - and justifying and supporting investment and product development programs. 
• Comply with and actively support the company’s Corporate Ethics Policy and Global Code of Ethical Business Conduct. 
• Lead the development of local/global lean supply chain management programs to achieve first-class levels of quality, costs reduction, JIT delivery - and innovation. 
• Lead continuous development of best practice, and introduce key performance measurement tools, applying these to every aspect of Manufacturing, Engineering, Field Service Business Development and Supply Chain Development and Improvement. 
• Provide inspired progressive leadership and coaching for all managers and staff. 
• Oversee recruitment, retention and development programs and ensure that the business has the best, most talented, high performance workforce available. 
• Work closely with the global Marine Leadership Team and manage key client relationships throughout the entire “lifecycle” of contracts. 
• Work closely with other divisions to identify new innovations and group-wide initiatives aimed at continuously improving divisional performance and sustaining global best practices to further efforts to develop integrated Marine solutions. 
• Contribute in the widest possible sense to the growth and success of the global Marine business.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The successful candidate will be dynamic, capable of adding considerable value to operational excellence and commercial growth in a fast changing, team-based and entrepreneurial environment. Necessary background includes a college degree with excellent engineering and operations background ideally focused on Marine Energy, Defense and Instrumentation and Imaging markets. Extensive leadership experience gained in a world-class manufacturing capacity in an “engineer to order” environment—including a demonstrated ability to lead and motivate team members – is critical. In terms of the performance and personal competencies required for the position, we would highlight the following: 

Setting Strategy:
• The ability to create and articulate an inspiring vision for the organization, not only for the areas s/he is directly responsible for, but the enterprise as a whole. 
• Develop and execute a Global Marine Strategy, working in tandem with Global Business development (BD) resources and working closely with regional BD teams. 
• Oversee market research and competitor analysis activities to better understand the needs of the customer and the market, to properly position the company’s product/service offerings in an effort to capitalize on market opportunities and minimize the impact of competitive activity.
• Identify key regional and customer partnership account targets and develop the strategic marketing and sales plans for each. Participate in direct sales effort to key customers.
• Direct and focus the day to day business development activities, benchmarks, protocols and sales activities.
• Work with the sales team to identify new markets/applications products, as a single source provider of integrated solutions - and coordinate activities with the global operations teams to seamlessly introduce new product lines into the current range being supplied to customers in target markets. 
• The inclination to seek and analyze data from a variety of sources to support decisions and to align others with the organization's overall strategy. 
• An entrepreneurial and creative approach to developing new, innovative ideas that will stretch the organization and push the boundaries within the industry. 
• Flexible. Capable of thriving in a fast-moving entrepreneurial business. A lateral thinker who is able to adapt strategy to changing market conditions. 

Executing for Results: 
• A proven record of success in designing and building complex manufacturing and assembly operations - managed on a full P&L or revenue generating basis. 
• Current experience in designing and implementing lean manufacturing and supply chain management - setting ambitious targets for every aspect of business performance. 
• Analytical, detailed, structured, and intuitive, with outstanding drive and motivation. 
• The ability to set clear and challenging goals while committing the organization to improved performance; tenacious and accountable in driving results. 
• A risk-taker who seeks data and input from others to foresee possible threats or unintended circumstances from decisions; someone who takes smart risks. 

Leading Teams: 
• The ability to attract and recruit top talent, motivate the team, delegate effectively, celebrate diversity within the team, and manage performance; widely viewed as a strong developer of others. 
• The ability to persevere in the face of challenges and exhibit a steadfast resolve and relentless commitment to higher standards, which commands respect from followers. 
• A leader who is self-reflective and aware of his/her own limitations; leads by example and drives the organization's performance with an attitude of continuous improvement by being open to feedback and self-improvement. 
• Encourages others to share the spotlight and visibly celebrates and supports the success of the team. 

Relationships and Influence: 
• Naturally connects and builds strong relationships with others, demonstrating strong emotional intelligence and an ability to communicate clearly and persuasively. 
• Excellent presentational skills. Credible and commercially astute. Able to operate effectively at the divisional and board level, and create convincing, “defendable” business cases for investing in growth and expansion in this region. 
• An ability to inspire trust and followership in others through compelling influence, powerful charisma, passion in his/her beliefs, and active drive. 
• Creates a sense of purpose/meaning for the team that generates followership beyond his/her own personality and engages others to the greater purpose for the organization as a whole.