About our client:
B Riley Farber has partnered with a well-established North American metals fabrication and distribution company widely known for its customer responsiveness and high quality products. Having established a solid reputation as a trusted provider of custom metal pieces, the company has recently attracted growth investment from a private equity fund and is poised for an exciting new growth phase. We are in search of a seasoned General Manager to lead the company's transformation, drive expansion efforts, and improve their sales and operational performance.
 
Overview of the General Manager Role:
We are seeking a highly motivated, growth-oriented General Manager to lead and expand the company’s businesses, reporting directly to the PE group.  The company is profitable, generating approx. Sub $20 million revenues with a healthy EBITDA margin. The overarching objectives will be to create and develop the business plans and value propositions around geographic expansion, adding complementary new business lines, expanding current business lines to newer geographies, and leverage M&A as a strategic tool. Additionally, they will also be a sound operational leader who will improve the maturity of key business processes, such as order management, inventory management, purchasing, and, fulfilment.
 
This role demands hands-on involvement, requiring the incoming leader to possess a demonstrable history of value creation for middle market businesses in the metals fabrication and distribution space.
 
Key Responsibilities:
 
Business Management:

• Strategy Development: Partnering with the PE group, develop and execute an aligned growth (revenue and EBITDA) strategy while maintaining (or improving) metrics on quality and customer service.
• Value Creation: Gain an enhanced understanding the business operations, and deliver key levers allowing for topline and bottom-line improvement.
• Agile Business Management: Continuously adapt and modify business requirements and operations as needed to ensure products and service remain ahead of the curve.

 
Sales & Marketing:

• Sales Pipeline Management: Uncover new revenue generating opportunities with current customer base while simultaneously developing net new relationships with prospective buyers.
• Relationship Management: Cultivate and maintain already established and critical relationships with key customers, developed by the original founders. Ensure the quality of product and service is maintained while being flexible to meet customer needs.
• Market Analysis and Expansion: Identify emerging trends and market opportunities to penetrate new markets while strengthening existing relationships with the other ecosystem participants.

 
Operational Excellence:

• Inventory Management: Bring in best-in-class inventory management processes, building a culture of optimization balanced with the right safety stock to meet the customer responsiveness and the existing 24 hour turnaround commitment.
• Sourcing, Supply Chain, Production Optimization: Oversee the supply chain and production from sourcing to distribution, identifying opportunities for improvement and innovation.
• Quality: Responsible for evaluating and enhancing processes to ensure products meet or exceed the highest standards.

 
Financial Management:

• P&L Responsibility: Proactively manage the Profit and Loss (P&L) statements for the companies to ensure financial targets, including net profitability, are met and exceeded.
• EBITDA Improvement: Closely monitoring costs, implementing strategies to improve profit margins, and driving sales growth initiatives to ultimately increase EBITDA.
• Performance Analysis: Monitor and analyze financial performance, trends, strengths, and weaknesses and develop strategies to optimize revenue and cost efficiency.

 
People & Leadership:

• Relationship Management: Build professional, positive, trusting relationships with all direct reports and the wider team with a view to maintaining the close knit culture.
• Talent Development: Foster an environment allowing for top performers to continue to growth as the business grows. Strategically invest in the development of key talent within the organization.
• Inspirational Leadership: Providing visionary and motivational leadership that inspires employees to achieve their full potential. This entails fostering a supportive and inclusive environment where employees feel valued, trusted, and empowered.
• Cultivate Innovation Culture: Foster a culture of innovative thinking, continuous improvement, and accountability where employees feel empowered to share ideas, and explore new approaches to problem solving.

 
Key Requirements:
 
As an experienced professional you will have:

• Industry Knowledge and Experience: Deep understanding of the fabricated metals industry and experience with selling to relevant channels is required.
• Leadership Experience: Prior successful experience as a General Manager, President, COO with a sales and growth background is required.
• Education Qualifications: A bachelor’s degree in engineering or business administration, or a related field will be seen as an asset.

 
Professional Competencies:

• Sales and Marketing Expertise: Strong sales and marketing expertise, including proficiency in driving topline growth.
• Organizational Proficiency: Strong organizational skills, with the ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects concurrently in a fast-paced environment.
• Strategic Planning and Execution: Proven ability to develop and execute strategic plans that foster business growth and enhance profitability.
• Financial Acumen: Demonstrated financial acumen and experience managing budgets, profit and loss statements, and financial analysis.
• Expansion Planning: Proven experience in driving business expansion activities including new market development and harvesting current customer relationships for revenue enhancement.
• Team Management Excellence: Exceptional team management skills, with a focus on talent development, and retention.
• Analytical Mindset: Ability to utilize data and insights effectively to inform decision-making processes and drive performance optimization through analytical approaches.
• Stakeholder Management: Ability to maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders to foster collaboration and achieve mutual goals.

 
Personality Traits:

• Effective Communication Skills: Excellent communication skills, with the ability to engage and influence stakeholders at all levels effectively.
• Inclusive Leadership Style: A collaborative leadership and people management style, to lead diverse teams and forge partnerships.
• Integrity and Empathy: Demonstrated traits of integrity, humility, professionalism, and a commitment to ethical business practices.
• Tactful Expertise: A well-honed sense of tactfulness, encompassing adept negotiation, and conflict resolution abilities.

 
You are the ideal candidate if you:

• Bring 15 years plus progressive experience in a manufacturing, distribution environment with 5+ years in the metals fabrication sector.
• Have held a General Manager, COO, President or CEO role for a small to midsized business.
• Ideally scaled and exited with PE and have experience working in an owner operated company.
• A person who has professionalized an operating business, building system and operating models in the middle market.
• A curious professional who challenges the status quo and asks questions to understand business needs and drive value.
• A strategic leader who can connect sales performance drivers to financial outcomes and enhance objectives in a fast-paced environment.
• A self-starter with a strong work ethic who can operate with little direction and can proactively identify solutions.
• A natural communicator who can present complex issues to peers and senior leaders in simple formats to influence decision-making.
• A positive team player who can build cross-functional relationships to satisfy agendas and objectives.

This opportunity is ideal for an accomplished business leader with a proven track record as a hands on executive and business strategist in middle market value creation. If you are looking for an opportunity to have an immediate and ongoing impact in operational effectiveness and bring a growth mindset to the table, then this role will be a great match for you.
 
Please note this is an onsite role based out of Cambridge, Ontario.