Director and Vice President Sales, Specialty Chemicals (Disinfectants, Jan/San, Sanitizers) Summary: Location – anywhere near a major airport in the Central to Eastern US. Base salary – $200k-$240k (DOE) & bonus target, vehicle allowance, company stock. This is a new position. Using your expertise in the I&I (Jan/San) market, you’ll have the chance to develop a new business unit and sales team. No relocation required (remote position with travel as permitted.) Our client – Your Future Employer Our client, a specialty chemical company headquartered in Houston, TX, develops and sells its own line of specialty chemicals in addition to providing contract R&D, contract manufacturing, & toll blending services to clients. They are a publicly-traded company with annual sales of $60MM. With manufacturing in TX, OK, and Canada, they, like most, suffered setbacks in 2020. Taking the opportunity to streamline their product lines, renegotiate supplier contracts, and accelerate efficiencies, they are ready for someone like you to help them move forward in 2021. How? We’ll come back to this in a moment. Culture – “We are not a culture of micromanagement. There isn’t time. Let’s set our KPIs and be about our business,” states the President of Chemical Technologies, Ryan, the person to who you will report. He has been with the company for 17-months. The backstory leading up to this role – when the pandemic hit the US full bore in March 2020, the CEO asked Ryan, “What can we do to help out? Can we make sanitizers & disinfectants?” Having both a commercial background and a Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry, Ryan had one of their blending lines making hand sanitizer within days. They gave it away – to hospitals, doctor’s offices, first responders, nursing homes, and anywhere in Houston where it was needed. Before long, they had customers asking them to make sanitizers for them and were purchasing the product. Other companies were soon coming to them, asking for sprays, wipes, and other cleaning products. Without even “trying,” Ryan sold over $8MM in hand sanitizers & disinfectants in Q3/4. In Q4 ’20, the company received support from the Board of Directors to make R&D investments, add a new packaging line, and hire for this role to specifically focus on the commercial Jan/San market in 2021. In 2017, it was projected that the US commercial Jan/San market’s annual growth rate would be 4.5% through 2027. It is now at least 3x that. What’s in it for you? So, you may ask, “How can a $60MM company compete in this market against firms like Clorox Professional Products, Ecolab, and the other “big boys?” (That is the question I asked a consultant I know in the Jan/San market before I agreed to take on this recruiting assignment.) “Those firms are focusing most of their resources on the healthcare market segment letting many of the other Jan/San market segments fending for themselves,” he told me. This role provides you with an extraordinary opportunity to build and develop your own business within the business. With manufacturing, R&D, support, and other resources at your disposal, few opportunities equal this one. In essence, you will have the opportunity to develop and grow this new division from the ground up. Decide what is needed to have a viable portfolio of products? Evaluate the market and provide guidance on the product forms? (Sprays, wipes, concentrates, ready-to-use, etc.) Identify and go after the “low hanging fruit” to get volume & sales up first, followed by more “value-oriented” products & sales next (such as “green” cleaners, etc.) Determine what the opportunities are for branded products, contract manufacturing for distributor branded products, etc. As “Director,” you’ll manage the budget, develop the group’s KPIs, set vision, and ensure the group is run well from a business perspective. As “VP of Sales,” you will find and sell the low hanging fruit, capitalize on your relationships within the I&I Jan/San industry to develop key accounts and distributor relationships and decide when and where to hire people for your team. As soon as the low hanging fruit brings in the cash to support it, up to two additional hires are authorized to help you grow the business. What you must bring to the table: Experience in Industrial & Institutional cleaning & disinfectants In-depth knowledge of the various Jan/San product classes (such as hard-surface, floor-care, carpet-care, odor control, etc.) Understanding of end-use market segments (contract cleaners, nursing homes, fast food, schools, etc.) Relationships with major distributors that can be developed into business (Jan/San & paper houses, foodservice distributors, general supply distributors, textile rental firms, & more.) Additionally, any experience with retailers such as mass merchants, office supply store chains, cash & carry outlets, and dollar stores as well as e-commerce is a plus. No sponsorship. Green card or US Citizen is a must. To have a confidential conversation & to learn more, let’s connect