VP Product Line Management & Marketing

Vice President

Marketing & Product Management

About DiversiTech

Founded in 1971, DiversiTech is North America’s largest manufacturer of equipment pads and a leading manufacturer and supplier of components and related products for the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration industry (HVAC/R). Headquartered in Duluth, GA, DiversiTech serves 4,500+ customers that increasingly demand a one-stop-shop solution to consolidate their purchasing and streamline supply channels. The Company is focused on growth through internal product development, external partnerships and acquisitions. Providing 17,000+ SKUs, which includes a wide range of mechanical, electrical and chemical products used in the installation, service and repair of HVAC/R systems, DiversiTech brings unparalleled scaling capabilities and supplier expertise. The Company holds numerous patents and operates an advanced engineering team dedicated to bringing more value to its customers. The Company maintains over 1 million square feet of manufacturing and distribution space in key locations in North America and Europe. DiversiTech has enjoyed a continued history of successful growth, demonstrating organic growth in excess of 10% annually over the past several years while acquiring industry recognized brand names, including Wagner® Manufacturing, Specialty Chemical, EcoPad®, The Black Pad®, Super Seal™ and MORRIS . The Permira Funds acquired DiversiTech was acquired by global private equity firm, Permira, in May 2017 with a plan to further accelerate growth and make the Company best-in-class for service and quality. Current revenues are $300M+ with a plan to significantly grow this 2X+ over the next few years. Key statistics include:

• #1, #2 or #3 market positions in 28 product categories. DiversiTech is #1 in equipment pads, HVAC whips, drain line cleaners and drain pains
• Attractive market and market position -- $11B+ HVAC components market growing 5-6% annually
• Estimated 85% of business driven by non-discretionary repair and replacement sales to support installed base of 87+ million HVAC units in the U.S.
• Operates four manufacturing facilities; partners/sources from global contract and third-party manufacturers and operates 11 distribution facilities. Product ships from all facilities globally
• DiversiTech fulfilled 100,000+ orders in 2016 with an average order size of ~$2,400 and 11 different product lines per order
• Completed eight ‘tuck-in’ acquisitions since 2015
  
  
  

More information on DiversiTech can be found at www.divesitech.com

Permira Funds

Permira is a global investment firm that finds and backs successful businesses with growth ambition. Founded in 1985, the firm advises funds with a total committed capital of approximately $35 billion. The Permira funds make long-term investments in companies with the ambition of transforming their performance and driving sustainable growth. In the past 32 years, the Permira funds have made over 200 private equity investments in five key sectors: Consumer, Financial Services, Healthcare, Industrials and Technology. Current and past industrial investments for the Permira funds include chemical manufacturer CABB, micro-irrigation specialist Netafim, containment solutions business Bakercorp, consumer goods company Hugo Boss, and leading fulfillment solutions provider Intelligrated. Permira employs over 200 people in 14 offices across North America, Europe and Asia. More information on Permira can be found at www.permira.com

Vice President, Marketing & Product Management

Position Scope

With direction from the Chief Executive Officer, this key leadership position is responsible for the development of product and brand strategies, including new product introductions, that position the company to achieve long term growth, while meeting annual revenue and profitability goals. This role will take the lead in strategic planning and execution of the development new products and marketing strategy for existing products, with implementation that results in expansion of wallet share and product penetration with customers. This role will specifically drive the vision, and product strategies within the strategic product and channel segments. Initially the role will require the VP to be hands-on to enable execution, while building out the product team in parallel. This work involves building and leading up to 6 product teams covering the Company’s major business segments, each with General Managers and P&L responsibilities. These product lines include Pads& Mounts, Chemicals & Sealants, Condensate Management, Electrical & Motors, Parts & accessories, and Tools. In addition, this role is responsible for developing and maintaining the needed marketing infrastructure to support both its current and future operations, including merchandising, product engineering, product information management (PIM), supplier relations for distributed product only, pricing, inventory targets, and the S&OP process. This role will foster a collaborative communicative team environment that ensures customers are well served via product and marketing initiatives andwill work closely with peers across the organization to effectively define, communicate and market the Company value proposition and drive additional sales and market presence.

Key Responsibilities

• Responsible for management and financial results of various product line teams, including market segment managers, product engineers and product management specialists, which will each function as micro P&Ls tied to the supported product line.
• Deliver increased revenue from effective current product management, positioning and repositioning into current markets and channels.
• Grow revenues of existing products from effective cross marketing and intercompany integration from identified opportunities.
• Develop highly profitable new revenue streams by managing targeted NPI (new product introductions) and MGPP (multi-generational product planning) processes into existing and new business channels.
• Coordinate budget and company revenue goal alignment with sales leadership.
• Develop and execute overall marketing strategy, world wide, to ensure brand recognition, expansion of existing customer basket and wallet share. Ensure the development of all strategic product roadmaps and corresponding marketing plans.
• Ownership of Product Management and the new product introduction process; working closely with product engineering and sales team, to ensure knowledge of market needs and customer demands to stay ahead of trends and drive sales growth
• Implement production integration of existing products across newly acquired business entities and existing acquisition entities to ensure sales maximization
• Manage the marketing and product management team, including market manager, graphic, and digital platforms, oversee marketing events, customer trade show planning, and ensure strong presence of Company and products and industry functions
• Work closely with sales management team to understand trends and needs, globally, and deliver appropriate marketing and product line solutions to enable continued growth and superior customer experience.
• Establish and implement target market competitive analysis, including market share analysis, product positioning strategies and promotions. Ensure the collection and the analysis of market needs and wants translating feedback from customers and the market, towards improved specifications for new products and platforms.
• Translate market requirements into value propositions and co-develop long-term Product Plans and ensure proper execution of the Product Roadmap.
• Assess and determine need for e-commerce solutions, develop and implement strategy and time line for execution, if viable solution to drive customer service and business growth. Drive efforts with product and business development to define an overall product and technology portfolio strategy that will drive the long term growth of the organization.
  
  
  

Leadership Imperatives & Desired Skills

• Requires significant experience as a strategic planner and business leader. Must have a successful track record of strategic planning and managing a business division, with strong background in product management and marketing.
• Experience in brand management, product line management and leading marketing teams, as part of overall divisional leadership responsibilities is required. Past experience in leading product development engineering teams or working closely with product engineers as part of the new product introduction process is preferred.
• Must possess strong executive presence and leadership skills, adept listening and questioning skills, and extremely strong critical thinking and organizational skills.
• Preferably has past experience leading a fast paced, high growth business with high transaction volume and experience growing an organization from a small-mid sized business to a larger scalability business via business processes in marketing, new product introduction, and product/brand management
• Highly proficient computer skills with ability to effectively develop internal reporting tools to measure performance. Build effective processes and metrics for success.
• Proven experience in managing multiple product lines and/or complex initiatives simultaneously across the entire lifecycle – from initial requirements gathering and cost benefits analyses through product release and rollout.
• This role requires a valuable combination of leadership, product management expertise, strategic thinking and data-driven decision making to create and grow a strong product management function for the company.
• Build, manage and mentor a team of product managers, subject matter experts, analysts and others to drive product definition, prioritization and enhancements, within the context of the corporate strategy.
• Establish, exhibit and teach product management lifecycle and agile best practices throughout the company.
• Ensure engagement, competency and continued professional development of the product team.
• Ensure excellent collaboration relationships between product managers, and key internal stakeholders, including Sales, IT, Delivery Operations, Marketing, Account management and Finance.
  
  
  

Educational & Experience Requirements

• Educational requirements include a 4- year bachelor’s degree in a related field. An MBA is preferred but not required
• 10+ years sales & marketing experience; 5+ years in a leadership position
• Experience in strategic planning and collaboration with executive, sales, product development and key operational groups
• Proven record of leadership and managing a marketing organization with New product development and introduction responsibility
• Proven success as an individual contributor and manager who has grown top line results
• Experience developing and leading customer focused growth programs with a demonstrated track record of driving positive revenue growth
  
  
  

Personal Characteristics

• Passionate, hard working with positive can-do attitude and consistent personality / management style
• High level of personal and professional integrity and trustworthiness with strong work ethic and the ability to work independently with minimal direction
• Excellent communications and presentation skills
• Ability to develop and manage a high performance team focused on accountability and meeting and exceeding expectations; foster team work, develop talent to meet customer expectations and exceed company commitments.
• Strategic, critical but creative thinker, strong business sense and excellent financial skills
• Ability to lead, create and work within cross-functional team environments
• Bias for action with strong intellect and analytical ability; organized leader with attention to detail
• Proactive self-starter with excellent communication & listening skills
• Exhibits desirable leadership professional behavior including being a change agent with a sense of urgency, independent judgment, industriousness, teamwork, ability to get along with others, creative thinking and personal integrity to provide for a cohesive, productive unit dedicated to the achievement of corporate goals.