Cooper Edwards recruits new Managing Director for local consumer goods business in record time!

The story

The business briefed Cooper Edwards to search the market for a highly driven Managing Director to develop and implement a strong commercial strategy incorporating manufacturing and multi-channel distribution.

A well-established manufacturer of consumer durables operating from multi-site facilities in the North East, this family business has been supplying national retailers and independent trade merchants for half a century. With a view to driving strategic growth in existing and new channels, the company needed to bring in an experienced Managing Director with a strong commercial and marketing background.

With second-to-none leadership skills, it was essential that they had experience setting the direction of a consumer business, having developed clear commercial and channel strategies and led a business through growth successfully.

Our methodology

An essential first step was getting to know the business and getting under the skin of this unique family culture. We spent time with the owner and Chairman of the business, as well as with the rest of the Senior Leadership Team, in order to paint an accurate picture of the type of competencies and personality traits that would make a successful leader in the business.

The project demanded an in-depth search throughout the consumer sector, mapping out all relevant businesses and individuals to target. Our extensive search led us to consider a significant number of potential candidates, primarily leveraging our own network and personal recommendations, whilst using the support of a targeted social media advertising campaign. Considering the urgency of the requirement, we focused our efforts on the search and met with our longlist of candidates without wasting any time. We were soon in a position to present a strong shortlist of candidates for the client to interview.

The happy ending

This family business needed an inspiring leader with unparalleled integrity who would fit in the Senior Leadership Team seamlessly, whilst engaging and developing the well-established commercial and product development teams.

The individual chosen has outstanding experience developing multi-channel strategies and a thorough knowledge of various market segments within the consumer sector, having delivered record sales growth in those segments. Most importantly, the successful candidate has a clear ability to work closely with other key stakeholders in the business, including the Executive Chairman, which was key to ensure an optimum cultural fit.

The new Managing Director was appointed in record time and started with the business within 5 weeks of the start of the search, a personal best for Cooper Edwards!