AD, HellermannTyton Are Hiring

There are a few high-profile roles available in the electrical distribution industry. AD and HellermannTyton are hiring.

AD Seeks SVP Supplier Relations

Steve Guidry’s recent appointment as the EVP Sales and Marketing at McNaughton-McKay is creating the opportunity for AD to recruit its next SVP Supplier Relations, and for the industry to gain greater insight into what the role entails given that it was posted on LinkedIn.

According to the posting,

Position Summary:

The Senior Vice President of Supplier Relations is primarily responsible for managing and negotiating Supplier programs, conflict resolution, overseeing and maintaining the reporting data base, serving as an Affiliate advocate and developing and/or maintaining positive relationships with all existing and potential Suppliers in the U.S.

The individual is also responsible for leading the Division’s Product Committee and Supplier Advisory Council; two key volunteer groups that influence the Division’s strategic priorities.

Primary Responsibilities:

Suppliers

• Manage and negotiate all Supplier programs (confidential agreements, rebates, terms and conditions, Growth Incentive Bonus Program, Vendor Published Programs, etc.)
• Develop new reports and oversee and maintain current reports (Purchase Power Survey, Added-Value, etc.)
• Lead engagement with the Supplier Advisory Council, Product Committee and Product Sub-committees
• Promote Affiliate achievement of Supplier incentives
• Coordinate growth/expansion of Supplier list (Based on Product Committee direction)
• Promote Supplier and Manufacturer Representatives focus and participation in AD
• Lead market engagement with NEMRA and other trade organizations as needed
• Manage relationships with all existing and potential IESD Preferred Suppliers:
• Take a strong advocacy position on behalf of Affiliates with Suppliers
• Alert Suppliers to potential opportunities with Affiliates and assist in conflict resolution
• Work to strengthen Supplier relationships and aid in converting sales to IESD preferred Suppliers
• In conjunction with the ESD Senior Management team and the Marketing Department, help develop, implement and drive programs and promotions
• Monitor and analyze sales/earnings data and trends; take predictive stance and corrective action as appropriate to maintain growth of the division
• Participate in Supplier meetings and conferences
• Participate in Industry Trade shows to evaluate new and prospective suppliers
• In collaboration with the IESD Board and Product Committee, identify adjacencies and expansion opportunities
• Continuously evaluate category performance via formal review processes
• Understand and educate internal and external stakeholders on industry trends, commodity impacts and provide global insights from a supplier perspective to the business

Affiliate and Associate Members

Help manage relationships with all existing IESD Affiliate and Associate Members

• Gather constant feedback on Affiliate and Associate member satisfaction with the organization; identify concerns and opportunities; ensure that internal departments are responsive; take corrective action
• Advocate and encourage Affiliate and Associate Members to maximize earnings and volume with Preferred Suppliers
• Train new and existing Affiliate and Associate Members on AD’s benefits and operations
• Monitor Affiliate and Associate Members’ support of AD programs, suppliers and compliance to membership commitments
• Alert Affiliates to potential opportunities with Preferred Suppliers and assist in conflict resolution
• Help to identify growth areas and plans to achieve financial targets
• Help to develop new business/division opportunities related to IESD
• Actively participate in strategic planning for AD
• Work closely with all departments at AD to increase operating efficiencies and the professionalism of AD

To apply, click here.  However, in talking to some people, and recognizing the sensitivity of the role, the best approach is to “share” interest with a trusted key distributor, ideally someone on the BOD, or directly with a trusted member of the staff. In reading the job description and qualifications, there is an inference that someone from a distributor member is preferred with secondarily someone from the AD manufacturer community.

While much of the “hard” work of negotiating and “rationalizing” suppliers due to the AD / IMARK merger is done, and that there is a strong mentor in place in Jerry Knight who can provide introductions to many manufacturers, this is one of the highest profile roles in the industry and is important to the membership.

HellermannTyton is Hiring a Head of Channel Sales

HellermannTyton is looking for their next Head of Channel Sales.

This opening came about with Jason Hill being promoted to Executive Sales Director.

The responsibilities of the role are:

• The Head of Channel Sales – Electrical will aggressively grow revenue by leading diverse sales teams who are driven to provide world-leading cable management and identification products to create solutions for our customers. This strong leader will have a facility working with distribution, integrators, and end-user customers. The right candidate will effectively work with the sales teams and organization to achieve key metrics while creating efficiencies to revenue. This positive individual is comfortable contributing to a culture where agility contributes to opportunity closure and problem-solving while understanding and furthering a process-driven foundation. Strong coaching and communication skills are a cornerstone to the success of the position.

  Essential Functions:

  • Lead electrical sales leadership team who has direct reports and manufacturers’ representatives.
• Accelerate profitable revenue growth through leading toward opportunity development and closure.
• Proliferate success stories across the sales team and customer base.
• Coach and mentor sales teams for continuous improvement
• Understand the HellermannTyton value proposition and be a message leader to sales and customers.
• Ability to understand the engineering, science, and application fitness of HellermannTyton’s cable management and identification products into different business-to-business applications
• Idea generator and collector of best practices for proliferation amongst the sales team.
• Utilize key metrics to analyze, evaluate, and execute sales plans across sales teams of direct reports and manufacturing representatives.
• Drive corporate promotions and strategies within key accounts as well as our sales team.
• Further the HellermannTyton brand of innovation, exceptional quality, and reliability.
• Increase our contacts within our customers’ corporate structure to magnify our presence beyond current key champions
• Lead the voice of the customer (VOC) for accounts to shareholders at HellermannTyton.
• Identification and removal of barriers for the sales team.
• Coordination of multiple sales leaders to drive collaboration and efficiency within accounts as well as sales process.
• Drive revenue while maintaining focus on profitability.

If you know Jason, this could be a fun role as he has high expectations, expects “thinking” and “doing.” This makes this an entrepreneurial role with a penchant for “getting results”. He likes well-thought-out actions implemented judiciously. And this is a quality company with the resources to support initiatives.

To apply, click here. Click here to learn more about Jason (potentially your next manager!)

Over the past month or so I’ve been noticing more people looking for opportunities as some companies are doing layoffs … perhaps for performance reasons, perhaps necessary cost-cutting (and I presume some are doing anticipatory cost-cutting due to tariffs and business concerns), and some due to restructuring of roles. If your company is looking to hire, feel free to share the role and I’ll post on ElectricalTrends.

And if you’re in the lighting space and would like to provide industry thought leadership and generate some industry visibility for yourself, reach out to me as perhaps there is an opportunity for you to write for US Lighting Trends.

We’re in it together. Let us know how we can be of service.