The Company
Fischbach, headquartered in Engelskirchen, Germany, is the global leader
for injection molded plastic cartridges used for adhesives and sealants, with
~230M EUR in revenue and operations in seven production sites across
Europe, the United States, and a joint venture covering markets in China and
South Korea. In addition to cartridges, the product offering also includes
semi and fully automatic cartridge filling machines, case packers and
auxiliary equipment. The company employes over 600 people worldwide.
Onex, a leading private equity firm with approximately $47B of assets under
management, has recently invested in Fischbach to enable the company’s
next phase of growth. Fischbach is the market leader in thin-wall injection molded plastic cartridge systems from various types of resin. The cartridge product portfoliocomprises:
• Standard multi-piece cartridges
• Single-piece fixed-nozzle cartridges
• Special cartridges and innovations
• A versatile selection of specialized nozzles and plungers
The Role
With Onex’s support, Fischbach is seeking a new Head of Sales and
Business Development for the US business to build, implement, and lead
the commercial strategy and sales process for the organization. This
leader will be responsible for top-line P&L management for both
packaging and filling equipment sales, maintaining customer
relationships, and driving new market share and share of wallet with
existing customers. The role will also oversee new product development
and will work closely with the Operations Director and President, US to
drive gross margin improvements and effective pricing strategies. Leading
a team of seven, the Head of Sales & Business Development reports
directly to the President, US and will be a successor to that role. While the
Head of Sales & Business Development role may be remote with travel, an
elevation to President would require the leader to be based at Fischbach’s
US headquarters in Louisville, KY.
Experience & Requirements
• 10+ years of sales experience, ideally in a packaging manufacturing
environment.
• Leadership of commercial function with accountability for greater
than $100 million in revenue.
• Experience in a direct B2B sales environment, having sold into
R&D/innovation leaders. Ideal candidates will have experience with a
similar customer base (e.g., chemicals).
• Business acumen and financial skills, with the ability to analyze and
effectively interpret financial, sales, marketing, customer, and pro
forma information to drive effective decision making.
• Experience leading on-going product and business analysis and
reporting to ensure and in-depth understanding of the business,
profitability, and product performance.
• Strong leadership skills and proven judgment of talent, with an
emphasis on hiring and developing high performing teams.
• Demonstrated ability to manage and lead by influence. Humble,
collaborative and team oriented. Can engender respect and
followership with the broader team – across functions and
boundaries; also taking an all-encompassing view of overall business
strategy and operations.
• Excellent communication skills, including written, verbal and
presentation skills; comfortable and credible with both internal
stakeholders and external audiences.
• A flexible, dynamic, self-demanding and proactive individual; able to
motivate him/herself and others; a natural bias for action and ability
to deal with ambiguity; ability to work in a fast-paced, private-equity
sponsored environment.
