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POSITION PROFILE


POSITION TITLE:           Executive Vice President
REPORTING TO:             CEO
LOCATION:                       Martinez, CA 94553
OUR CLIENT:                   Shields, Harper & Co.

Website: http://www.shieldsharper.com/

Shields, Harper & Co., a California corporation, was established in 1917. The company began by selling fuel hoses to a single customer, Standard Oil of California (now Chevron). Throughout the ensuing decades, the company added many products and services including fuel tanks, dispensers, electronic control systems, environmental monitoring systems, and in recent years to include payment systems, POS, software for facility management and security, along with technical support. The company also offers technical support, such as CAD drawings and environmental compliance recommendations.

Shields, Harper continues to be a leader serving every facet of the energy dispensing industry. Its integrated systems are installed at airports, fleets, commercial and retail sites as well as facilities requiring emergency power systems throughout its market area. Contractors, architects, designers and engineers appreciate the expertise of Shields, Harper's well-trained and technical staff to help them specify equipment and design systems appropriate for the highly regulated areas in which they operate. They sell directly to individual site owners, industrial accounts, governments and contractors, as well as corporations who own fleets of fueling sites.

As a systems integration business the company is primarily a sales and distribution organization, with no manufacturing. After 100 years, they continue to grow, and expect to have many more decades of success. Main suppliers include several top publicly traded corporations, such as Dover, Danaher, Franklin, LSI, Verifone and ZCL. There are more than 20 main suppliers, and 100+ others to support sales needs, throughout the main geographic areas of California, Arizona and Nevada, where the company operates eight office/warehouse locations. They also serve an extended sales area without physical branch locations, which includes the Pacific Northwest through Alaska, many Pacific islands from Hawaii to Guam, and selected customer locations throughout the US and Canada.

Shields, Harper became an ESOP (Employee Share Ownership Plan) corporation in 1993 and maintains a “family feel” company culture which genuinely cares about employees, community, and the stability of the company.

As the company serves the needs of today’s market, it has begun use of a recently implemented ERP system and is developing an on-line store.

The company seeks to add the new position of Executive Vice President to expand the current senior management group (CEO, President, CFO) by supplementing their activities in supplier relations and contracting, strategy and planning, customer relations and sales leadership.  The position may have growth opportunities, as the existing executives of the company transition toward retirement in the coming years.

This is a salaried, full time position with benefits and ESOP ownership.

The position is posted here: http://www.lockeandkey.com/jobs/JobOpenings/job_opening_187.php

SCOPE AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
Position Overview: The initial responsibility of the EVP will be to learn the business, in order to become a trusted leader, both inside and outside of the company, with a future opportunity to be considered for other senior executive positions, including COO, VP of Sales, President and CEO, as they become available. The candidate may also be considered for election to the Board of Directors as future needs may determine.

Additional duties and responsibilities may include, but are not limited to:
Exposure to every facet of the company, as well as management aspects of the individual groups, with the task of understanding their relationships with one another, is your immediate goal. During this time, you will be learning the industry and the company’s niche within it. You will meet and work with key suppliers and customers. Your goal is to excel in the understanding of the sales process and the resources needed to support the existing market and to anticipate market changes.

Over time, become the principal contract negotiator with suppliers. Deepen, strengthen, improve supplier relationships. Maintain favored status among suppliers through performance and trust developed.

Learn/understand the sales organization. Recruit and train salespeople. Maintain a winning sales team; improve individual and group sales performance.

Be a leader and an advocate for all groups within the organization. Learn their pain points and roadblocks to success; improve sales processes for efficiencies and response time to customer needs.

Increase profitable sales by gaining new, key accounts, such as large retailers (C-store selling chains, major oil companies and commercial accounts).

Develop meaningful, long-term relationships with architects, engineers and the larger general contractors.

Learn/understand both overall company and branch operations. Embrace continuous improvement in efficiencies.
Get to know and form relationships with individual employees, both at the headquarters and remote locations. Possess/Develop a management style that leads and inspires employees to always do their best for customers and the company.

Embrace and maximize the company-wide use of the distribution (ERP) software, Epicor Prophet 21 (P21).

Maximize the use and turnover of inventory throughout the company.

Additional responsibilities will be created over time, as you advance in the role.

EXPERIENCE/SKILLS REQUIRED:
The company realizes that every interested candidate might not have all of the desired experience, but here is what is what is preferred in terms of experience and skills… the more you have, the better!

The successful candidate will have a minimum of fifteen years of post-graduate professional experience, with at least ten years in leadership and/or management.

Minimum of five years of successful, direct supervisory management of at least seven people.

The industry you come from is not as important as the exposure to, and the success you have had, with long lead-time sales and operations organizations.

Technical product exposure and understanding is important, since product offerings are engineered and may be electronic. Many products also involve systems integration.

Ability to grasp regulatory compliance issues.

Deep understanding of the selling process including channels, suppliers, etc.

ATTRIBUTES/CAPABILITIES/DESCRIPTORS:
Strong work ethic; dedicated, accountable, committed.
Personable, friendly and happy. You will be a face of the company; exude professionalism, genuineness and a head for business at all times.
Direct and effective communicator.
Natural leader; earns genuine trust quickly. Personal styles may vary widely but results will determine the effectiveness.
Broad scope/big picture thinker with the capacity to “get into the weeds” when necessary.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills; strong command of the English language. Good listener; value others’ opinions.
Collaborative; aligned with and supportive of company goals. Calm, collected.
Forward thinker. The fueling industry (aka: Energy Delivery Industry) continues to be in transition, and the company intends to continue to be relevant decades from now.
Supportive of employees and their professional growth.
True team player; moves the company forward as a whole by supporting individuals and the group.
Flexible; ability to wear different “hats,” and pitch in where needed.

EDUCATION/CREDENTIALS:
Bachelor’s degree required. Business, engineering, construction, manufacturing are attractive majors. MBA is a plus.

REWARDS/BENEFITS/COMPENSATION:
This is an opportunity to lead a part of, if not the whole company, of a business that is stable, growing and has been in existence for over 100 years, with many decades of opportunity ahead. Great family style/atmosphere company culture of camaraderie. Opportunity to wear many hats.
Competitive salary, ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) company, bonus opportunities, paid vacation and eight paid holidays.
Insurance: Medical, Dental, Vision and Life. 401k Retirement plan with company matching.
Education reimbursement program.
As an ESOP company, they pride themselves on over 80% employee ownership. They take care of their employees, who in turn take care of the company.
Enjoy the highly desired lifestyles of living in the East Bay of the San Francisco area and it’s “middle of everything” proximity that it has to offer.

TO APPLY:                         

Please email your resume and cover letter with “EVP” in the subject line.
Local candidates preferred.
Qualified resumes with cover letter will receive notification of receipt.
Please do not send your resume to Shields, Harper directly.

Lisa K. Locke
Locke and KEY Recruiting, Hiring and Consulting Services
We are the source of your hire power.

Mail: P.O. Box 2873, Alameda, CA  94501
Phone/Fax 510-533-2055
Email to send resume/cover letter: lklocke@lockeandkey.com
Web: http://www.lockeandkey.com

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