Vice President & General Manager, Coating Solutions

Apogee Enterprises · Pittsburgh

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The Apogee Performance Surfaces Segment generates $200M in revenue and EBITDA margins of 20-25%. Our brands in the Performance Surfaces portfolio develop and manufacture high-performance coated materials for a variety of applications, including wall décor, museums, graphic design, architectural interiors, digital display, and industrial flooring markets.  We are the global leader in anti-reflective, conservation grade electrostatic dissipative, high-definition, and abrasion resistance coatings, that provide protection, innovative designs, and exceptional durability.

Position Summary

Apogee Performance Surfaces is seeking a dynamic, growth-oriented Vice President & General Manager, Coating Solutions, to lead and scale the RDC Coatings business from approximately $12 million in revenue today to $100 million+ through a combination of organic growth, strategic customer expansion, innovation, partnerships and acquisitions.

This executive will serve as the business leader for the Coating Solutions platform and site leader for the McKees Rock, Pennsylvania RDC facility. The role requires a unique combination of commercial excellence, strategic vision, operational leadership and business-building capability. RDC Coatings plays a strategic role across the broader Performance Surfaces portfolio. The coatings developed and manufactured at the McKees Rocks site support differentiated product performance for both the Industrial Flooring and Print Solutions businesses, while also creating opportunities to expand into new applications, customers and adjacencies.

The successful candidate will have a demonstrated track record of growing specialty materials, coatings, chemicals, industrial products or adjacent businesses through both direct sales leadership and new business development. This leader will build a scalable growth engine while creating a high-performance culture focused on customer success, innovation, accountability and profitable growth.

Responsibilities

Business Leadership

• Lead all aspects of the Coating Solutions business with accountability for revenue growth, profitability, cash flow, safety culture and customer satisfaction.

• Develop and execute a strategic growth plan to scale the business from approximately $12M to $100M+.

• Establish short-, medium- and long-term growth roadmaps.

• Drive strategic planning, annual operating plans and growth investment priorities.

• Champion a culture where innovation, product excellence, and customer-focused quality are foundational to growth strategies and new market development

• Serve as the primary leader for the Coating Solutions platform within Performance Surfaces.

• Strategic application of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and technologies to drive business outcomes, enhance decision-making, and improve operational efficiency.

Internal Vertically Integrated Support

• Support the internal vertically integrated needs of Performance Surfaces/Apogee as an internal coatings supplier.

• Ensure quality, service, technical support and continuity for Industrial Flooring, Print Solutions and other internal platform coatings needs.

• Manage this competing responsibility as secondary to the primary mandate of building a scalable, third-party coatings growth business.

Commercial Leadership

• Personally lead key strategic customer relationships and business development efforts.

• Manager and develop a high-performing sales organization.

• Accelerate commercial excellence processes, including Salesforce pipeline management, pricing discipline, account planning, forecasting and customer segmentation.

• Identify and penetrate new markets, channels and applications.

• Expand share of wallet with existing customers.

• Develop strategic partnerships to accelerate growth.

New Business Development

• Hire a new business development manager

• Identify emerging market opportunities and adjacent growth spaces.

• Lead efforts to commercialize new applications and technologies.

• Partner with marketing and technical teams to launch new products and solutions.

• Evaluate strategic partnerships, licensing opportunities and acquisition targets.

• Build a robust organic and inorganic growth pipeline.

Operational and Site Leadership

• Serve as site leader for the McKees Rock, Pennsylvania RDC facility.

• Collaborate with the operations team to ensure that we meet customer expectations

Talent and Culture Leadership

• Build a high-performance culture based on accountability, collaboration, speed and execution.

• Develop strong leadership capabilities throughout the organization.

• Create succession plans for key positions.

• Recruit, develop and retain top talent.

• Foster a customer-centric and growth-oriented mindset.

Mergers and Acquisitions

• Identify acquisition opportunities that support the Coating Solutions growth strategy.

• Support acquisition evaluation, due diligence, integration planning and synergy capture.

• Develop a scalable platform capable of integrating future acquisitions.

Drive success in the following Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Areas

• Broad Growth – Successful growth measured in terms of revenue growth, organic growth rate, new customer acquisition, new business development funnel, share gain in target segments, and new product revenue contribution.

• Strategic Growth – Successful strategic growth measured in terms of M&A pipeline development, successful integration execution, innovation commercialization, and new market penetration.

• Commercial Excellence – Successful commercial excellence measured in terms of sales pipeline growth, customer retention, strategic account growth, gross margin expansion, and price realization.

• Operations – Successful operations measured in terms of EBITDA growth and safety performance.

Leveraging Strategic Travel to

• Build deep customer relationships.

• Develop new business opportunities.

• Identify emerging market trends.

• Evaluate acquisition candidates and partnership opportunities.

• Strengthen alignment across the broader Performance Surfaces platform.

• Establish a strong external presence within the coatings and specialty materials industry.

Personal Attributes and Experience

Experience

• Proven experience leading a commercial organization and managing a sales team.

• Demonstrated success growing businesses through both organic and inorganic means.

• Experience scaling a business significantly beyond its current size.

• P&L leadership experience required.

• Manufacturing leadership experience is preferred.

• Experience leading cross-functional teams.

• Experience with strategic planning and execution.

• M&A experience preferred.

• Strategic application of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and technologies to drive business outcomes, enhance decision-making, and improve operational efficiency.

Leadership Characteristics

• Highly commercial and customer focused.

• Growth-oriented and entrepreneurial.

• Strategic yet execution focused.

• Data-driven and financially savvy.

• Comfortable leading change.

• Accountable and results oriented.

• Strong talent developer.

• Collaborative and influential.

• Comfortable operating in a hands-on environment.

• Capable of building a platform business for future scale.

Required Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in coatings, specialty chemicals, specialty materials, industrial products, engineered materials, building products or adjacent industries.

• Minimum 10 years of commercial leadership experience with demonstrated success leading direct and indirect sales teams.

• Proven track record of growing a business through both organic growth initiatives and strategic acquisitions.

• Demonstrated success developing and executing growth strategies that have scaled businesses significantly beyond their current revenue base.

• Experience with full P&L accountability and driving profitable growth.

• Strong strategic planning, market development and business development capabilities.

• Experience developing and managing complex sales pipelines, customer segmentation strategies, pricing programs and key account management processes.

• Strong financial acumen with the ability to evaluate growth investments, acquisitions, pricing opportunities and return on capital.

• Experience building and leading high-performance, cross-functional organizations.

• Success managing customer relationships at executive levels within industrial, OEM, distribution, architecture, construction, consumer durables or specialty materials markets.

• Excellent communication, influencing, negotiation and leadership skills.

• Ability to lead organizational changes and drive accountability through a growth-oriented culture.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in coatings, specialty coatings, decorative surfaces, industrial coatings, polymers, laminates, engineered materials, adhesives, specialty chemicals or related markets.

• General Manager or Business Unit Leader experience with responsibility for sales, operations, manufacturing, quality, engineering and financial performance.

• Experience leading a manufacturing facility or serving as site leader.

• Demonstrated M&A experience including acquisition sourcing, due diligence, integration planning and synergy realization.

• Experience scaling platform business through acquisitions and new market expansion.

• Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma or operational excellence experience.

• Experience working within a public company environment.

• Experience implementing commercial excellence tools and growth operating systems.

• International business experience preferred.

Required Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Marketing or a related technical or business discipline.

Preferred Education

• MBA or Master’s Degree in Business, Engineering, Materials Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering or related field.

• Executive education in strategy, leadership, commercial excellence, mergers and acquisitions or general management preferred.

Travel Requirements

• Travel requirement of approximately 25-35%, including domestic and occasional international travel.

• Regular travel to customer locations, industry events, strategic accounts, acquisition targets and key growth opportunities.

• Travel throughout the Performance Surfaces network, including manufacturing sites, innovation centers and business locations.

• Active participation in customer visits, business development activities, commercial reviews, leadership meetings and M&A diligence efforts.

• As McKees Rock, PA site leader, the role requires a visible leadership presence at the RDC facility while also maintaining frequent engagement with customers and external partners.

• Flexibility to travel on short notice to support strategic growth initiatives, customer opportunities, acquisition evaluation and integration activities.

Work Environment

This job is primarily performed in an office environment. The noise level in the office is generally moderate. While performing the duties of this job, the employee may interact with individuals on the plant floor, near moving mechanical parts.  The noise level in the production environment is usually loud.

Our Benefits

We care about and invest in our employees. We are proud to offer a comprehensive benefits package designed to support their well-being and foster professional development. Here is a glimpse of what you can look forward to if you join our team.

• Competitive Benefits Package for employees and their dependents (Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Disability)

• Incentive Plans

• 401(k) with employer contribution and match

• Employee Stock Purchase Plan with employer match

• Paid Time Off (Vacation and Sick Time)

• Paid Holidays

• Tuition Reimbursement Program

• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

• Wellness Program

• Training and Career Progression

Apogee and our brands are an Equal Opportunity Employer.

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