Interim President, International Markets — Renewal (Industrials)

Cash today, capacity tomorrow

International markets in an industrial manufacturer pull in two directions at once. Some generate cash that the business needs now; others hold engineering or supply capability that will matter in five years and costs money in the meantime. Commitments made in good years are rarely revisited in lean ones, and each has a defender. The Interim President, International Markets is appointed to set clear priorities between near-term cash and strategic capacity, reporting to the Board Chair for 18 months.

The authority to rank and to stop

The president holds executive authority. You will decide how international calls are made and the ceiling on what each market head can sign, and fix the evidence a market must produce before capital, production capacity or controls change. As the full cost of each commitment becomes clear, you will decide whether it carries on, waits or stops. Plans that let exposure fall between owners are stopped, and investment that ignores adoption, dependencies or the downside is declined. You approve who leads each market and how bad news travels, and you settle disputes between the Board Chair and market heads before money is committed.

Priorities set here have to survive contact with customers who expect deliveries to continue while authority changes. A ranking that is right on paper but interrupts supply to customers is not right.

The 18 months

Within the first ninety days the Board Chair should have agreed cash and capacity priorities for the international markets, with the decision thresholds for local leaders documented. By month nine the international commitments should be ranked by cash and strategic value, and those that failed the evidence test paused or ended. By month 18 a renewed international agenda should balance cash and capacity, owned by the market leaders and reported to the board.

Decisions you owned in manufacturing

Your understanding of industrial manufacturing comes from decisions that were yours, one of them a commitment nobody could justify that you halted before it did harm. You answered for revenue of $485 million or more, 1,300 or more people and six or more countries, and your experience includes regulatory remediation, a platform pivot and a turnaround. The seat requires strategy formation at level 4, and P&L ownership, operating cadence and risk judgement at level 3. You have turned down money for projects whose users and downside nobody could name, then built the capability that was actually missing. You are able to describe an unresolved gap to a board chair without retreating into uncertainty. Ending a commitment will not wait on unanimity among country heads, and the outcome stays yours for all 18 months.

From the Chair to the executive committee

In week one the Board Chair speaks with you confidentially over video. A week later the Audit Committee Chair sets you a case to work through in week two. The executive committee sees you in the room in week three. Expect our assessment in writing within five working days of each.