Chief Strategy Officer — Speciality-Materials Portfolio

The mandate

The enterprise is entering a phase in which leadership must resolve strategy cycles producing choices without resource consequences within a privately held multi-site industrial manufacturing group. The immediate arena is the speciality-materials portfolio during an automation investment cycle. For mandate 496, the successful executive inherits decisions that have been deferred, competing stakeholder expectations and a need to establish facts before committing further capital.

The Chief Strategy Officer operating perimeter covers approximately US$9,400 million in manufacturing and commercial portfolio, with activity spanning several speciality-materials portfolio customer, product and delivery clusters rather than a single asset. The Chief Strategy Officer Manufacturing remit carries direct influence over roughly 975 colleagues and third-party capacity.

The board and its investment committee want a Chief Strategy Officer who can convert ambiguity into a short list of explicit choices for the speciality-materials portfolio. The Chief Strategy Officer Manufacturing seat must resolve an automation investment cycle, while preserving the underlying strengths of the speciality-materials portfolio. For mandate 496, value will come through sharper allocation, stronger leaders and an operating cadence that exposes variance early.

The Chief Strategy Officer’s first year on the speciality-materials portfolio is expected to end with fewer priorities, explicit trade-offs and a funded execution path. In mandate 496, authority covers resources and leadership appointments; material trade-offs go directly to the board sponsor.

Why this seat is open

This is an urgent replacement for the Chief Strategy Officer — Speciality-Materials Portfolio seat following an accelerated leadership transition. Interim accountability is in place for the speciality-materials portfolio, but the board wants a permanent appointment within 6–8 weeks because an automation investment cycle cannot remain under split ownership. The predecessor’s outcome is being handled neutrally and professionally. The external search remains confidential until the preferred candidate and transition plan are agreed.

What you will own

• Set the Chief Strategy Officer value-creation thesis for the speciality-materials portfolio, translate it into no more than five enterprise priorities and stop work that does not support them.
• Carry stewardship of approximately US$9,400 million in manufacturing and commercial portfolio, including allocation, risk acceptance and board forecasts.
• Lead the Chief Strategy Officer Manufacturing organisation of about 975 employees and partners, appointing a team with clear decision rights and credible succession for every critical seat.
• Resolve the speciality-materials portfolio economics and execution constraints created by an automation investment cycle, with Chief Strategy Officer-approved owners, dated milestones and transparent escalation thresholds.
• Establish one Chief Strategy Officer operating review across commercial, customer, financial, people, technology and risk outcomes for the speciality-materials portfolio; remove reconciliations that obscure accountability.
• Have converted strategy into explicit capital and resource choices and then tracked execution through board governance in mandate 496.
• Build the Chief Strategy Officer’s three-year succession and capability plan for the speciality-materials portfolio, reducing dependence on individual executives and improving mobility across the wider Manufacturing organisation.

The first 12 months

• Days 1–90: Validate the speciality-materials portfolio baseline, meet the 30 stakeholders most consequential to strategy cycles producing choices without resource consequences, assess the leadership team, stabilise immediate delivery risks and agree a board-owned scorecard with explicit decision gates.
• Months 4–9: Make the principal Chief Strategy Officer portfolio and organisation choices for the speciality-materials portfolio, install the new operating cadence, fill critical leadership gaps and deliver the first measurable release of cash, capacity or customer value.
• Months 10–12: Demonstrate a repeatable speciality-materials portfolio trend against fewer priorities, explicit trade-offs and a funded execution path, lock the following year’s capital and talent plan, evidence control sustainability and present a credible three-year value case with downside actions.

What the board will measure

• Delivery of the Chief Strategy Officer’s agreed first-year speciality-materials portfolio value case within a 10% tolerance, with variance explained before rather than after the relevant quarter closes.
• A Chief Strategy Officer forecast that remains decision-useful across three consecutive quarters and reconciles the speciality-materials portfolio’s operating, cash, customer and people assumptions.
• Closure of the Chief Strategy Officer mandate’s highest-priority speciality-materials portfolio risk and execution issues by their board-approved dates, with independent evidence that fixes are sustained.
• Retention of at least 90% of critical speciality-materials portfolio talent and ready-now successors for at least 70% of the Chief Strategy Officer’s direct reports.
• A quantified Chief Strategy Officer-owned improvement in the speciality-materials portfolio operating constraint behind an automation investment cycle, supported by a clean baseline and named data owner.
• Clear stakeholder confidence in mandate 496: no unresolved high-severity escalation older than 30 days and no material surprise withheld from its agreed governance forum.

The person

You are currently a Chief Strategy Officer, EVP Strategy or Corporate Development Head in a privately held Manufacturing or adjacent enterprise. In relation to the speciality-materials portfolio, your Chief Strategy Officer track record includes a transition where the original plan was no longer sufficient; you can explain your choices, evidence and numerical impact. Candidates from industrial manufacturing, engineering, chemicals, automotive components or process industries will be considered where the operating model, customer stakes and governance intensity match this Chief Strategy Officer brief.

As a Chief Strategy Officer candidate, you bring 22–28 years of progressive Manufacturing or adjacent-sector experience, consistent with the 22-28 experience band. At minimum, you have carried a P&L, book, budget or accountable portfolio of US$5,450 million and led an organisation of at least 675 people.

For mandate 496, the board wants two transitions: a difficult speciality-materials portfolio portfolio choice and a leadership-system change during an automation investment cycle. As the prospective Chief Strategy Officer for this speciality-materials portfolio, you must challenge optimistic cases and still create followership. References for mandate 496 must distinguish your contribution from the institution around you.

The Chief Strategy Officer must be based in Chicago; international relocation is supported, but this Manufacturing role is not designed as a remote appointment.

Non-negotiables

• Current or recent accountability at the level of Chief Strategy Officer, EVP Strategy or Corporate Development Head, with direct exposure to a board, investment committee or equivalent Manufacturing governance forum.
• Proven Chief Strategy Officer ownership of at least US$5,450 million and leadership of no fewer than 675 employees in a comparable speciality-materials portfolio context.
• One completed Manufacturing or adjacent-sector example of strategy cycles producing choices without resource consequences with outcomes sustained for at least two reporting periods after the initial intervention.
• Sector credibility from industrial manufacturing, engineering, chemicals, automotive components or process industries; experience that is purely functional and lacks Chief Strategy Officer-level speciality-materials portfolio consequences will not meet the bar.
• Willingness to meet the Chicago location expectation, complete conflicts and background diligence, and protect the confidentiality of mandate 496.

Compensation and terms

The anticipated Chief Strategy Officer package is US$320,000–420,000 base + annual incentive, calibrated to the final speciality-materials portfolio scope and the candidate’s current mix. Any long-term participation for mandate 496 follows standard vesting and performance conditions. The Chief Strategy Officer appointment in Chicago, centred on the speciality-materials portfolio, offers regular exposure to the board and its investment committee. A notice period of up to 6 months can be accommodated for the selected executive in mandate 496.

Confidentiality

The organisation will be identified only after reciprocal interest and a confidentiality undertaking for mandate 496. The market, scale and situation in this brief are intentionally composite and are not a coded description of a named enterprise for mandate 496.