Sales Engineer

Karen R. Milatz

**** ******** ***** **** **********, MI 48323 *******@*****.*** 248-***-****

Dynamic and customer focused individual with natural ability for building relationships and forging loyalty with internal and external customers.

Skillfully identify and analyze new opportunities and execute plans to facilitate business growth.

Committed and hard-working team leader focused on encouraging personnel growth for staff/team.

Able to increase corporate margins by leveraging industry, product and business experience with detail oriented and process driven performance.

Strive to optimize company performance and improve customer satisfaction with knowledge and experience gained in over 25 years automotive industry experience as well as other industries and including personal business ownership experience.

Professional Experience

Plasan Carbon Composites – Wixom, MI

Vice President, Sales and Marketing – September 2017

Products: Class A and Structural Carbon and Composite products

Responsible for all new business acquisition for all customers and industries. Plasan is largest manufacture of Carbon fiber components in the automotive industry for North America. Class A surfaces include full painted body panels and interior trim products. Structural components ranging from seat components to running boards. Largest industry is automotive with GM as majority customer. Other industries include but not limited to maritime, transportation and defense.

oResponsible to identify business opportunities across multiple industries and develop long term strategies for business acquisition.

oLead cross functional team of sales, program management and business development.

oKey contributor in leadership team business analysis and strategic planning sessions.

oResponsible for multi-million dollar budget and execution of cost optimization activities.

oFacilitate industry events and trade show participation and displays.

oLead and mentor sales team in pursuit of new business and ongoing customer satisfaction.

oLead for implementation of IATF updates for sales/business development processes.

Mando America Corporation – Novi, MI

Director of Sales – June 2015 – September 2017

Products: Brakes, Steering, Suspension

Responsible for all GM business in brakes, steering and suspension commodities. Brake products including calipers, ABS/ESC modules, and electronic park brakes. Electronic and hydraulic steering systems and shock and strut suspension products. GM business represents approximately 40% of company 2.5 Billion annual revenue globally. Manage staff of nine employees comprised of Commodity Senior Sales Managers, Account Managers and Sales Coordinators for production and aftersales. Direct Lead for all quoting and business activities with GM in North America and responsible for coordination of global business interactions with Korea, China and European regions. Additionally responsible for all FCA business in North America.

oInitiated and defined sales process to facilitate improved process efficiency to enable faster response time for customer requests reducing time for customer responses average of 2 weeks.

oExecute business plan negotiations for North American region and coordinate globally.

oAchieved warranty agreement obtaining resolution on multiple years of open warranty commercial obligations.

oSecured largest brake program valued over 700Milion USD for North American operations in first year.

oResponsible to develop and present Customer Strategies and market intelligence influences to North American executives as well as global executive team including Chairman of parent company.

oResponsible for identifying and presenting all Customer specific Business Plan metrics.

Autoneum North America, Inc. - Farmington Hills, MI 2004 - 2015

Director of Sales 2009 – June 2015

Products NVH, Acoustics, Class A surfaces and trim

Responsible for all business aspects and financial performance of customer based units for two customers, FCA and Volkswagen North America. Lead all quoting and development activities for new business from technical to financial analysis. Direct teams in all commercial and technical activities on awarded projects. Additional support as interval lead for BMW, Daimler/Mercedes business acquisition in North America. Lead staff of sales coordinators, Program Management, Product Engineering and Systems Development for all customer related items. Participate and identify opportunities in product, process and people aspects for annual budget establishment.

oIncreased sales (+30%) with Chrysler in North America to 150 million annual sales. Develop and maintain global relationship with Chrysler and partners.

oIncreased company profits by margin increases and incremental sales at targeted financial goals.

oObtained new customer with Volkswagen’s growth in North America.

oSuccessfully negotiated price increases due to inflation outside of customer terms.

oForecast business targets and effectively communicate short term and long term specific customer strategies with upper management worldwide.

oSelected for Autoneum Worldwide International Leadership Program in Switzerland.

Previous Positions at Autoneum

Sales Manager – 2006-2009

oResponsible for all commercial management for multiple projects with FCA globally.

oImprove profit margin to corporate standard on multi product project with FCA that enabled company to meet annual financial goals.

o

Program Manager 2004-2006

oResponsible for project management of multiple projects with FCA in North America.

oLead all APQP activities with customer and internally for launching program.

Inergy Automotive North America - Troy, MI 2000 – 2004

Sales Manager 2002-2004

Products: Fuel systems

oResponsible for all commercial aspects of fuel system programs with focus on Nissan, Chrysler and BMW customers.

oPart of supply team supporting Nissan in Assembly Plant benchmark – requiring extensive time at multiple Nissan plants in Japan.

oNegotiate new business awards as well as margin improvement on current production.

oTeam lead for cross customer cost reduction ideas.

Program Engineer 2000 – 2002

oLead engineer responsible for all design, development and validation of fuel system for multiple programs/applications.

Flowers With Kare - Southfield, MI 1998 – 2000

Small Business Owner

oStarted own business by securing bank loan via Business Plan development and proposal presentation. Responsible for all aspects of business ownership – lease negotiation, customer base establishment, staffing, accounting and all other tasks as required in creating business foundation. Grew start up to over $300K annual sales in 2 years resulting in profitable business sale.

oObtained certification as Designer and became Small Business Association mentor.

Alfmeier Corporation - Greenville, SC

Sales Engineer 1995-1998(Detroit Office)

Products: Fuel system, engine valving components

oPart of team responsible for establishment of Tier 2 German automotive supplier in North America.

oResponsible for all business aspects for fuel system valving components. Established new business with awarded projects with Tier 1 suppliers for vehicles with GM, Chrysler and Mercedes in North America. Significant additional customer program responsibility with multiple Tier 1 and OEM’s in Europe.

oExtensive travel and extended stays in Germany with extensive language training.

oReceived Patent for multi-function valve design.

MetalCast Engineering – Oakland, CA

Sales Engineer 1993-1995 (Midwest Territory)

Products: Prototype Castings

oResponsible for identifying potential clients for prototype castings for foundry with proprietary process in multiple industries (automotive, marine, industrial tooling, cycles)

oFully responsible for all project aspects – engineering/design support, quoting budgets, invoicing, customer maintenance and reporting out at quarterly sales meetings with business owners.

Ford Motor Company – Dearborn Michigan

Ford Electronics Division 1990-1993

Products: Electronics, Instrumentation, Audio, Electronic modules

oWorked on rotations in Ford Electronics division including CAD designer, Design Engineer and Resident Engineer representing all Electronics functional groups and relocated to support St. Thomas Assembly Plant in Canada.

Education

Central Michigan University – 1986-1990

Bachelor of Science – Engineering (Mechanical/CAE concentration)

Supplemental Information

Proficient in all Microsoft Office applications

SAP Training

US Patent recipient

Make A Wish Foundation Steering Committee

Board of Directors for Subdivision for 11 years

Henry Ford Hospital Fundraising Committee member

Certified First Responder

E License Coach

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