Brian Grall

COO/President

Evergreen, CO

acg1yh@r.postjobfree.com - 720-***-****

Leadership Profile

Senior management leader with proven track record in business development, sales, marketing, operations,

and general management. Exceptional results for consistent profitable growth, both organically and through

acquisition. Expert at guiding change management to develop high performance cultures, achieving better

than industry average EBIT results. Excellent negotiator and sales trainer. Organizational efficiency leadership

through continuous process improvement, lean operations. Ethical leadership, sales coach, business planner,

and mentor. Leader in forming strategic partnerships with clients, prospects, suppliers, shareholders,

outsources, community, and all stakeholders.

WORK EXPERIENCE

COO/President

Specialty Incentives - Denver, CO - February 2009 to January 2014

Responsible for overall people/operation management, financial results, and profitable growth of promotional

products

distributor. Represented company in relations with wide variety of outside entities.

• Increased revenue from $5 to $12 million, elevating distributor to Top 50 rank (out of 23,000 distributors

nationally).

Organic Growth

o Facilitated change in culture towards actively creating growth versus waiting for the economy to recover.

o Enabled "Sales Trainee" program and aggressive on boarding of additional sales associates.

o Supported pursuit of niche product offerings to existing clients to attain incremental growth.

o Encouraged addition of new marketing tools, regular sales training, and collaborative sales representation.

o Drove initiative for improved sales recognition through added incentives, contests, special meetings, awards.

o Deepened organizational empathy for key strategic supplier partnerships, driving spend from 32% to over

60%.

o Supported upgraded reintroduction of client/prospect show venue featuring best of class suppliers.

Acquisitions

o Negotiated, organized, and oversaw the agreements, acquisition, and absorption of 3 competitors.

o Actively prospected competitors to identify and develop new acquisition opportunities.

• Improved bottom line six fold and quadrupled owners' equity.

o Reorganized accounting practices and making financial statements meaningful management tools.

o Raised gross margin to 39%, well above typical industry benchmark of 35%.

o Closed engraving division, eliminating over $70k per year in losses.

o Negotiated 3rd party freight agreement, adding $100k+ to bottom line, while reducing client freight costs 36%.

o Outsourced warehouse/fulfillment operations to 3rd party, reducing personnel costs by over $30k per year.

o Added, eliminated or tweaked processes to reduce costs and/or enhance value.

o Negotiated more favorable prices/rebates/terms with key suppliers.

o Reduced old AR from over 2 years to 90 days, lowered average AR days from 45 to 22 days.

o Negotiated suppliers with payment discount terms, boosting bottom line over $40k/year.

o Increased credit card travel points, providing the equivalent of free airfare of 60 trips per year.

• Led change management for organizational growth from 24 to over 70 people.

o Grew Sales Force to 50+ independent contractors, in 14 states, servicing national and international clients.

o Grew Support Staff from 5 to 10 associates, including Sales Support, Accounting, adding an Accounting

Manager.

o Oversaw contractor for various facility renovations, additional office space, work environment improvements.

o Oversaw $500k+ investments for marketing, technology, communication, and physical facility improvements.

o Supported the strengthening of team culture through the various additions of Charity Committee, summer

social, monthly Staff meetings, improved physical/aesthetic work environment, Staff employee of the year

award, resulting in first ever company ranking in industry's "best places to work" (#17 for 2013).

Consultant

BSG Consulting - Bend, OR - February 2008 to January 2009

Consulted for an assortment of several business optimization projects.

• Specialty Incentives consultant to review current and propose new sales/marketing initiatives.

• Advisor for Oregon Representative Chuck Burley re-election committee.

General Manager

Fuqua Homes - Bend, OR - July 2002 to January 2008

Led eight department managers, responsible for overall people/operation management, financial results,

profitable growth of modular/manufactured home builder. Jul 2002 - Jan 2008

• Increased sales from $20 to $38 million within 6 years.

o Developed/designed new product offerings, expanded options, and increased engineering capability/

flexibility.

o Transformed our company to be friendlier, easier to do business with, externally and internally.

o Improved and expanded print marketing collateral, added website, improved model home displays/area.

o Increased quality and frequency of developer/dealer sales skills and product knowledge sales training.

o Developed developer/dealer and area manager sales trips and other incentives.

• Improved bottom line from 6 to 10%.

o Invested over $1M in new equipment/personnel productivity, with less than 2 year pay back.

o Eliminated processes that provided only cost/no value, and added value through process improvement steps.

o Improved Service staffing, reduced Service cost percentage, and reduced legal costs by over $100k per year.

o Introduced on-line order system for developer/dealer home spec input.

o Improved home building environment, reducing workman comp costs by almost 30%.

o Managed 8 department managers, with a combined 300+ personnel total.

o Added locally serviced, more robust company health insurance benefits, at 15% lower cost.

• Guided change management for growth of division to over 300 personnel.

o Eight department managers as direct reports, including sales, service, accounting, quality assurance,

production,

engineering, and purchasing, later adding human resources manager.

o Grew to 280+ from 170 production employees.

Assistant General Manager

Fuqua Homes - Bend, OR - July 2000 to June 2002

Oversaw sales, service, and quality assurance departments.

• Initiated development of service data base feedback to identify frequent and costly service issues, tied that

information into quality assurance department with collaborative involvement with production team.

Marketing Manager

Fuqua Homes - Bend, OR - July 1999 to June 2000

Directed half of sales team, developed marketing plans/initiatives.

• Expanded service area to include geographies with favorable housing environments, added new sales

associates and support, developed calendar for various push/pull promotions, improved developer/dealer

education seminars.

Area Manager

Fuqua Homes - Bend, OR - September 1996 to June 1999

Company representative with developers/dealers in assigned territory.

• Increased territory from $5 to $11M, adding new clients, increasing existing client sales through focused

display

home planning and development of an exclusive representation program.

Division Manager

United Stationers - Denver, CO - May 1992 to August 1996

Proposed, led, and launched new nationwide wholesale promotional products division.

National Promotions Manager

Associated Stationers - Denver, CO - October 1990 to April 1992

Developed niche product categories, managed supplier co-op fund spend, negotiated and organized national

promotions.

Purchasing Manager

Boise Cascade Office Products - Denver, CO - June 1987 to September 1990

Responsible for management of three buyers and $4 million inventory. Collaborated with sales & supplier

partners to increase product niche sales.

Buyer

Boise Cascade Office Products - Denver, CO - April 1986 to May 1987

Responsible for management of 100 suppliers with $1 million inventory.

Sales Trainee

Boise Cascade Office Products - Denver, CO - May 1985 to March 1986

Responsible for small geographical territory, various sales projects.

EDUCATION

MBA in General

University of Denver - Denver, CO

BA in Business Administration & Psychology

University of Notre Dame - Notre Dame, IN

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