MANUFACTURING LEADERSHIP
Manufacturing Leadership Across Industries, Technologies, and Business Environments
30+ years of manufacturing leadership spanning plant operations, multi-site organizations, operational transformation, quality, engineering, and continuous improvement across publicly traded, privately held, and private equity-owned businesses.
LEADERSHIP AT A GLANCE
Executive Profile
Manufacturing operations executive and advisor with 30+ years of experience improving operational performance, profitability, working capital, safety, quality, and manufacturing execution. Leadership roles include Vice President of Manufacturing, Vice President of Operations, Plant Manager, Director of Operations, and Director of Quality across complex manufacturing environments.
Experience spans operational turnarounds, Lean transformation, TPM, Six Sigma, quality systems, manufacturing technology introduction, multi-site operations, and leadership development—with a consistent focus on building sustainable operating systems and measurable business results.
Operations Leadership · P&L · Multi-Site · Manufacturing Technology
Lean · TPM · Six Sigma · Quality Systems · Leadership Development
CAREER EXPERIENCE
Professional Experience
Liberty Safe
Vice President of Manufacturing | 2023–2025
Payson, Utah
Executive responsibility for production, quality, maintenance, and engineering for a 200-employee manufacturer of gun and home safes with approximately $120 million in annual revenue.
Improved safety performance, reducing TRIR from over 12 to 5, through leadership accountability, employee involvement, training, audits, and systematic corrective action.
Reduced cost of poor quality by 50% through improved data tracking, root cause and corrective action, and greater ownership of quality throughout the organization.
Improved manufacturing efficiency by 17% through shop-floor improvement initiatives, stronger maintenance systems, and improved operational leadership.
Jordan River Contracting
Owner & President | 2021–2023
West Jordan, Utah
Founded and operated a residential contracting business providing roofing and exterior services in the Salt Lake City area.
Earned a general contractor license and built the business from startup through active operations.
Hired and led sales and operations personnel while managing marketing, production, subcontractors, customer service, and business operations.
Alpha Packaging
Plant Manager | 2018–2020
Salt Lake City, Utah
P&L responsibility for a 120-employee, 160,000-square-foot, 24/7 manufacturing operation with 22 injection blow-molding machines producing approximately 200 million plastic bottles annually.
Increased manufacturing output by 15% while reducing manufacturing costs by 6%.
Improved quality from approximately 4,500 to 900 DPPM through training, root cause and corrective action, clearer quality ownership, daily auditing, and performance management.
Improved EBITDA by 24% through labor productivity improvement, packaging automation, organizational restructuring, and significant scrap reduction.
Strengthened operating discipline and accountability while improving production performance in a high-volume, continuous manufacturing environment.
Knauf Insulation
Plant Manager | 2014–2018
Shasta Lake, California
Led a 150-employee, 500,000-square-foot, 24/7 union-represented glass mineral wool insulation manufacturing facility operating under ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 50001, and OHSAS 18001 management systems.
Increased manufacturing output by 15% while reducing manufacturing costs by 6% and maintaining world-class operating efficiency.
Reduced the injury rate by approximately 50% through stronger leadership systems, employee engagement, and operational discipline.
Established plant vision, aligned goals and incentives, daily management systems, visual controls, layered audits, employee-led 6S, TPM, and enhanced operator training.
Helped establish a broader corporate continuous-improvement program in collaboration with international manufacturing leaders.
Heat Transfer Products
Vice President of Operations | 2009–2013
East Freehold, Massachusetts
Executive responsibility for two manufacturing plants and a distribution center for a privately held, approximately $70 million, 200-employee manufacturer of high-efficiency stainless steel boilers and water heaters.
Improved profitability from approximately 0% to 5% EBIT, representing approximately $3.5 million in annual improvement.
Reduced inventory from $29 million to $12 million while improving customer service and inventory accuracy.
Reduced boiler manufacturing lead time from approximately 6 weeks to 2 weeks.
Improved safety, reducing TRIR from approximately 9.0 to 2.5.
Built stronger leadership and operating systems, including daily management, Lean operations, production planning, safety and quality systems, inventory management, and Total Productive Maintenance.
Berry Plastics Formerly Tyco Plastics & Adhesives
Operations, Quality & Multi-Site Leadership | 2003–2009
United States · Mexico · Belgium · India
Held successive leadership assignments as Director of Operations, Director of Quality & Continuous Improvement, and Regional Plant Manager across an international manufacturer of engineered tapes, adhesives, coated products, and corrosion-protection systems.
Led operations for a $92 million international business with manufacturing and distribution operations in Mexico, Belgium, Texas, and India.
Increased output at the Tijuana operation by 14% and led 18 Six Sigma projects that reduced labor costs by approximately 15% and overhead costs by approximately 8%.
Reduced inventory from approximately 40 to 28 days on hand.
Restructured the Houston Powercrete operation and improved profitability from approximately -3% to 15% EBIT.
Established a divisional quality organization, standardized quality systems across multiple facilities, reduced customer complaints by approximately 20%, and led quality-management systems including ISO 9001, ISO/TS 16949, and ISO 13485.
Tyco Telecommunications formerly AT&T Submarine Systems
Plant Manager · Manager of Engineering & Operations | 1995–2003
New Jersey · New Hampshire
By 2002, led a 475-employee manufacturing operation generating approximately $525 million in annual revenue at 20% EBIT, responsible for introducing and scaling advanced optical transmission equipment.
Exeter, New Hampshire — Plant Manager
Led a major manufacturing operation responsible for introducing and scaling advanced optical transmission equipment during the rapid expansion of the global undersea telecommunications market.
Partnered extensively with R&D to transition new and novel optical technologies from development into scalable manufacturing.
Led significant production growth during a period in which the operation doubled revenue and quadrupled EBIT.
Worked directly with strategic suppliers to improve manufacturability and develop the capacity needed to support aggressive production ramps, including deploying company test equipment and technical experts to accelerate a critical supplier.
Applied Lean manufacturing, Kanban, flexible manufacturing cells, daily management, supplier development, and cross-functional leadership while building the engineering and operational capability needed to support rapid growth.
Clark, New Jersey — Manager of Engineering & Operations
Led engineering, management, and production teams responsible for manufacturing state-of-the-art electro-optical repeaters for undersea telecommunications systems, including the first commercial implementation of erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) technology in undersea repeaters.
Increased overall repeater production approximately 5× to meet rapidly growing customer demand.
Reduced product costs by more than 50% through manufacturing process redesign, productivity improvement, and design-for-manufacturability.
Re-engineered critical manufacturing processes—including transitioning from electron-beam welding and X-ray inspection to TIG welding and nondestructive ultrasonic testing—while improving molding, fiber-splicing, and electro-optical testing throughput.
Applied GD&T, mistake-proofing, Lean principles, and DFM while building a customer-focused, employee-led, data-driven approach to operational improvement.
AT&T Bell Laboratories
Member of Technical Staff · Statistician · Quality Engineer · Quality Manager | 1985–1995
Morristown, Holmdel, and Whippany, New Jersey
Began my career in technical and quality leadership assignments supporting advanced telecommunications products, undersea cable systems, computer systems, and manufacturing operations.
Applied statistical methods and quality engineering to manufacturing, product reliability, factory test systems, and undersea telecommunications systems.
Developed methods and systems for monitoring and improving manufacturing and product performance.
Led ISO 9001 implementation activities, developed quality systems and procedures, and supported organizational certification efforts.
Progressed from technical statistical and quality-engineering responsibilities into management and organizational leadership.
Education & Professional Credentials
Formal training in statistics, quality, continuous improvement, and labor relations complements more than three decades of manufacturing leadership across diverse industries.
EDUCATION AND CREDENTIALS
EDUCATION
PROFESSIONAL CREDENTIALS
Master of Science, Statistics
Brigham Young University
Bachelor of Science, Statistics
Brigham Young University
Certificate in Labor Relations
Rutgers University
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
International Association for Six Sigma Certification (IASSC)
Certified Quality Engineer (CQE)
American Society for Quality (ASQ)
ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
Operationally fluent in Spanish
READY TO DISCUSS YOUR NEXT OPPORTUNITY?
Whether you're seeking an operations executive, manufacturing advisor, interim leader, or due diligence support, I'd welcome the opportunity to discuss how my experience can help your organization.