David Hull - consulting and coaching small business
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This page should be read
in conjunction with David's resumé. The
career achievements listed below provide more detail of the projects
of a wide variety in both nature and scope that he has undertaken
during his extensive career. It clearly illustrates his constant
drive for improvement and his ability to successfully lead change
and get results. |
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Project chronology: |
Diversey 1985 –
1997
Diversey was a global business producing and selling cleaning
chemicals with over 50 operating subsidiaries around the world.
Diversey was acquired by Molson in 1979 and over the 17 years to
1996, its sales grew from $180 million to $1.6 billion by a
combination of acquisition and internal growth.
In 1985, I
was transferred from Molson to Diversey to become the CFO. Over the
next 13 years I held several senior management positions, which are
detailed in my resumé, and below are some of the highlights of my
Diversey career. This document should be read in conjunction with my
resumé.
I was involved in
and led many projects for Diversey. However, by listing the
highlights I do not mean to imply that I achieved any of the
successes alone. All of the projects involved teams of people and
the successes were team successes. My role was to inspire and lead
the team, to set clear and understandable goals, to pick the right
people and to ensure that we all stayed focused on delivering the
results.
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From Strategy to
Results
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1)
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1985/86 Asset
Management
My
first task as CFO was to help Diversey focus on improving its
asset management. I devised a way to teach the operating
managers and controllers the levers that would improve their
asset turns and I travelled the world delivering financial
seminars. Over the next two years we lowered the total assets
of the company by 20 % (over $50 million) and significantly
improved the return on capital.
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2) |
1986
Brazil
Brazil was the
largest Diversey subsidiary in Latin America but it was
trading in a chaotic economy that was suffering from
hyperinflation. The company was recording losses and
requesting significant cash injections. I visited Brazil,
performed a complete economic analysis, demonstrated that a
cash injection would only provide temporary relief, applied
replacement cost accounting principles and presented the
conclusion that the solution was a very aggressive pricing
policy, not a cash injection. This was not a popular
conclusion and it took me three months to convince the
Brazilian management of a new way to do business. The company
went from strength to strength and within two years became our
most profitable subsidiary with profits of over $4 million per
year.
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| 3) |
1987/88 Strategic Plan
In 1987 in addition
to CFO, I was asked to take on the strategic planning function
and to work with the VP Marketing to put in place Diversey’s
first true strategic plan. As part of our preparation we
documented that Diversey’s sales growth over the preceding 10
years had been only 3% per annum, below the industry average
and slightly below the rate of inflation. Hence, the company
had struggled to produce consistent profit margins. We sought
input throughout the Diversey organization and wrote a “top
down” plan, sold it to the senior management team and then
were asked to take the plan around the world. We travelled the
Diversey world, together, and sold the plan to the entire
organization. This process took about 18 months.
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| 4) |
1989/90 Implementation Plan
In 1988/89, I was
appointed to the position of SVP International with
responsibility for six regions (44 countries), covering the
whole world outside North America. The 44 operating
subsidiaries ranged in size from sales of $150 million down to
$2 million. I met with the management of every operating
company, reviewed their plans and ensured that they were both
on strategy and sufficiently ambitious. Over the next two
years the strategy took hold and sales growth started to
improve. Profit margins also improved but not by as much as we
expected.
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| 5) |
1991 Operations Function (Supply Chain)
In
1991 I was asked to head –up a study of Diversey’s supply
chain. The result of the study was to form a central
Operations function, put in place global purchasing for our
most common raw materials and centralize manufacturing in
North America. This was an important step in the lowering of
product costs that Diversey was able to achieve over the next
few years.
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| 6) |
1992 Eurovision 2000
In 1992 I launched and
led a project in Europe that was geared to sustain the sales
growth but also, through cost reduction and containment, to
ensure that there was a strong focus on significantly
improving profitability. This project was so successful at
galvanizing the operating managers and focusing their efforts,
that it was adopted in 1993 for the whole of Diversey.
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| 7) |
1995/96 Food Business Unit
In 1995, in
addition to my International duties, I was appointed
President, Diversey Food and asked to prepare a strategy and
management team to help transition Diversey from a geographic
to a customer group structure. In a six-month period we
established a management team, developed a clear
differentiated strategy, communicated it globally and had in
place a highly motivated new business unit right down to the
field level. Unfortunately, before the new structure was
launched, Molson decided to sell Diversey and the launch plans
were abandoned.
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| 8) |
1989 - 1996 Successful Delivery
Over the
8-year period the International business of Diversey delivered
the results by successfully implementing each of the above
projects. We grew our sales to over $700 million, at an
industry leading growth rate of 7% per annum in the 1990s, up
from the original 3% per annum. At the same time, we improved
the EBIT of the International business from under 7% of sales
to 11.5% by 1994/5.
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Turnaround Situations
While still the
CFO of Diversey, I was asked to supervise two under-performing
subsidiaries in the United States.
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| 1) |
1986/88 Atlanta
Operating subsidiary with $75
million sales and over 20 years of sales decline and over 10
years of operating losses. We focused the sales strategy
towards the best products and market segments, strengthened
financial management, added an experienced sales manager, and
imposed ruthless cost management. Over a two-year period we
were able to halt the sales decline and make the company
profitable.
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| 2) |
1988/89 Detroit
The principal U.S.
subsidiary, with sales of $300 million, was struggling with
sales growth and was only at breakeven in profit terms. In the
face of a market-dominant competitor, we changed the sales
strategy to niche marketing (guerrilla warfare) and we also
focused on cost reduction. In the first year we were able to
achieve modest sales growth and brought the operating profit
to 5% of sales. In 1989, I left the CFO role and my operating
responsibilities were switched to the International (outside
North America) businesses of Diversey.
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| 3) |
1996/97 Detroit
In 1996 Molson sold Diversey
to Unilever who combined it with a similar business to form
DiverseyLever (DL), with combined global sales of about $2.9
billion. In the new entity I was asked to focus on formulating
a global strategy for the Food business of DL (sales of
approx. $650 million worldwide) and to manage the global
marketing and oversee the product development. In addition, I
was asked to manage Southern Europe (13 countries with sales
of approx. $700 million) and to oversee the merging of the two
businesses in each country. I was also given the task of
“fixing” the U.S. Food business which, with sales of $80
million, had lost nearly $20 million the previous year.
In
this latter task, we narrowed the sales focus to match our
capabilities, walked away from some unprofitable business,
increased prices, reduced headcount by about 25% and were
ruthless with all other costs. In the first 15 months we
shrunk the sales to about $65 million and we made a small
profit. It was an outstanding turnaround.
In July 1997, I
left the DL organization and in 1998, started my own
business.
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Consulting projects 1998 –
present
In September 1998, I started a consulting business
aimed at applying my broad business experience to small and
medium sized businesses that want to improve their
performance. Below I provide a brief description of my
assignments.
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Focus
and Fix |
| 1) |
1998/99 Consulting business
A specialty
consulting business with revenue of just over $3 million and
concerns about a changing market place and underperformance. I
helped them to segment their market and formulate a strategy
to meet the changing market conditions; and also to
re-organize so that they could better manage their resources,
assignments and time.
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| 2) |
1999 Security business
A small security and
installation business with sales of $400,000 which had
operating losses and a severe cash-flow crisis.
I helped
them to document a strategy, narrow their sales focus to match
their skills, set goals for their employees, cut their costs
and set demanding goals for each segment of the business. The
company survives today, the cash flow crisis is over and it
has now focused on its strengths.
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| 3) |
1999/2000 Water Purification business
A
company that manufactures and sells large-scale water
purification technology, with sales of about $100 million. I
helped the company re-organize its finance function so as to
make it more reliable, improve its operating planning process,
resolve several outstanding business issues and re-structure
its management so as to focus on its strengths.
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| 4) |
2001 Due diligence
I worked for a U.K. based
venture capital company to provide industry knowledge during
“due diligence” for a potential acquisition. The acquisition
did not go ahead.
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| 5) |
2001/2002
Technology business |
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A company with sales of about $24
million, which designs, produces and sells software and the
accompanying hardware systems for use in the high-tech end of
the healthcare industry. This company was facing weak sales,
product performance issues, operating losses and a cash flow
crisis.
We analyzed the issues, ratified (and re-stated)
the company’s strategy and focused our efforts on sales
growth, product improvement, asset management and cost
reduction.
During the 8-month assignment we were able to
put in place a new sales management system, which helped us
increase the monthly rate of sales from $2 million to $3
million. Clear personal goals were delivered, not only to the
sales managers but also, to all members of the management
team. We improved the “right first time” focus in
manufacturing, focused the product development function on
ironing-out “bugs” in the software, and significantly improved
the cash collection rate. In addition, we cut headcount by 15%
and closely managed all other costs. As a result of these
measures, in addition to significant sales growth, the cash
flow crisis was averted and the company registered modest
monthly profits.
During the course of this assignment, I
spent brief periods acting as the CFO of the company and as
its General Sales Manager
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| 6) |
2003/2005
– Medical business
A medical practice and a company providing specialist services
needed reliable and regular financial information and a
strategic plan to guide its growth.
We resolved all the accounting difficulties and provided the
owners with regular, up to date financial information and
reports on the condition of the business. We helped the owners
to develop a business plan that reflected their personal
goals, focussing on the specialist services. The business is
now well managed and growing steadily. We continue to work
with the owners to help them refine and implement their
strategic business plan.
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| 7) |
2004/2005
– Truck and Auto body shop
A small, but growing, auto collision repair business with cash
management and accounting challenges.
We focussed initially on resolving the cash flow and financial
reporting issues. We analysed the business to pinpoint its key
drivers. We helped the owners to add truck repairs to their
service offering. Working together, we developed an
organisational strategy and a detailed business plan that
reflect the long-term goals of the owners. We are providing
hands-on assistance in the implementation of the business
plan. We helped the owners to obtain new financing that will
facilitate the growth of the business. Progress towards their
strategic goals has been outstanding. We are providing
on-going executive coaching to keep management focussed on the
critical success factors in the business.
The owners now receive monthly financial information, and they
have installed management systems that focus on all the key
drivers of the business and have helped them to significantly
improve their cash flow. The business is achieving exceptional
sales growth and its profitability is steadily improving. Our
focus has now switched to coaching the owners in how to manage
rapid growth, as their business evolves into the company of
their dreams. We work as a team with management and the
progress continues.
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