Senior Operations Leader Candidate

SEEKING A ROLE AS: chief operating officer (COO) or SVP operations for a COO or SVP Operations for a lower mid-market food manufacturer in the food/beverage processing sector.

IN LOCATION: Lives in Chicago, Illinois. Open to travel and hybrid arrangements.

SKILLS & ACHIEVEMENTS:
Seasoned operations and value-creation leader with deep experience scaling vertically integrated food/CPG businesses, strengthening FSQR programs, and building operating systems that improve margin, service, and execution discipline.
• 18+ years in food across bakery, refrigerated foods, snack foods, and produce, including vertically integrated manufacturing and distribution models
• Operations & manufacturing leadership (plant/network operations, engineering, planning, procurement, distribution & logistics, customer service/order management) with P&L and enterprise COGS ownership
• Proven scale builder: helped grow a branded/owned + co-manufacturing platform from ~$35MM to ~$75MM revenue; expanded self-manufactured revenue 0% ? 70% in 12 months and consolidated co-manufacturers 8 ? 2
• Margin and cost transformation: delivered major direct cost reductions (including 18.5% reduction during significant commodity inflation) and improved operational predictability (e.g., 50% reduction in cost variance)
• Food safety / quality / regulatory leadership: led FSQR and enterprise compliance; experience delivering major certification/regulatory readiness (e.g., SQF / USDA-FSIS buildout per resume)
• Team leadership at scale: has led large multi-site organizations (grew teams from 15 ? 125; led organizations of 250+ employees) and built internal bench strength and operating cadence (KPIs, S&OP, process maps/RACIs)

EDUCATION:
Bachelor of Arts, Management & Business Analysis — DePaul University (date not listed). Additional: AAS, Culinary Arts — California Culinary Academy; Executive Education — Northwestern (Kellogg).

COMPENSATION: Base salary expectation dependent on cost of living and responsibilities but likely in the 200,000 range plus significant incentives.

If you are interested in speaking with this operations leader who:
• Is looking to lead a operations/manufacturing team
• Is looking to help you scale a manufacturing platform, strengthen FSQR, and expand margin while building a durable operating system (S&OP, KPIs, decision rights, and execution cadence)
• Is capable of multi-site P&L/COGS ownership, procurement and supply chain optimization, and leading high-accountability teams through rapid growth, then…

Contact:
George Blomgren
georgeb@kinsa.com
Worksite Preference:Open
Employment Preference:Permanent