Are you interested in leading the Marketing and Product Development Strategy for a key partner and supplier to McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Chick-fil-A and other global chains and restaurants?

Have you led the Marketing and Product Development Strategy in a division of or for a company with over $500m in revenue?

Do you want to work for an employee-owned company with a legacy of valuing their people and communities?

Are you living in or open to relocation to the Dayton/Cincinnati OH area? The role is based in Eaton, OH and candidates need to live in a daily commutable distance.

THE OPPORTUNITY: 

• Join an established, employee-owned company that is a global leader in its industry, known for its creativity and innovation.
• Execute, lead, and drive the marketing and product development strategy and collaboratively with the Executive Leadership Team and other cross-functional Henny Penny (HP) Team Members during a period of change while scaling the organization for exponential growth.
• Embrace and exhibit the HP culture that values integrity, respect, humility, and innovation.
• Enhance company value by achieving or exceeding established goals to drive financial upside.
• Be a strong leader of others through influence and coaching high-performing leaders, managers and staff.
• Model the way as a Servant Leader exhibiting both trust, empathy, inspiration, empowerment and strong ethics.

ABOUT THE COMPANY:

Henny Penny is an employee-owned global manufacturer of foodservice equipment. Last year the company grew revenue by more than 25% and is on track to double in size and become a $1B business over the next 8-10 years. The SVP of Marketing and Product Strategy hire is critical, as they’ll shape marketing, branding and product strategy for the

1,000+ employee-owners.

For over 60 years, Henny Penny’s purpose has been to create remarkable experiences through people, products, and food. Their values include: “Relationships matter. Trust. Take the Long View.” These values have served them and their customers well over the years and have positioned them for growth. Located in Eaton, OH (near Dayton), with a presence also in downtown Dayton, OH, Bellingham, Washington and Suzhou, China, they design, develop, and manufacture premium foodservice equipment known for reliability, ease of use, and low operating costs. Henny Penny has proudly served the world’s most demanding kitchens across the globe for customers including McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Chick-fil-A, KFC, Arby’s, and others. 

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING:

Reporting directly to the President as part of the Executive Leadership Team, the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Product Strategy is responsible for leading the development and execution of Henny Penny’s marketing and brand strategy, events, and product strategy initiatives. This person plays a vital role in the company’s growth and profitability through responsibilities including innovation and creative influence on business strategy.  This person is expected to build, develop, and lead a marketing and product strategy professional team and function as a liaison and subject matter expert to the Executive Leadership Team.

• Strategic Business and Organizational Leadership
  • Business partnership with the Senior Executive Leadership Team.
  • Reinforce the company’s core values around strong character and ethics.
  • Define, implement, and manage Henny Penny’s marketing, aligning with the company’s strategic plan, mission and vision.
  • Define, implement, and manage Henny Penny’s product strategy aligning with the company’s mission and vision.
  • Set growth-oriented marketing goals and objectives, including building brand awareness, driving revenue, and attracting talent.
  • Empower and motivate our channel partners to create brand awareness and increase the market share of Henny Penny products and services in the general market.
  • Develop growth strategies for the company’s products by understanding and developing our business strategy, understanding the target market and customer requirements, collaborating on product strategy, creating competitive differentiation, tracking (and establishing) market trends, and measuring results.
  • Identify and understand customer value drivers through market research, including segmentation and willingness to pay.
  • Understand competitive dynamics and develop differentiation strategies through P&P, discount, and sales campaigns.
• Operational Excellence
  • Review and optimize marketing content and campaigns by applying a thorough understanding of target market personas, purchasing steps, and pain points and aligning them with Henny Penny’s key differentiators to increase engagement and conversions.
  • Determine and track annual marketing budget, KPIs, and other actionable data to make evidence-based decisions that optimize ROI and inform and foster continuous improvement.
  • Interact cross-functionally with sales, engineering, product strategy, and customer success teams to align on strategy and messaging to foster the customer experience across the organization.
  • Manage the Marketing Technology (Martech) to ensure that we invest in the right marketing tools and technology and optimize use.
  • Preserve and grow high-level strategic customer and partner relationships
  • Function as the internal thought leader and SME on marketing strategy, event management, and demand generation; educate on and encourage best practices throughout the organization.
  • Build a network of reliable external agencies and marketing professionals that share Henny Penny’s values and can supplement the internal team’s work when necessary.
  • Oversee the planning and execution of internal events that recognize, celebrate, and elevate employee-owners.
  • Build, develop, and leverage relationships with industry media to evangelize the Henny Penny brand and products in the food service equipment market.
  • Oversee the planning and participation of industry tradeshows, customer conventions, and campus visits to optimize the customer experience and showcase Henny Penny as a premier solution provider and the best place to work and grow. Be sure that each event has an intended business outcome.
  • Plan and execute well-performing, well-coordinated product launch campaigns for new products and features. Present a clear business case for new products that defines the value of the product for the customer.
  • Understand costs, margin requirements, and incorporate them into strategies.
  • Define and drive product requirements for billing and telemetry for SaaS products.
  • Enable organization on new P&P offerings through content development, internal webinars and small group sessions, and customer-facing assets.
  • Review market performance to optimize offerings regularly based on a fact-based analysis to achieve strategic objectives (e.g., share, revenue, profits)
  • Plan, develop and implement promotional pricing campaigns.
  • Collaborate effectively to drive cross-functional alignment behind business strategies by working closely with Sales, Customer Engagement, and Finance Operations

• Executive Leadership Team
  • Reporting to the President, actively participate in the leadership team’s development and execution of strategies to grow the business and exceed customer expectations.
  • Represent the customer perspective in critical strategies and decisions.
• Respect the Culture – but Lead Change
  • Henny Penny is a great place to work with many traditional practices and values yet recognizes that strategic change will lead to growth.
  • Consistently demonstrate company values and expected behaviors.
  • Help create a vision for the future that invites and supports business transformation.

THE KEY REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, or related field of study; MBA or related Master’s degree preferred.
• 10+ years of demonstrated marketing experience with 3+ years of executive leadership.
• Must live in or within a commutable distance to Eaton, OH. Relocation assistance will be provided.
• Global experience required, ideally in a B2B manufacturing business with both direct customers and a distribution network
• Experienced and strategic business leader in addition to functional expertise.
• Demonstrated ability to build and lead a high-performing team.
• Outstanding communication, presentation, and leadership skills.
• Experience leveraging and amplifying what’s working within an organization.
• Flexible and able to multitask; demonstrated resourcefulness in setting priorities and guiding investment in people and systems.
• Experience leading periods of strategic change both internally and externally.
• Demonstrated success at developing and driving a company’s marketing strategy.
• Proven success with multi-channel digital marketing campaigns and content or inbound marketing techniques.
• Proven success as a “visionary” with the ability to solve the next obstacle.
• Adept experience working with business leaders to develop collaborative solutions to business and organizational needs.
• Ability to travel as needed (approximately 30-40%)

KEY PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES:

• Humility, Integrity, Stewardship, and Respect
• Forward thinking with a global business perspective
• Is genuine and authentic, a positive and congenial team leader whose natural style employs persuasion and influence rather than command and control.
• A strong listener and exceptional communicator at all levels of the company.
• A good teacher and coach to help influence others
• Innovative, strategic, decisive, responsive, and caring
• Strong business acumen, executive savvy, and business maturity
• Poised with a charismatic presence; a strong communicator and relationship builder

THE PAYOFF:

• Build on a solid foundation of success and help lead the company into its next phase of growth.
• Strengthen the marketing and product development team becoming a recognized leader in the company’s growth.
• Receive a compensation package that includes a competitive base salary, meaningful performance-based annual bonus, and ownership in an employee-owned company.