Managing Director APAC — Executive Leadership & Business Continuity
The CEO and Managing Director role in industrial and distribution businesses requires full P&L accountability — across pricing, working capital, execution and management depth.
Growth does not create value on its own. It must convert — through margin, cash flow and capital efficiency.
A CEO mandate is not about stabilising a business.
It is about building performance over time — across revenue, margin, cash flow and capital allocation.
Mandates are available across Australia and APAC, spanning founder-owned, private-equity-backed and listed-company environments.
20+ years leading industrial, manufacturing and distribution businesses
$110M+ revenue responsibility
Operations spanning 12 countries
170+ employees led
Four operating entities
Founder-owned, PE-backed and listed-company environments
Manufacturing and distribution leadership
Full P&L accountability
Track Record
Proven Performance
Across Industrial Businesses
Consistent track record of converting operational performance into EBITDA growth and enterprise value.
01
Polyflor APAC — Managing Director
300% EBITDA growth across a four-entity, twelve-country APAC platform. Margin improved through pricing discipline, product mix and operating leverage, alongside ERP, CRM and BI implementation and $2.5M+ annual freight and sourcing savings.
02
Dotmar Engineering Plastics — Group General Manager
Revenue grew from $38M to $93M with gross margin improving from 38.5% to 43.5%. Completed four acquisitions and a full private-equity ownership cycle, exiting at 17× EBIT under Crescent Capital.
03
Plascorp — Executive General Manager
EBIT expanded by 85% in 18 months through productivity gains, pricing discipline and commercial focus across an industrial manufacturing and distribution business.
04
Surface Squared — Founder & Managing Director
Built, scaled and sold the business to private equity. Grew revenue 47%, expanded EBITDA 240%, improved inventory turns from 2.3x to 6.0x while scaling market share across multiple states to a successful PE exit.
Leadership Across Ownership Models
Credibility across all three ownership models is rare among industrial executives.
Founder-Owned
Growth
Scale
Resource constraints
Entrepreneurial leadership
Private Equity
Acquisitions
Value creation
Reporting cadence
Exit preparation
Listed Company
Governance
Regional leadership
Stakeholder management
Strategic planning
Board & Governance
Board reporting
Governance cadence
Succession planning
Strategic planning
Leadership accountability
Management development
Typical Mandate Profile
This mandate is typically engaged when a board, founder or investor requires full P&L leadership rather than advisory support.
Common situations include:
Founder-led businesses requiring institutionalisation, management depth and succession readiness.
Manufacturing, industrial and distribution businesses requiring operational scale and commercial improvement.
Multi-site branch and service networks requiring performance visibility, accountability and governance cadence.
Businesses preparing for sale, acquisition, integration or leadership transition.
Scale & Complexity
Experience leading industrial, manufacturing and distribution businesses across Australia and Asia Pacific, including:
$110M+ APAC operating platform.
170+ employees across multiple countries, sites and business units.
12 markets across Asia Pacific.
300% EBITDA growth achieved through operational improvement and commercial execution.
Multiple acquisitions, integrations and value creation initiatives.
Board, investor and shareholder reporting across listed, private-equity-backed and founder-led environments.
Deep experience translating between founders, management teams, boards and investors.
This is not a strategic advisory mandate.
It is a leadership mandate for organisations requiring an operator to take accountability for execution, performance and outcomes.
Positioning
Ownership, Not
Intervention
An Interim CEO is deployed to reset performance.
A full-time CEO owns it.
The mandate is long-term — to scale the business, improve margins, release cash and allocate capital in a way that increases enterprise value over time.
Mandate Types
Chief Executive Officer — full-time ownership of performance, culture and capital allocation
Managing Director — ANZ or APAC leadership with board and shareholder accountability
Transformation CEO — reset of pricing, cash, working capital and operating rhythm
Pre-Exit or Scale CEO — value creation ahead of exit, recapitalisation or next growth phase
Investor Alignment
Pricing, mix, working capital and operating rhythm must move together — not in silos.
Capital allocation matters as much as commercial growth.
Boards see strategy. Owners expect value. The CEO closes the gap.
The mandate is sustained value creation — not short-term intervention.
In Practice
What This Looks Like
in Practice
Pricing discipline and margin expansion
Product mix optimisation and operating use
Working capital control and cash flow improvement
Capital allocation aligned to return on invested capital
Execution cadence across multi-site operations
Sector Focus
Industrial, Manufacturing & Distribution
Industrial manufacturing and distribution platforms
Engineering plastics, industrial materials and building products
B2B wholesale, branch networks and supply chain-led businesses
PE-backed, founder-led and listed company environments
ANZ and APAC mandates requiring commercial and operational depth
Full-Time CEO Accountability
Full-Time CEO Accountability
Full P&L ownership from day one — operator, not advisor
Commercial discipline across pricing, margin, mix and sales execution
Working capital control, cash generation and capital allocation discipline
Acquisition integration, operating cadence and management accountability
Long-term value creation aligned to shareholders, boards and investors
Why Boards Engage
Not a Caretaker CEO
This is not a fit for early-stage experimentation or advisory-only mandates. Interim roles stabilise. Advisory roles guide. A full-time CEO owns the outcome — sustained EBITDA growth, stronger cash conversion, disciplined capital allocation and long-term enterprise value creation. The
APAC industrial sector experience
behind this mandate spans manufacturing, distribution and building products across twelve countries.
CEO Australia
Managing Director APAC
Industrial CEO
Manufacturing CEO
Distribution CEO
PE-Backed CEO
Value Creation CEO
Building Products CEO
Commercial Tools
Performance Through Operating Discipline
The same lens applied in mandate roles sits behind the tools on this site — pricing leakage, working capital release and commercial engine performance. They exist for one reason: to make value visible.
Performance improves when the business has rhythm, visibility and ownership. That means clear KPIs, weekly operating cadence, branch-level accountability, pricing discipline, working capital control and a management team that knows what matters before the board pack arrives.
Many businesses are no longer carrying operating leverage. They are carrying operational drag — overhead, complexity and reporting burden that has grown faster than the commercial capacity it was designed to support.
Scott’s APAC operating exposure extended across Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Shanghai/China, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan — combining office, subsidiary and in-market leadership exposure with direct work alongside local teams, distributors, customers, suppliers, warehousing partners and operating leaders.
Run the Client Value Leakage Diagnostic to identify where EBITDA, cash conversion, founder dependency, reporting gaps or operational complexity may be reducing business value.
In PE-backed businesses, the CEO mandate is a
private equity value creation
mandate — every commercial and operational decision is made against the exit multiple.
For founders approaching a leadership transition,
founder exit readiness
covers the operating disciplines that determine whether the business can perform without the current owner.
CEO mandates in businesses approaching exit include
sell-side readiness
— ensuring EBITDA quality, working capital discipline and management depth are established before any formal process begins.
CEO mandates in businesses approaching PE or trade sale include
operational due diligence readiness
— ensuring management depth, reporting cadence and commercial defensibility can withstand professional buyer scrutiny.
Before committing to a full CEO mandate,
operator advisory
provides the independent commercial read — what is actually driving performance, where the gaps are and what a mandate should target.
CEO mandates in PE-backed businesses are assessed against
what private equity looks for in a business
— whether the CEO can deliver management independence, EBITDA improvement and a commercial engine that operates without owner involvement.
CEO mandates are the operating answer to
what buyers look for in management teams
— building P&L leadership, management depth and operating accountability that allow a business to perform under new ownership.
CEO mandates begin with the
first 90 days
— the period in which operating reality is established, performance gaps are quantified and the commercial agenda for the mandate is set against a clear improvement baseline.
CEO mandates in recently acquired businesses are
post-acquisition leadership
mandates — the operating accountability that ensures the management team can execute the value creation plan from the first day of the hold period.
In PE-backed portfolio companies, the CEO mandate is sometimes structured as an embedded operating role rather than a standalone appointment. See
what an operating partner actually does
for how that mandate differs from a traditional CEO brief.
Shape Executive Operating Architecture
The Operating System Behind This Mandate
This mandate operates within the following architecture domain, drawing on established doctrine, frameworks, and operating instruments.