Interim CEO / MD | PE-Backed Turnaround, FMCG Growth & Manufacturing Transformation
This executive brings extensive CEO and MD-level experience leading growth, turnaround and transformation across FMCG, manufacturing and international food businesses. Their career includes senior leadership roles in PE-backed, family-owned and corporate environments, with a consistent focus on improving profitability, strengthening commercial execution and building high-performing leadership teams.
They have significant private equity exposure, including leading a PE-backed business through turnaround, acquisitions, integration and pre-sale preparation. Their work has included due diligence, investor engagement, exit planning, procurement improvement, balance sheet optimisation and strategic value creation. They are comfortable operating in demanding stakeholder environments and are particularly motivated by difficult, high-pressure assignments.
Well suited to interim CEO, Managing Director or turnaround leadership roles, they bring strong commercial instincts, financial acumen and operational credibility. Their ability to simplify complexity, reset strategy and energise teams makes them particularly valuable for investor-backed businesses requiring rapid performance improvement or preparation for exit.
Led the turnaround of a PE-backed consumer products business, developing and implementing a plan to move EBITDA from break-even towards £5m.
Acquired and integrated two competitors, while preparing the business for potential sale through synergy analysis, improved MI and exploratory acquirer discussions.
Grew e-commerce revenue from £0.5m to £3m, reduced SKU count by 80%, identified £1.5m in supply chain savings and reduced net inventory from £14m to £9m.
As Managing Director of an international food export business, developed a five-year growth plan to scale revenue from £50m to £100m and EBITDA from £1.5m to £6m.
About the Candidate
This interim executive is a hands-on CEO and Managing Director with a strong track record across private equity, family-owned and corporate businesses. With deep experience in FMCG, manufacturing, food and consumer products, they specialise in leading challenging turnaround and growth situations where decisive leadership, commercial focus and operational discipline are required. Their background includes full P&L ownership, M&A, integration, strategic planning, supply chain optimisation and senior team rebuilds.
They are particularly effective in situations where businesses are underperforming, founder-led, over-complex or preparing for sale. Their strengths include EBITDA improvement, SKU rationalisation, procurement savings, inventory reduction, e-commerce growth, global expansion and cultural reset. Known for taking on difficult assignments, they bring pace, resilience and clarity to businesses that need rapid improvement and stronger leadership alignment.