Chief Operating Officer / Chief Executive Officer

This company is America's only fully domestic manufacturer of plastic bag machines, headquartered in Hempstead, New York. The company designs, engineers, and produces industrial machinery for the flexible packaging industry — a sector with deep ties to food, retail, medical, and consumer goods supply chains across North America, Central America, South America, the Caribbean and Asia.

Acquired by The Oakdale Company in 2025, the company is now entering a deliberate growth phase supported by meaningful operational investments including: a new MRP system, revamped brand identity, project management infrastructure, and upgraded communications systems. Additionally, the company has a planned relocation to a newly constructed, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Copiague, New York which is on track for Q1, 2027.

The company is seeking an exceptional operating executive to join as Chief Operating Officer and, following demonstrated leadership excellence over 18 months, assume the role of Chief Executive Officer with full accountability for the enterprise.

If you want to know about the requirements for this role, read on for all the relevant information.

THE OPPORTUNITY

This is a rare principal-track executive role — not a traditional COO hire. This company is seeking a proven operator and growth leader who wants to ultimately run the company. The incoming COO will serve as the day-to-day operational authority of the business, partnering closely with the ownership on strategic direction while owning full responsibility for P&L performance, production, sales execution, and team development.

The candidate who earns the CEO role will inherit a business with a defensible market position (the only fully domestic manufacturer in its category) and a fresh operational platform ready to scale. The target is to grow this company from sub $10M in current annual revenue to $25M+ — a transformation that will require the executive to build and lead a high-performance team, expand the commercial footprint, professionalize production operations, and establish the management systems of a mid-market industrial manufacturer.

ROLE STRUCTURE & SUCCESSION PLAN

Phase 1: Chief Operating Officer (Months 1–18)

The incoming executive will join as COO with a clear, structured succession path. During this phase, the COO will:

• Assume full P&L ownership across all business units
• Lead daily operations including manufacturing, sales, order fulfillment, and procurement
• Drive rapid scaling of sales revenue toward the company's annual growth target
• Oversee the Copiague facility transition and stand up new operational infrastructure
• Build and professionalize the management team, establishing clear accountability structures
• Develop and implement scalable standard operating procedures across all departments
• Leverage the new MRP system, project management platform, and communications tools to drive measurable efficiency gains

Phase 2: Chief Executive Officer

Upon successful completion of the 18-month COO tenure — evaluated against defined revenue, EBITDA, operational, and leadership milestones — the executive will be elevated to CEO with full enterprise authority. As CEO, responsibilities will expand to include:

• Setting the long-range strategic vision and annual operating plan
• Leading capital allocation and acquisition decisions
• Representing the company with key customers, vendors, government stakeholders and industry organizations
• Driving M&A, partnership, and market expansion strategies as the business scales
• Building the executive team to support sustained growth

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

Sales Growth & Revenue Scaling

• Own and drive the company's commercial strategy to achieve 25%+ year-over-year revenue growth
• Expand the B2B sales pipeline among plastic film converters and flexible packaging manufacturers
• Build and lead a structured, accountable sales team with clear KPIs, territories, and incentive structures
• Develop pricing strategy, quoting velocity, and channel partner relationships to accelerate new machine sales
• Leverage CRM and digital tools to create pipeline visibility and systematic follow-through on prospects
• Cultivate long-term customer relationships that generate recurring spare parts, service, and upgrade revenue

Manufacturing & Production Output

• Increase production throughput and machine delivery capacity to meet rising demand without sacrificing quality
• Lead the design and operational stand-up of the new Copiague manufacturing facility
• Implement production scheduling, capacity planning, and workforce management systems using the new MRP platform
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives (lean, 5S, or equivalent methodologies) across the shop floor
• Develop vendor and supply chain relationships to reduce lead times, manage costs, and eliminate procurement gaps

Operational Excellence & SOP Development

• Conduct a full operational audit and develop comprehensive, scalable SOPs across all departments
• Drive consistent adoption of the MRP system, project management software, and communications platforms
• Build a performance management culture with clear OKRs, weekly operating rhythms, and executive dashboards
• Identify and eliminate cost inefficiencies to protect and expand EBITDA margins as the business scales

People & Team Leadership

• Recruit, develop, and retain a high-performance management team across operations, sales, and production
• Build a culture of accountability, precision, and continuous improvement aligned with the company's growth ambitions
• Establish clear roles, reporting structures, and career development pathways as headcount scales
• Mentor department leaders and develop internal succession capability over time

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Experience

• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in manufacturing, industrial equipment, or a closely adjacent industry
• Direct, hands-on experience scaling a manufacturing business — ideally from a revenue range of $5M–$20M toward $50M or beyond
• Proven COO, President, or GM background with full P&L ownership and demonstrated EBITDA improvement
• Experience leading or overseeing a production/manufacturing floor, including capacity planning, workforce management, and quality systems
• Track record of building and executing a B2B sales strategy, not merely managing an inherited sales function
• Experience implementing or optimizing ERP/MRP systems in a production environment
• Background in industrial machinery, capital equipment, plastics, flexible packaging, or related sectors strongly preferred

Leadership & Strategic Competencies

What it takes to lead a manufacturing company from sub $10M to $25M+ include the following as critical competencies for this role:

• Revenue Architecture — the ability to build scalable sales infrastructure (people, process, CRM, pipeline discipline) that decouples revenue growth from founder dependency
• Operational Leverage — demonstrated ability to scale throughput without proportional cost increases; the instinct to automate and systematize functions before they break under volume
• Customer-Centricity — deep knowledge of the target customer (plastic film converters, flexible packaging OEMs) and the ability to translate that into product positioning, service design, and retention
• Financial Acumen — fluency in EBITDA drivers, gross margin analysis, working capital management, and cost structure optimization in a manufacturing environment
• Talent Builder — a track record of recruiting operators above their current size and developing internal successors; the ability to build a leadership team that scales with the company
• Execution Discipline — a cadenced, data-driven operating style with clear weekly/monthly rhythms, OKR or KPI frameworks, and a bias for accountability over activity
• Change Management — demonstrated success leading organizations through facility transitions, technology implementations, and cultural transformation without disrupting performance
• Strategic Vision — the ability to articulate a credible path from current state to $50M, including market expansion, product strategy, partnerships, and capital investment priorities

IDEAL CANDIDATE

The ideal candidate has operated as a COO, President, or Division GM at a privately held industrial manufacturer, has experienced a company scale event (either organically or through PE-backed growth), and is motivated by the challenge of building something significant from a strong foundation. xhyhwjd

• Has directly managed a manufacturing plant — knows the floor as well as the boardroom
• Has lived through an ERP/MRP implementation and knows what it takes to drive adoption across a skeptical workforce
• Has built or restructured a B2B sales team, established pipeline discipline, and personally opened key accounts
• Has managed through a facility move, expansion, or greenfield build-out
• Brings a network of talent — knows who to call for the next 10 hires across operations, sales, and engineering
• Is comfortable with the ambiguity and resource constraints of a closely held company and energized by the ownership mentality that comes with it
• Ideally has industry proximity: experience at a plastic bag machine manufacturer, blown film extruder, converting equipment company, or flexible packaging operation is a significant advantage

WHAT THE COMPANY OFFERS

• A defined, contractual path to the CEO chair
• Full P&L authority and operational autonomy from day one
• A defensible market position as the only fully domestic plastic bag machine manufacturer in the U.S.
• Recent investments in MRP/ERP, brand, project management software, and communications
• A new, purpose-built manufacturing facility in Copiague, NY — the incoming COO will have significant input on its operational design
• A founder committed to transitioning operating authority to the right leader and supporting the company's next chapter of growth
• A compensation package structured to make the executive's total compensation package grow proportionate to the growth of the company.