Biography

He has positioned himself as a strategic executive leader with a deep understanding of the manufacturing and industrial market sectors. His experience building companies from the ground up and delivering as much as 200% improvement in bottom-line results has been at the forefront of carving out a niche as the go-to-person to revitalize struggling companies and/or grow successful businesses into formidable players within their specific industry and markets.

As the CEO at Smith Brothers, he took on the challenges caused by a severely dysfunctional work culture that had decimated major customer relationships, eroded profits and left the company at 57% staffing because so many employees had fled to competitors. He bridged the gap of trust to regain lost work from major aerospace clients, halted and reversed the financial bleeding, and improved staffing to 87% in a tight labor market.

As the CEO at Lee Industrial Contracting he was integral in driving dramatic gains in key metrics of net profit, EBITDA, and sales revenue. Under his leadership, sales hit peak levels of $120 million while net profit grew by 300%. He was instrumental in created key business units including a marketing department that increased the company’s online traffic by 100% and a business development unit that produces $14 million annually. Operationally, Ken was able to improve the overall efficiency of several systems including the automation of RFQ processes.

While serving as the Project Management Director at Lee, he built the project management function from its infancy. The program currently supports 4,000 projects on an annual basis.

His entrepreneurial spirit was embraced when he founded Purpose Driven LLC, a consulting and project management services firm. He was able to support clients’ key initiatives in marketing, project management, and customer maintenance. Additionally he designed an innovative vacuum forming and the related processes for a new hard truck bed cover, earning a patent for this product.

As the General Manager for United Systems, Ken successfully transformed a financially strapped organization through a reduction in costs of 30% and reversed declining sales trends within 2 months of his hire.

In his spare time, Ken enjoys spending time with his wife of 37 years, Shannon. He stays physically active through strength training and martial arts. A creative individual who never backs down from a challenge, he has been awarded multiple patents, is an avid woodworker, and enjoys painting with oil paint and air brush techniques.

He holds a BBA and completed Executive MBA coursework from Northwood University.