Mike SayreMike Sayre, co-leads the Central Ohio IT Leaders program for aspiring CIOs, and CTOs and provides leadership coaching. He has been a successful CEO, COO, CFO, and board director for multiple organizations in technology (cybersecurity, e-commerce payments processing, and engineered computer products) and manufacturing (electronics and steel products). He shares his expertise with client boards and C-Level leaders, and advises, designs, plans, and oversees the implementation of successful strategies for turnarounds, growth, profitability, and sustainability.

Mike brings 30+ years of organizational and business leadership and hands-on implementation experience to his clients.  His teams have achieved significant increases in growth, profitability, and valuation, as well as shareholder, customer, supplier and employee engagement and satisfaction.

Mike led:

  • strategic, cultural, operational, and financial turnarounds,
  • organic growth,
  • growth by domestic and international acquisition and expansion,
  • pre-revenue start-ups, and
  • division divestitures and company exits.

Innovative Leadership Transformation Areas of Expertise

  • Board and Executive Advisory Services
  • Business Strategy Development and Implementation
  • Leadership Selection and Development
  • Business Growth and Scaling – Processes and People
  • Cultural Transformation and Change Management
  • Mergers, Acquisitions, and Divestitures

View Mike’s LinkedIn profile to read additional recommendations.

Sample Innovative Leadership Transformation Accomplishments

Following an executive advisory role, as President & COO for a global e-commerce payments processor, Mike led cultural, operational, and financial turnarounds resulting in:

  • a company transformation that resulted in over a 3X realized valuation increase in less than two years,
  • process and cost structure improvements that supported 25% average annual transaction volume growth and ultimately resulted in over 8X growth in annual EBITDA,
  • the implementation of agile software development that engaged IT with the rest of the business and resulted in a 3X increase in IT productivity, and
  • cultural change breaking down departmental silos, improving communications, improving teamwork, and driving continuous process improvement across the organization, as well as the above performance and financial results.

As President & CEO for an electronic manufacturing services provider, Mike led strategic, cultural, operational, and financial turnarounds resulting in:

  • record profits,
  • a 40% improvement in quality and service metrics,
  • consolidated operations and a $2MM reduction in annual operating costs,
  • the implementation of 5S and Lean Manufacturing that further improved the cost structure and overall attractiveness of the operations in winning new business,
  • a 75% reduction in bank debt,
  • a capital raise to fund global expansion,
  • the addition of operations in Europe (acquisition) and Asia (start-up), and
  • a reversal of the decline in the depot repair business followed by 20% annual growth.

As the top accounting officer for a $2B diversified international manufacturing and publicly-held corporation, Mike led the transformation of the corporate-wide financial organization from back-office support to front office business partner in addition to:

  • improved the efficiency and effectiveness of 36 plant controllers and their teams, as well as the Corporate financial group, by leading projects to update financial reporting with state-of-the-art financial reporting, analysis and consolidation systems as well as implementing Activity-Based Costing,
  • initiated and led a Controller-in-Training program that provided the top financial leaders in 11 manufacturing facilities in a 5-year period, including 3 start-up plants representing over $500M in capital investments
  • secured a $500K profit for the company by personally selling the first of 7 divestitures in a program to shed non-core businesses
  • saved the company $400K in receivables write-offs by recognizing and taking quick and decisive action in an out-of-court bankruptcy situation with a major customer across multiple Worthington businesses
  • provided board services and mentored leaders in a steel processing start-up joint venture with a major flat-rolled steel producer

Selected Education, Training, and Certifications

  • Masters of Business Administration, The Ohio State University
  • Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Science and Accounting, The Ohio State University
  • Institute of Corporate Financial Management, University of Michigan
  • Leadership Training with Innovative Leadership Institute, CoachCarruthers, Built2Lead, Worthington Industries, and Dale Carnegie

For more details, please go to www.linkedin.com/in/mikesayre.