Ron Smith Email & Phone Number

Stockport District, Gb

Uk

After a highly successful, hugely varied, UK and International career with Siemens, I launched Advantage UK Ltd as the vehicle to share my substantial business knowledge and leadership experiences with entrepreneurial MDOs of Tech SMEs who wish to significantly increase their enterprise value. I support MD entrepreneurs involved with innovative technologies ranging from the earliest Ideas Generation through R&D but also Project Management, Engineering and Manufacturing plus the Services market. I provide guidance and mentoring to leadership teams with established businesses which need professional, pragmatic and "been there and done it" support to help them achieve their next big steps towards sustainable and profitable growth I offer a broad range of services includng:- Chair or NED roles- Leadership Development (e.g coaching, mentoring, emerging talent including apprenticeship and undergraduate development plus succession planning)- Market Intelligence, Strategic Planning, M&A and Risk Management- Business Excellence, Best Practice Exchange, Innovative Thinking and Culture Change - Change Management - Sales and Marketing.I have 35 years of direct experience in starting, building, acquiring, merging, integrating, restructuring and divesting businesses on a profitable basis. I have an extensive Technology Portfolio knowledge across Product Manufacturing, Systems, Solutions and Services and have worked with customers along the whole Supply Chain (from component manufacturers to End Users)I also have a full Value Chain knowledge including R&D, Design, Engineering, Project Management, Manufacturing, Installation and Commissioning, Facilities Management, O&M including Asset Management. Finally, I can undertake Business Process Improvement analyses and give implementation guidance covering the Balanced Scorecard quadrants of Market/Customers, People, Processes and Financials.

Uk

Manchester, United Kingdom

In 2010, I decided to retire early from the role of Executive Management Board (EMB) member of Siemens UK, a £5 billion Construction and Electrical Engineering conglomerate with 18,000 employees. I was concurrently the CEO/MD, NED Chairperson and Executive coach of numerous Siemens legal entities with a total trade of over £600m and with 2,500 employees.In addition to the 2006 to 2010 EMB duties of CEO /MD of STDL plus the several NED Chair and MD Coaching roles which are listed further below, I also had a number of other, concurrent Executive Board responsibilities for numerous Siemens-wide activities which included: • Chair and Coach of the North West European Strategic Resourcing programme to develop and secure professional people covering all key disciplines • Chair and Coach of the Energy Leadership Development and Emerging Talent Management programme to develop the future Siemens leadership potential which included launching apprenticeships and undergraduate schemes• Chair and Coach of all the North West European Country MDs in relation to the North West European Business Excellence and Innovation programmes (e.g. covered all NW EU Countries’ Energy Groups and ensured the regular exchange and implementation of Best Practice and Innovation activities)• Siemens UK Executive Coach on the IET Power Academy Executive Committee which comprised UK Energy companies’ main board directors and leaders from 6 major UK Universities and where we drove annual engineering sponsorships up to 150 for the highest calibre undergraduates• Siemens UK North West and North East Site and Regional Directorships to ensure effective Corporate Citizenship by networking and collaborating with local Government, Businesses, Science, Education and Arts institutions and communities, typically through memberships of the NW CBI, the NW Energy Council and the NW Executive Business Leadership Team (the latter gave guidance to the Regional Development Agency).

Manchester, United Kingdom

ST&D Limited was launched by merging the carved-out core Siemens Transmission & Distribution group with the hostile acquisition of a £120m competitor (VA-Tech). After significant restructuring and cultural and operational alignment with zero customer ‘melt-off’, STDL achieved the following in the 4 years to 2010:• Orders up 7 fold to £450m representing a strong 25% Market Share leadership (up 4 fold)• Sales up 5 fold, PbT up 15 fold to ca. £30m and with a 1.6 FCF/Profits ratio up 2 fold• UK Value Add content increased to over 80% leading to over 1100 local employees• The North West EFQM Winner’s Award for 2010 with a World Class score of 750 points (i.e. doubled)Success was based on market and target driven strategic plans. Typically, STDL was the first to launch a completely new UK Offshore Wind Farms market which grew profitably from scratch to a dominant 80% market share. All the construction, project management and supply chain skills were secured to successfully execute concurrent £50m - £200m turnkey offshore projects. Other concurrent EMB duties from during 2006 – 2010 included:• NED Chair and Executive MD Coach - Siemens Protection Devices Ltd - A £30m mechanical and digital relay manufacturing company, which exported 80% to the M.E and F.E• NED Chair and Executive MD Coach - Trench UK Ltd - A £20m transformer bushing manufacturing company, which achieved 80% exports to the EU/former E. Block Countries• NED Chair and MD Coach - Siemens Metering Ltd - A £120m Electricity/Gas Meter manufacturing and Smart Grid consultancy company • CEO/MD of 5 more legal entities - I wound up and liquidated these acquired companies once inherited balance sheet liabilities and overseas loss-making operations has been addressed Over the same period, I had numerous additional Executive Main Board Chair roles which I have listed above.

Manchester, United Kingdom

2003-2006: CEO/MD - Siemens Transmission & Distribution Group plusChair of the Siemens UK plc Energy Sector Board (2003-2006):I then returned to an operational CEO/MD role to prepare a core Siemens group for a major acquisition and also chaired a ‘”cross-business” Siemens UK Energy Sector Board comprising 7 Group MDs where we achieved £200m of additional growth and we became a leading lobbying body on UK Energy and Environmental policy with the Government and Ofgem.I also launched numerous other sector cluster boards including Building Industry, Communications, Medical, Manufacturing, Service and Project Management. 2000-2003: Director - Siemens UK plc Corporate Strategy To further broaden my horizons, I was appointed Siemens plc Director of Corporate Strategy during which time Siemens UK profitably doubled its size to over £3 billion in the 3-year strategic plan period. I worked closely with the Siemens AG and the UK Executive main board members to develop, sign off and implement comprehensive strategic plans for 28 UK Groups and subsidiary companies covering the whole Siemens portfolio of Products, Solutions and Services, which ranged from Hearing Aids, Rail Infrastructure, Power Stations through to the Bank of England licensed Siemens Financial Services.1997-2000: CEO/MD - Siemens Industrial Projects & Systems Group plus EMBI was appointed Group CEO/MD and joined the UK Executive Management Board (EMB) as its youngest member, where I undertook the following additional NED Chair and MD coaching duties:• improved and streamlined the services of a Facilities Management company (over 100 sites) • integrated and acquired, 2 market-leading £80m Building Industry companies (Building Automation and Fire Systems)• integrated an acquired a £30m Postal Automation Solutions company and subsequently won and executed a £120m Royal Mail contract for highly-automated Integrated Mail Processing machines (i.e. the largest single Siemens UK contract at that time).

Manchester

I was promoted to launch and develop the following diverse, £10m to £20m business departments: - Airport Solutions – launched the business and provided complete baggage handling systems for BA/BAA at numerous UK Airports (e,g Heathrow T4 and Gatwick T2)- Marine– provided complete electro-mechanical systems to UK and overseas shipbuilders (e.g. HMS Ocean)- Special Projects – provided highly complex drives and automation solutions, typically to LUL, British Steel, Port of Felixstowe, Coflexip and many others - MV Switchgear/High Powered Amplifier factory – grew Sales by 20% p.a. in the UK, US and M.E. export market – mainly Oil and Gas - Automation Software Engineering – provided highly innovative Process Engineering and Materials Handling solutions (e.g. Breweries)- Water Solutions - launched the business and provided everything from large Variable Speed Drives to complete Waste Water Treatment Plants to NW Water, Thames and others - Automation and Logistics - launched the business and provided complete automated warehouse solutions for customers such as Oxford University Press and the Post Office

London

1986–1990: Manager - Rotating Machines Dept.1981-1985: Product Manager - Motors and Switchgear1979-1980: Sales Engineer - Industrial Plant Division1977-1978: Transferred to HQ Germany for management development (useful to be fluent in German)July 1975-1976: Sales and Commissioning Engineer - Oil and Gas Division (based mainly in Oslo and Stavanger in Norway).I joined the Oil & Gas division and immediately participated in the construction of Norwegian North Sea platforms. I then undertook management training and thereafter launched a highly successful Rotating Machines dept., which required extensive overseas travel to successfully open up export markets for capital equipment in the US, Middle East, Far East and the old East Block. I also launched pump, compressor and LV and HV motor sales into China, Russia, Iraq and Turkey and I commissioned equipment in Iraq and Siberia. Furthermore, I launched JV export partnerships with UK OEMs (e.g. for US nuclear power stations, South Arabian desalination plants and European petrochemical plants).