Pacific Helmets
Heading 3
Manufacturing / Export
Role Filled:
Managing Director, New Zealand — executive search and advisory
The
Challenge:
A specialist manufacturer needing a leader trusted on the ground and across the world
The Outcome:
On-the-ground leadership the offshore parent has full confidence in
Leadership a global parent could trust, half a world away
Manufacturing / Export
Managing Director, New Zealand — executive search and advisory
A specialist manufacturer needing a leader trusted on the ground and across the world
On-the-ground leadership the offshore parent has full confidence in
Role Filled:
The Challenge:
The Outcome:
Leadership a global parent could trust, half a world away
Manufacturing / Export
Managing Director, New Zealand — executive search and advisory
Role Filled:
A specialist manufacturer needing a leader trusted on the ground and across the world
On-the-ground leadership the offshore parent has full confidence in
The Challenge:
The Outcome:
Pacific Helmets is a New Zealand manufacturer acquired by an American global group, a move that gave both businesses access to each other's markets and brought the helmet business into a wider fire and emergency services operation. The parent initially engaged a contract CEO, expecting leadership to pass to someone from within the group. Over time it became clear that a permanent, New Zealand-based director was needed to run the business locally while representing it globally.
Background:
The business is based in Whanganui and reports to a group executive in the United States who has limited visibility for much of each day given the time difference.
That made two things essential: a leader physically present on the ground every day, and a parent company confident enough in that person to operate at a distance. Earning the trust of an offshore group in a market it did not know well was central to this engagement.
Understanding The Challenge
The role required someone who understood the design and manufacture of complex, heavily regulated composite products, could lead both commercially and operationally, and could manage relationships with offshore suppliers. Because someone had to be on the ground every day, location was a real constraint. We ran a dual approach, searching deeply in the local market while also considering candidates who could relocate from elsewhere in the country, to give the business the widest possible field of genuinely suitable people.
The Brief
Background
Pacific Helmets is a New Zealand manufacturer acquired by an American global group, a move that gave both businesses access to each other's markets and brought the helmet business into a wider fire and emergency services operation. The parent initially engaged a contract CEO, expecting leadership to pass to someone from within the group. Over time it became clear that a permanent, New Zealand-based director was needed to run the business locally while representing it globally.
Understanding
the Challenge
The business is based in Whanganui and reports to a group executive in the United States who has limited visibility for much of each day given the time difference.
That made two things essential: a leader physically present on the ground every day, and a parent company confident enough in that person to operate at a distance. Earning the trust of an offshore group in a market it did not know well was central to this engagement.
The Brief
The role required someone who understood the design and manufacture of complex, heavily regulated composite products, could lead both commercially and operationally, and could manage relationships with offshore suppliers. Because someone had to be on the ground every day, location was a real constraint. We ran a dual approach, searching deeply in the local market while also considering candidates who could relocate from elsewhere in the country, to give the business the widest possible field of genuinely suitable people.
What They Achieved
The successful candidate was an experienced leader already established locally, with directly relevant experience and no relocation risk. The parent company now has full confidence in its New Zealand leadership, and the business runs with clear local accountability despite the distance and the limited daily oversight from the group.
The successful candidate was an experienced leader already established locally, with directly relevant experience and no relocation risk. The parent company now has full confidence in its New Zealand leadership, and the business runs with clear local accountability despite the distance and the limited daily oversight from the group.