Ed Marquardt
Sharpsburg,Georgia
Summary
Experienced with strategic planning, operational management, and team leadership. Utilizes effective communication and decision-making skills to drive organizational success. Track record of fostering innovation and improving operational processes.
Overview
22
22
years of professional experience
Work History
PRESIDENT
RMX / BluBird Industry
01.2022 - Current
- Grew revenue from $27M to $38M in 36 months (12% CAGR) while expanding gross margin by 400 bps through tighter pricing, better product mix, and more focused account targeting.
- Led commercial relationships with major U.S. retailers including Walmart, Lowe’s, and Home Depot, owning line reviews, pricing and program proposals, merchandising recommendations, and .com content and activation.
- Designed and rolled out a clear sales process in HubSpot for distributor, DI, and D2C business; built an inside sales team from scratch (playbooks, call blocks, KPIs) that supported the launch and growth of D2C and drop-ship programs and helped sustain double-digit annual growth.
- Set a weekly pipeline and forecast cadence that kept 90-day forecast accuracy within ±5–10% and improved lead-to-opportunity conversion, stage progression, and win rate by ~20% over three years.
- Scaled D2C from $0 to roughly $250K per month by capturing customer contacts on most orders and using simple onboarding and follow-ups to turn a solid share of first-time buyers into repeat purchasers within 12 months.
- Added 200+ accounts and doubled distributor sell-through by using tiered programs, training, and tighter assortments that lifted revenue per distributor.
- Drove 60% of manufacturer rep firms to 100%+ of plan by resetting territories and compensation and setting clear activity expectations and tools.
- Improved operations: COGS –4%, OTIF +7 points, inventory turns 2.0 → 3.2 by aligning S&OP; and service levels with the commercial plan.
VICE PRESIDENT, SALES AND MARKETING
Tie Down Engineering
01.2018 - 01.2022
- Grew the Roofing & Safety division from ~$9M to ~$24M in four years (~28% CAGR) while lifting gross margin by ~300 bps through better pricing and product mix.
- Increased active buying accounts from ~80 to 140+, including 10 new national customers; raised average revenue per account by ~35% through targeted assortments and program support.
- Implemented CRM to track pipeline and key accounts, improving forecast accuracy into the ±10–15% range and raising opportunity win rates by ~10 points over two years.
- Shifted the line toward higher-value items so that top-margin products grew from ~25% to ~40% of divisional revenue, supporting both growth and profit.
- Launched 50+ new or redesigned products, which grew to ~20–25% of divisional sales within three years and helped secure additional slotting with core distributors and nationals.
VICE PRESIDENT, SALES
ML Kishigo
01.2014 - 01.2018
- Increased revenue by ~20% to about $62M while holding or improving gross margin through pricing discipline and a stronger mix of premium garments and programs.
- Grew retail and e-commerce from ~10% to ~18% of company revenue, adding several major retail and online partners and improving visibility and sell-through on existing accounts.
- Expanded the active distributor base by 25–30% and raised average revenue per distributor by ~20% through better assortments, stocking programs, and co-marketing support.
- Improved sales coverage and execution by tightening territories, expectations, and reviews for direct reps, rep agencies, and inside sales; increased key account revenue (top 25 accounts) by ~30% over the period.
- Linked major launches to demand plans, helping reduce stock-outs on top SKUs and stabilizing service levels into the mid-90% range for core accounts.
PRESIDENT
Guardian Fall Protection
01.2004 - 01.2014
- Scaled revenue from ~$4M to ~$64M over 10 years (~32% CAGR) with full P&L; responsibility across sales, marketing, operations, and finance.
- Grew the customer base from fewer than 50 to more than 300 active distributors and key accounts, with the top 20 accounts increasing from ~35% to ~50% of revenue as programs and product penetration deepened.
- Built the company’s first inside sales and customer support team from zero to 6–8 reps, moving from reactive order taking to structured outbound (roughly 60–80 calls/emails per rep per day); inside sales grew to about 30–35% of total order lines.
- Put a simple CRM-based sales process in place (lead capture, quote tracking, follow-ups) that raised quote-to-order conversion from the low-20% range to the low-30% range, improved new-distributor activation from ~50% to ~75% placing a first stocking order within 90 days, and kept pipeline coverage at roughly 3–4x quarterly revenue targets.
- Launched early direct-to-contractor and web-ordering programs alongside the distributor model; grew direct/web sales from zero to about 5–7% of revenue (~$3–4M run rate) and pushed repeat-purchase rates for registered end users into the mid-30% range.
- Tightened S&OP; and inventory planning, raising fill rates from the mid-80% range to the mid-90% range and improving inventory turns from ~1.8 to ~3.0 while supporting strong growth.
- Led and integrated two strategic acquisitions, retaining 90%+ of target revenue at close, aligning pricing and branding, and removing overlapping SKUs to simplify the line and improve gross margin.
Education
B.S. - Finance
University of Phoenix
Phoenix, AZ01.2010
Skills
- CRM & sales tech (HubSpot, Salesforce)
- Revenue analytics & forecasting
- Pricing and margin management
- P&L; ownership
- Distributor and key account development
- Retail and e-commerce / D2C programs
- Sales team leadership
- Contract and program negotiation
Timeline
PRESIDENT
RMX / BluBird Industry
01.2022 - Current
VICE PRESIDENT, SALES AND MARKETING
Tie Down Engineering
01.2018 - 01.2022
VICE PRESIDENT, SALES
ML Kishigo
01.2014 - 01.2018
PRESIDENT
Guardian Fall Protection
01.2004 - 01.2014
B.S. - Finance
University of Phoenix