Kansas City, Missouri, United States
I believe leadership is about service - putting people first and removing barriers so teams can do their best work. As CEO of Cathcart Rail, my focus is on building a culture grounded in safety, accountability, and operational excellence. That starts with listening, acting on what matters, and supporting our people.
+ Leading the company's growth as the largest privately held freight rail services and transportation company in the U.S. + Promoting clarity, alignment, and accountability across a national network of operations + Prioritizing safety, service, and operational excellence through hands- on leadership and communication + Creating strong connections across teams by emphasizing consistency, responsiveness, and shared goals
Recruited by CW Industrial Partners to lead fundamental business transformation and prepare the business for sale. In 14 months, successfully led the business to exit via competitive process yielding a 400% increase in equity value. • Navigated COVID 19 pandemic, while: o Driving 15% organic revenue growth o Improving Gross Margin by more than 66% o Improved EBITDA Margin by 233% o Increased revenue per field technician by 44.6% • Transformed company culture to high accountability, KPI and metrics driven and business analytics decision making. • Aligned and grew the senior team, resulting in a high-performance team that improved month over month results throughout the sales process. • Generated high levels of positive working capital and free cash flow allowing for elimination of revolver and senior debt as well as self-funding tuck in acquisition activities, and investments in training, technology and core process.
Private Equity owned Industrial and Oil Field Service Company. Recruited to drive growth, make the business scalable, expand service line and customer base and improve profit. • Established new “project based” service lines delivering 42% gross margin • Increased 2015 revenue per field employee 17% ($48 to $56) and 2016 by 20% • Improved gross margin from 13% to 26% • Generated $12 million in excess cash via aggressive AR collection • Reduced non-revenue supporting operating expenses $14 million • Paid down Senior Debt by $8 million and revolver by $6 million • Improved EBITDA by 50% in 2015 and 67% in 2016 • Executed a complete organization redesign, removing over $8 million in overhead • Reduced Indirect Field cost by $5.4 million (from $7.1 million to $1.7 million)