Six months after placing the company’s HR Manager, Keller returned to find a Director of Production Sales. The first placement was managed by the HR Manager from the client’s side.
The Client
A California-based cabinetry company that designs, builds, and installs high-end custom work in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Napa/Sonoma, and Silicon Valley. Its sales division for production has long-cycle contracts with major Bay Area builders and developers. These accounts last two to three years per engagement and serve large residential subdivisions throughout the region. The company has its own teams to do the delivery and installation, so its relationships with builders go beyond the first sale and have operational depth. Those accounts belong to the Director of Production Sales and that’s who creates new ones.
The Challenge
The vacancy came to be as the company went through a transition in its senior leadership. The founder built the production books, and developed relationships with builders and developers in the Bay Area over many years. Meanwhile he did the books himself until the search concluded. Whoever came in would be taking ownership of a portfolio that the founder built himself, in a company where he was stepping back from day-to-day operations. The new director would have to win the confidence of such accounts as well as the owner too.
The production division also needed better sales team management going forward. It was in the brief from the start that the new director would have to develop and hold the team accountable and manage the account portfolio.
The Solution
The brief contained three specific requirements, namely a proven track record of developing and leading a B2B sales team, active commercial relationships in the Greater Bay Area construction and development market, and the credibility to manage a sensitive account transition directly with the owner. All three candidates were assessed together.
The Results
A sales leader from the Bay Area with a California General Contractor license and a career built in the AEC sector was hired for the role. Prior to that, he spent eight years as Director of Sales for a geotechnical engineering and construction contractor, managing a team of more than ten in California, Nevada, and Arizona.
He worked on long-cycle commercial, government and infrastructure projects during that time (the same kind of extended, relationship-managed engagement that the production accounts need) and was part of a period of growth that took the business from $6.5 million to $14.5 million in revenue before it was acquired in 2025. His working relationships with Bay Area owners, architects, engineers, and public agencies were current and directly relevant to the production portfolio.
The appointment was handled on the client side by the company’s HR Manager, an executive Keller had placed in the same company six months earlier.
The Impact
The production sales director comes with existing relationships in the Bay Area construction market, direct experience of leading a sales team through an ownership transition, and a background in exactly the kind of long-cycle account work the production division requires. The company is in its next chapter of leadership and the production portfolio is in capable hands.
This was the second search Keller Executive Search had received from the client company in six months. The HR Manager hired during the first engagement became the client side contact throughout the search. The placed executive was now shaping the company’s next hire.
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