Tag: leadership

The Title Isn’t The Benchmark Anymore. The Job Is.

Written by Sarah Lucas on August 27, 2026. Posted in News & Insights.

August 27th, 2026

The landscape has changed. Compensation is only one visible symptom of a deeper shift in the building materials leadership market.

$850,000 isn’t the story. The job behind the $850,000 is.

A recent conversation with Craig Webb of Webb Analytics put a number in front of us that was difficult to ignore.

QXO’s incoming President and Chief Operating Officer, Ken West, will receive an annual base salary of $850,000. His target annual bonus is equal to 125 percent of that salary. Before long-term equity enters the equation, the target cash compensation alone approaches $2 million annually. QXO’s filing also includes substantial long-term and new-hire equity awards.

It is an extraordinary compensation package.

But the more interesting story is not the number.

It is the job behind the number.

QXO is not simply filling another President position in the building materials industry. Through the acquisitions of Beacon, Kodiak Building Partners and TopBuild, the company says it has assembled a platform representing approximately $18 billion in combined annual revenue, 28,000 employees and 1,150 locations. Its stated goal is to reach $50 billion in annual revenue within the decade through acquisitions and organic growth.

That changes the conversation about executive compensation because it changes the scale of executive responsibility.

For generations, titles in the building materials industry told us quite a bit about the position behind the office door.

President General Manager Vice President of Sales Regional Manager

Those titles still exist. What has changed is how little the title alone may tell us about the job.

A General Manager may oversee a single location and a relatively contained P&L. Another General Manager may oversee several locations, hundreds of employees, multiple markets and a dramatically larger financial responsibility.

A President may lead a multigenerational family business with deep roots in a particular region. Another may be helping lead a national organization with tens of thousands of employees through acquisitions, integrations, technology transformation and an aggressive growth strategy.

The title can be identical.

The job is not.

And increasingly, neither is the compensation.

That raises a larger question for an industry undergoing significant consolidation.

The Question

Will corporate-scale compensation begin to have a trickle-down effect on the rest of the building materials talent market?

Not because every family-owned business suddenly needs to compete with an $850,000 base salary. That would be an absurd comparison for most organizations.

The effect may be much more subtle.

As larger organizations continue acquiring businesses and expanding their reach, they create more leadership positions carrying broader responsibility, larger P&Ls, greater geographic scope and more sophisticated incentive structures.

That expands the opportunity set available to the industry’s strongest leaders.

A President at an independent company may be recruited for a divisional position within a much larger organization. A General Manager may suddenly have access to regional leadership. A successful VP of Sales may be presented with responsibility for a dramatically larger market and a compensation structure that reflects it.

When that happens often enough, compensation pressure does not remain confined to the largest corporations.

It begins moving through the talent market.

The question facing family-owned and independent businesses therefore may not be, “Can we match what QXO is paying?”

For most, that is the wrong benchmark.

The better question is:

The Better Benchmark

What is the job we are actually asking this person to do, and what is that responsibility worth in today’s market?

That distinction matters.

If a business is asking its next President to oversee multiple locations, modernize operations, build a leadership team, protect decades of customer relationships, develop a succession strategy, integrate new technology and carry complete financial responsibility for the organization, benchmarking that position against what the title earned ten years ago may no longer make sense.

The scope has changed.

The market around the role has changed.

And the opportunities available to the person qualified to fill it have changed as well.

This does not mean compensation becomes the only deciding factor.

Family-owned companies still possess advantages that large corporate organizations may have difficulty replicating.

A strong executive may value the ability to directly influence the future of a company. They may value access to ownership, faster decision-making, meaningful authority, community roots, culture, long-standing customer relationships or the opportunity to build something that carries a name and reputation beyond a quarterly earnings report.

Those things matter.

But they have to be real.

If an independent company cannot compete dollar for dollar with a corporate opportunity, then the authority, autonomy, influence and culture it presents to a candidate become even more important.

That connects directly to another challenge we continue to see in succession planning.

You cannot ask someone to accept less financial upside in exchange for the opportunity to lead and then withhold the authority required to actually lead.

At that point, the organization has surrendered both sides of the value proposition.

This is why compensation benchmarking based primarily on title is becoming increasingly dangerous.

The name on the door may be the same.

The scope behind it may have changed completely.

And consolidation is accelerating that change.

QXO describes the building products market as an $800 billion industry and has openly stated its intention to reach $50 billion in annual revenue within a decade. Its acquisitions of Beacon, Kodiak Building Partners and TopBuild further expand the scale and breadth of the organization across insulation, roofing, waterproofing, lumber and building materials.

Whether other companies pursue that same scale is almost beside the point.

The presence of organizations operating at that scale changes the environment in which everyone else competes for talent.

The building materials industry has historically been defined in large part by independent, regional and generational ownership. That identity is not disappearing overnight, nor should anyone assume that consolidation eliminates the competitive strength of those businesses.

But the landscape is changing.

And as the industry becomes increasingly influenced by large, acquisition-driven organizations, family-owned businesses may have to think differently about what it takes to attract and retain exceptional leadership.

Not necessarily by becoming corporations themselves.

Not necessarily by matching every compensation package.

But by understanding what the position they are offering is actually worth, what competing opportunities look like, and why an exceptional leader should choose theirs.

···

Because the title is no longer the benchmark.

The job is.

With Thanks

Our thanks to Craig Webb of Webb Analytics for bringing the QXO executive compensation filing to our attention and, more importantly, for continuing to challenge the industry to look beyond the headline numbers at what they mean. Craig will also be joining the SnapDragon podcast as a special guest, where we will continue conversations around consolidation, ownership, leadership and the forces reshaping the building materials industry.

Sources

QXO, Inc. Form 8-K, August 24, 2026; QXO investor materials, July 2026; QXO public acquisition and company materials.

The Finance Seat is Now the Growth Seat

Written by Sarah Lucas on August 13, 2026. Posted in News & Insights.

August 13th, 2026

The Finance Market

Jared Abbott

Operations Manager, Executive Finance & Accounting Recruiter

Finance leaders in the building materials industry have stopped handing the numbers to decision-makers. They are the decision-makers now, and a growing number of them are running the company outright. Here is what that shift is doing to succession, candidate evaluation, and how offers need to be built.

The most important shift in the finance market right now is not a salary band. It is a change in who holds the pen. Finance leaders are no longer the people who produce the numbers and pass them upward for executive leadership to make the call. They are the ones pushing initiatives forward, thinking strategically, and driving the business. And I am watching a growing number of senior finance leaders move into positions where they run the company holistically rather than the finance function alone.

That is not a soft observation about titles. It changes what a finance search has to identify, what a succession plan has to build, and what an offer has to be structured around. The engine underneath all of it is movement: expansion, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic growth happening across this industry at the same time.

The Corner OfficeFinance is now a path to the top, not a terminal track

The CFO seat is no longer the top of a finance career. It is a step inside it. I am seeing senior finance leaders move out of the finance chair and into President seats, CEO seats, and board seats, where the decisions get made for the entire company. The distinction matters. These are not finance executives being handed a broader title as a courtesy. They are finance executives being handed the whole organization because financial discipline is what the business decided it needed at the helm.

A recent President search in the Midwest ran exactly this way. The company had internal candidates available and went outside anyway. What they wanted was someone with a diverse portfolio and a finance background: the knowledge base, the understanding, and the credibility that came with it. The decision was financially driven. This company wanted to take itself to the next level, and what they realized was that they needed a finance leader at the helm to run all facets of the organization.

If you are building a leadership bench, that search is worth sitting with. Those internal candidates were not passed over on performance. They were passed over because the profile the business needed for its next chapter had not been developed inside the building.

SuccessionFP&A is where the bench is thinnest, and the need is largest

We talk constantly in this industry about bench strength and succession planning. When I apply that to the finance space, one function comes up before any other, and it is financial planning and analysis.

My reasoning comes from looking at who is actually holding the senior seats. The CFOs, the VPs of finance, and the executives running finance departments today came up through the ranks on the FP&A side more than anything else. That is the track that produces the strategic thinker this market is paying for. It is also the track most companies have underbuilt, and the gap is widening, because the industry now needs that specific expertise in a way it did not in the past.

Bench strength is a phrase everyone uses. In finance, it has a specific address, and the address is FP&A.

The path forward is not complicated, but it does require a decision. Treat FP&A as a leadership track rather than a reporting function. Build the layer two levels below the CFO now, while there is still time to develop it. A company that waits until the CFO seat opens is not running succession. It is running a search under pressure, and pressure is expensive.

The Blended RoleThe finance and operations line has stopped being a line

Almost none of what the CFO role actually looks like today inside building materials companies lives on the balance sheet. The modern CFOs I work with are helping their organizations streamline operations, improve cash flow, and use technology to strengthen decision-making. They are building systems and installing accountability.

But the part I would point to as the real engine is the collaboration between finance and operations. That combined knowledge, and the ability to bring different departments and different aspects of the company together, is what drives growth forward. Operational excellence in this context is not a term for a slide. It is a working requirement of the finance leadership role.

Which means a finance search that screens only for financial acumen is screening for half the job. A candidate who can close the books cleanly and cannot work across the operations floor is not a candidate for this version of the role.

Reading CandidatesThe capability that decides finance searches is not on the resume

The thing that sticks out to me whenever I speak with a candidate, and it never shows up on a resume, is the way they can articulate what they do.

The old assumption was that you choose between the outgoing communicator and the analytical mind, that you rarely get both in the same person. What I am actually seeing in the best candidates in the market is that they can speak to their finance experience as though they are talking to someone who is not a finance person. And that matters more than it used to, because of how much cross-collaboration these roles now carry with other departments. Those departments do not speak finance language, and someone has to translate.

Technical accuracy gets a candidate to the interview. Translation gets them the seat.

This is exactly the kind of variable a credential screen cannot capture, and it is why SPACE evaluates candidates beyond the credential. Two candidates can present identical technical backgrounds and land in completely different places on the one dimension that determines whether they succeed inside a cross-functional executive team.

Candidate SignalAI adoption tells me something about initiative

I had a conversation recently with a candidate about exactly this: how finance and accounting executives integrate AI-driven systems into their work without feeling that their job security is under threat. My answer is the same one I would give anyone. The smartest ones, and the ones making the biggest impact, are using the technology to their own advantage to make their work more effective and more efficient.

The second half of what I am seeing is the more useful part for anyone hiring. Candidates are going out and earning additional certifications in AI and technology-enhanced software platforms on their own time, outside their profession and outside their full-time job, specifically to make themselves more marketable and more valuable.

A candidate who spent their own time and money building technology capability is telling you how they will operate once hired. That signal is available in the interview, if you ask for it. So ask for it directly. Not whether a candidate is comfortable with technology, because everyone answers yes to that. Ask what they went and learned on their own initiative in the last eighteen months, and what it changed about how they work.

CompensationThe offer is being won on structure, not on base

It is a competitive market. That is the first thing I say when a client asks me about compensation for finance leadership right now.

I have had conversations this week with senior finance leaders and executives who are open to a discreet, confidential conversation, and who expect any package to align with where they are in their career and what they have actually accomplished. What I am seeing on the company side is a structure built on considerably more than base salary. It is incentive-laden and bonus-driven, tied to specific KPI metrics on personal performance and on company performance together.

The logic behind that is sound. Companies want these leaders driving growth, and they want them to benefit when the company benefits. If revenue and EBITDA grow, the finance leader has done the job, and the compensation should reflect it.

Base salary alone is no longer a competitive offer at this level.

If a client is constrained on base, that is workable, and I will say so directly. But it is only workable if the package carries a real performance-linked component and a defined review point. An offer that is thin on base and vague on upside does not read as competitive to a senior finance leader. It reads as unserious, and the candidate will treat it accordingly.

The SpecExperience has moved ahead of certification

I want to close on something we do not talk about enough, because it runs against what a lot of job specifications still assume.

Certifications are valuable assets for individual candidates, and I would not tell anyone to skip one. But I am finding fewer clients and fewer companies looking for people who come with specific certifications, and less of a need for them overall. What has taken their place is experience. The proven ability to succeed across different roles and to move up through the finance organization now carries more weight than a specific certification at the end of a name.

The practical consequence is worth acting on before your next search opens. A certification requirement your team no longer genuinely cares about is a filter, and every filter removes qualified candidates from a slate. Write the specification against what the role actually requires, not against what the previous version of the posting said.

Where We Come InEvery finance search is built around what the business is becoming

We do not screen against what the job description says today. Every finance search we run is built around what the business is trying to become. That means a defined process, a structured evaluation through SPACE, and a compensation conversation that happens before the offer rather than after it.

If you are building a finance leadership team into a growth plan, an acquisition, or a succession event, we should be aligned on the market before the search opens.

Start the Conversation

Jared Abbott

Operations Manager, Executive Finance & Accounting Recruiter

(603) 323-0977 · jared@snapdragonassociates.com

We ran this exact search for a company that went outside to put a finance leader over the whole business. See how these searches land before you open yours.

See The Case Studies

The SnapDragon Standard

We don’t send offers hoping they work. We send offers knowing how they will land.

Leadership Architecture · Precision Search · Since 2004

Private Equity · Manufacturing · Distribution · Retail

www.snapdragonassociates.com

The Master Builder Disappeared. The Hard Part Didn’t.

Written by Sarah Lucas on July 20, 2026. Posted in News & Insights.

June 11th, 2026

What the data says about senior hiring, and what the building trades teach us about getting it right.

OriginsThe Old Way Stopped Working

There was a time when one man built your house. He read the land, dug the footing, poured the foundation, raised the frame, set the windows, shingled the roof, and hung the doors. We called him a master builder, and the title was earned. But it carried a quiet ceiling. He was excellent at some of the work and merely competent at the rest, because no one is excellent at all of it, and the house reflected exactly that. Its quality was capped by whatever trade he was weakest in.

That model did not fade because we stopped admiring craftsmanship. It faded because the math stopped working. As buildings grew more complex, the gap between competent and excellent at each stage started to matter more than the convenience of one set of hands. So the work broke apart. A single build now moves through a site crew, a foundation team, framers, a glazing crew, roofers, mechanical trades, drywall, and finish carpenters, each doing one thing at a level the old master builder never reached outside his own trade. The house goes up faster, performs better, and fails less often.

The ShiftThe Role of Judgment

It is tempting to read that as a story about specialization and stop there. The more useful part is what it did to the person in charge.

The general contractor did not become less important when the work split apart. The job moved up a level and got harder. The scarce skill on a modern build is no longer swinging a hammer well. It is knowing which framing crew holds its dates, which concrete team passes inspection the first time, which roofer does clean work and which one looks sharp in the bid and falls apart on the deck. The bottleneck used to be labor, measured in hands and hours. Now it is judgment about people. The contractor who knows the trades wins. The one who guesses pays for it later, in change orders and tear-outs.

Org ArchitectureThe Hidden Structure of a Company

Look closely at any company and you are looking at a structure. The org chart is not a ranking of importance. It is a load diagram. A business is built in layers, the way a building is.

Foundation

The operational and financial roles everything rests on.

Frame

The leadership spine that holds the company’s shape under load.

Envelope

The commercial roles that face the market.

Finish Work

The roles that make the whole thing scale and feel complete.

Every layer matters. None of them carries the same kind of risk. A weak hire three layers off the frame is a cosmetic problem. You see it, you fix it, the building still stands. A wrong hire in the frame compromises everything built on top of it, because every layer above inherits the flaw.

That is not a metaphor reaching for effect. It is one of the most consistently measured failures in business, and the numbers are worse than most leaders assume.

46%

Of new hires fail within their first 18 months

89%

Of those failures are about fit and judgment, not technical skill

213%

Of salary: what replacing a senior leader can cost

The ResearchWhy Senior Hires Fail

Consider the leadership layer specifically. McKinsey, studying CEO transitions, found that between a third and half of new chief executives are seen as failing within their first 18 months. A broader study of more than 20,000 new hires by Leadership IQ, a research and training firm, found that 46% failed within 18 months while just 19% were an unqualified success.

Read that again. Fewer than one in five senior hires is a clean win.

The bill for getting it wrong is not the salary. Reviewing years of turnover research, the Center for American Progress found that replacing a senior or executive employee can run as high as 213% of their annual salary once you count the open seat, the lost productivity, the disruption underneath them, and the second search.

$400K+

The approximate loss on a $200,000 leadership seat once you apply the 213% figure, before the new person has framed a single wall. A wrong hire in a load-bearing seat is among the most expensive mistakes a company can make, and it almost never announces itself the day you make it.

But the most important number is not the cost. It is the cause.

When Leadership IQ examined why those hires failed, only 11% came down to a lack of technical skill. The other 89% failed on the things a resume cannot show and a standard interview rarely tests: coachability, emotional control, motivation, and temperament. Fit and judgment, not competence. More telling still, 82% of the hiring managers admitted that, looking back, they had seen the warning signs during the interview and moved ahead anyway. Sit with what that means. The interview is built to measure the 11%. The 89%, where the seat is actually won or lost, is the part it consistently misses.

Talent VisibilityThe Passive Market Problem

This is the same problem the general contractor solved generations ago. He cannot lay brick at the level of the mason or run conduit like the electrician, which is the entire reason those trades exist. So he does not evaluate the craft by performing it. He evaluates the people: who delivers under pressure, who holds their dates, who only presents well in the meeting. He knows it from watching them on real sites over years, not from the bid sheet. Senior hiring demands exactly that kind of knowing, and the interview is a poor substitute for it.

And the people worth knowing are almost never the ones answering the posting. In research across 18,000 professionals in 26 countries, LinkedIn found that roughly 70% of the workforce is passive: employed, performing, and not looking. A job posting competes for the 30% who are actively on the market. The operator quietly running the best division in your sector, the one you actually want, sits in the 70% who never see it, has not touched a resume in years, and will move only for the right person making the right call. That market, the one that never lands in your inbox, is where the frame talent lives.

Industry RealityThe Leadership Depth Challenge

Nowhere is this sharper right now than in building materials and construction, where the trade is living the master builder problem in real time. Associated Builders and Contractors estimates the industry needs to add roughly 349,000 workers in 2026, and by the association’s own account, more than half of that is simply to replace people retiring out. Close to one in five workers in the field is already 55 or older. The most experienced layer, the people carrying decades of judgment about how things actually get built, is leaving faster than it can be replaced.

This has stopped being only a labor shortage and become a leadership depth problem.

Not enough superintendents, operations leaders, general managers, and commercial heads ready to hold the frame when the experienced ones walk. The seats that carry the most weight are exactly the ones getting hardest to fill with people who can actually carry them. In a market like that, the interview-and-hope approach is not just expensive. It is a structural risk.

Which is the quiet shift underneath all of it.

The Shift UnderneathThe Foundation

Superior outcomes are no longer about who you know. They’re about what you know about who you know.

The companies building the most durable organizations have internalized that the most consequential specialist they engage is not on their own org chart at all. It is the one who lives inside the labor market of their trade, the way a general contractor lives among the crews, who can read the 89% the interview misses, and who already knows the names inside the passive 70% because they have spent years in real conversations with them.

That is the role SnapDragon was built to play, and it is why we do not search across every industry.

We are specialists in the exact sense that this whole story has been about. For more than twenty years, our work has lived inside one world: lumber and building materials, manufacturing, distribution, retail, and the private equity that backs them. We are not generalists who recruit a building products VP on Monday and a hospital administrator on Tuesday. We know this trade the way a seasoned contractor knows his crews. We know who holds their numbers, who leads well when the market turns, who looks strong on paper and comes apart under load, and who is quietly the best operator in the sector and has never once answered a cold message. We carry that knowledge because we have spent two decades in real conversations with the people who run this industry, not because we ran a search string the morning your seat came open.

20+ Yrs

Inside building materials, since 2004

95%

Post-search retention

30%

Faster time-to-hire than the industry average

That is what makes SnapDragon the premiere search partner for the building materials industry. Not the size of a database, but the depth of knowing the people in one trade, completely. It is also why our searches hold. When the role you are hiring into carries real weight, you do not want a firm that can recruit anyone. You want the one that already knows the few who can carry it, and whose searches are still carrying it years later.

If you have a load-bearing seat coming open, talk to the firm that already knows who can carry it.

Connect With SnapDragon →

The SnapDragon Standard

In a load-bearing seat, the right hire is never the one who interviews best. It’s the one the market already trusts to carry the weight.

The Hire That Has To Hold: A Note from Mark Barnard, CEO, SnapDragon Associates

Written by Sarah Lucas on July 20, 2026. Posted in News & Insights.

June 4th, 2026

Mark Barnard

CEO, SnapDragon Associates

I have spent most of my working life around executive hiring, and there is a pattern I have watched play out more times than I can count.

A company decides it needs a leader. A regional VP. A head of operations. Someone to own a category that has been drifting for two quarters longer than anyone wants to admit. The search kicks off. Resumes come in. A short list forms. Everyone gravitates toward the candidate who interviews well and looks the part, the one who says the right things in the room and has the logos on the resume that make the decision feel safe. An offer goes out. The seat gets filled. And the organization exhales, because the hard part is finally over.

Except it is not over. It is barely the beginning.

Here is the number that I keep coming back to. According to the University of South Carolina’s Center for Executive Succession, more than 40% of externally hired executives are gone within 18 months, either because they walked or because they were asked to. Sit with that for a second. Almost half. Not entry-level roles, not seasonal hires, but the senior leaders that companies spend months and serious money to bring in. The people who are supposed to set direction and steady the ship are, more often than a coin flip would predict, no longer there a year and a half later.

40%+

Of externally hired executives are gone within 18 months, either because they walked or because they were asked to. Source: University of South Carolina Center for Executive Succession.

When I show that figure to a CEO or a board member, the first reaction is usually disbelief, followed by a quiet recalculation as they think about the last two or three senior hires they made. The number stops being abstract pretty quickly.

Where It Actually BreaksA Failure of Fit, Not a Failure of Search

So why does it happen? After enough years, I have stopped blaming the candidates. Most of them are talented, serious people who took a role in good faith. The failure almost always traces back to the same root, and it is not a failure of the search. It is a failure of fit. We have built an entire hiring culture around the resume and the interview, two of the least reliable predictors of whether a leader will actually hold up inside a specific company, with a specific team, at a specific moment in that company’s life. A candidate can be excellent and still be wrong for you. The interview rewards polish. The job rewards judgment under pressure. Those are not the same thing, and the gap between them is where most senior hires quietly come apart.

The Real MathWhat the Gap Actually Costs

The cost of that gap is not theoretical, and it is not small. Industry data puts the cost of executive turnover at up to 213% of the position’s annual salary once you account for the full picture.

213%

The cost of executive turnover, as a share of the position’s annual salary, once you account for the full picture. Severance and recruiter fees are the visible part, the part that shows up cleanly on an invoice.

The real damage is everything underneath. Strategy stalls for a year while the seat sits empty or occupied by the wrong person. Momentum that took eighteen months to build evaporates.

And here is the one that hurts the most: your strongest people start looking around, because nothing demoralizes a high performer faster than watching the wrong person get placed above them. You do not just lose the hire. You lose the bench you already had.

Even the conservative numbers tell the same story. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that a bad hire costs at least 30% of that employee’s first-year earnings, and that is the floor, the most charitable accounting you can do. It only climbs as you move up the org chart. There is no version of this math where getting it wrong is cheap. The only honest question is how much of the outcome you are willing to leave to chance.

What Beats the OddsDiscipline, Not Luck

I am not writing this to scare anyone. I am writing it because I believe the failure rate is not inevitable, and the firms that consistently beat it are not lucky. They are disciplined. They treat a senior hire as a search that has to hold, not a seat that has to be filled. That distinction sounds small. It changes everything about how the work gets done.

It means doing more work before the offer than after it. It means understanding the team a leader is walking into, as well as how you understand the leader. It means being honest with both sides about what the role actually demands, including the parts that are hard to say out loud, instead of selling a version of the job that does not exist. And it means staying in the relationship long enough, after the handshake, to know whether the match actually took, rather than declaring victory at the signed offer and moving on.

In our world, the stakes for building materials are sharper than most. The right regional VP can define a market for a decade. The right category director can turn a flat line into the best-performing segment in the company. And the wrong one, in either seat, can cost you years you do not get back. These are not interchangeable hires. They are the decisions that determine which direction the whole business moves.

That is the work we do, and it is the only way I know to do it well. If you have a leadership seat coming open, or one you are quietly worried about, talk to us before the search begins. The conversation that prevents a bad hire is worth more than any search that produces one.

Mark Barnard

CEO, SnapDragon Associates

Talk to SnapDragon before you open your next executive search.

Start the Conversation →

The SnapDragon Standard

We don’t send offers hoping they work. We send offers knowing how they will land.

Executive Search in Maine: SnapDragon Places Chief Sales & Marketing Officer

Written by Sarah Lucas on March 19, 2026. Posted in Results.

When an innovative manufacturer in the green building materials space set out to hire a Chief Sales & Marketing Officer (CSMO), the company was entering a pivotal moment. With a strong foundation already established in the Northeast, the organization was moving into a critical growth phase and needed a commercial leader who could unify sales and marketing, build scalable channels, and position the company as a national force in sustainable building solutions.

SnapDragon Associates was engaged to lead this high-impact search, bringing a focused and strategic approach to identifying the right executive.

A Role Built Around Growth

This CSMO position was designed to be a cornerstone of the company’s next chapter. The incoming leader would own both sales and marketing, with a mandate to drive national expansion and revenue growth. That included building and optimizing channel development strategies, elevating brand visibility in a competitive market, leading cross-functional teams around clear commercial goals, and identifying new market opportunities through data and analytics.

The role required a balance of strategic thinking and hands-on leadership, particularly within a fast-growing, mission-driven environment. The ideal executive needed to thrive in a dynamic setting: someone energized by growth, comfortable with change, and passionate about sustainability.

Finding the Right Leader

The search centered on commercial leaders with experience aligning sales and marketing functions to drive measurable growth. We looked specifically for executives who had built or scaled go-to-market strategies, not just inherited them. In a company at this stage, the CSMO would need to create the playbook, not just run one.

Cultural fit was just as important as functional expertise. This is a mission-driven organization where sustainability is central to everything they do. The right candidate needed to connect with that purpose, not just tolerate it.

The Result

The search resulted in a successful placement of a leader well-equipped to step into this critical role. The selected executive brought a strong background in commercial leadership, with a track record of translating strategy into execution. Their ability to align teams and build repeatable revenue systems made them a natural fit for an organization scaling its national footprint.

Their leadership style also aligned with the company’s mission-driven culture, balancing performance with purpose in an industry focused on innovation and environmental impact.

This placement positions the organization to accelerate national market expansion, strengthen channel partnerships and revenue streams, and build a more unified and scalable commercial strategy as they continue to grow as a leader in sustainable building materials.

Ready to Hire a Chief Sales & Marketing Officer?

If you’re hiring a Chief Sales & Marketing Officer or senior commercial leader to drive growth, expand market presence, and align your revenue strategy, your search needs to be intentional, strategic, and well-executed. At this level, the right hire impacts far more than top-line revenue. It shapes brand, culture, and long-term market position.

Let’s talk about your search and how SnapDragon Associates can help you identify and secure the right leader for your organization.

About SnapDragon Associates

SnapDragon Associates is the premier executive recruiting firm exclusively serving the building materials industry. With deep-rooted industry expertise and a relationship-first approach, we connect top-performing talent with best-in-class companies across North America. Trusted by top industry leaders, we deliver hiring solutions that fuel growth and drive results.

Learn more at www.SnapDragonAssociates.com

With a proven track record and deep industry knowledge, we don’t just fill roles, we help businesses thrive. Learn more about our executive search solutions for the building materials industry.

To explore more of our successful placements, visit our Case Studies page.

Executive Search in Virginia: SnapDragon Associates Place President for a Multi-Location Building Materials Organization

Written by Sarah Lucas on March 19, 2026. Posted in Results.

When a well-established, multi-location building materials organization set out to hire a President, the stakes extended well beyond finding a qualified executive. This was one of two critical leadership hires tied directly to the company’s long-term strategy, operational direction, and future expansion. The business needed a leader who could make a meaningful impact across the organization and within the community it serves.

SnapDragon Associates partnered with the organization to lead a focused and disciplined search for the right fit.

The Role

This President role was designed to be a cornerstone of the company’s leadership structure. The opportunity called for a leader who could partner with executive leadership and the board to define long-term strategy, drive operational performance across multiple locations, and identify growth opportunities in new markets. At the same time, the role required someone capable of building and empowering leadership teams while maintaining a strong, people-first culture.

Equally important, this role extended beyond the business itself. The President would become a visible and engaged member of the local community, representing a company with deep roots and a long-standing reputation. That community dimension was a real priority for the leadership team, not an afterthought.

The ideal executive needed to bring both strategic vision and hands-on leadership, with the ability to balance growth, culture, and performance.

The Search

This was a thorough and highly selective process. We developed a strong pipeline of candidates with executive leadership experience in multi-location environments, evaluating each against the technical, operational, and cultural requirements of the role.

The process involved multiple rounds of interviews, leadership and cultural assessments, and ongoing alignment with key stakeholders. At times, the search was challenging. With a role of this significance, expectations were high, and there were moments when it was unclear whether the right combination of experience, leadership style, and fit would come together. But persistence and thoughtful engagement ultimately made the difference.

How the Placement Came Together

The successful placement came from an early-stage candidate who initially chose not to pursue the opportunity. Through continued follow-up and deeper conversations about the role’s long-term impact, we were able to reintroduce the position and reignite interest.

That led to a face-to-face meeting where the alignment across leadership style, experience, and organizational vision became clear. The result was a strong executive match for a critical leadership role, a leader aligned with both the company’s culture and its growth strategy, and a successful outcome following a rigorous process.

It’s a good example of how the right hire doesn’t always happen immediately. With patience, clarity, and trust in the process, the right outcome can emerge.

Ready to Hire a President or Senior Executive Leader?

Hiring a President or senior executive requires more than a strong candidate slate. It requires alignment, patience, and the ability to engage the right leaders at the right time. At this level, the right hire impacts culture, performance, and the long-term direction of the business.

Let’s talk about your search and how SnapDragon Associates can help you identify and secure the right leader with a strategic, high-touch approach.

About SnapDragon Associates

Learn more at www.SnapDragonAssociates.com

With a proven track record and deep industry knowledge, we don’t just fill roles, we help businesses thrive. Learn more about our executive search solutions for the building materials industry.

To explore more of our successful placements, visit our Case Studies page.

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What Hiring Managers in the Building Materials Industry Are Saying Right Now | SnapDragon Associates

Written by Sarah Lucas on March 11, 2026. Posted in News & Insights.

Over the past few weeks, the conversations we’ve been having with leaders across the building materials industry have sounded remarkably similar.

Executives, sales leaders, and operational leaders are all asking versions of the same questions as they prepare their organizations for the months ahead:

Do we have enough bench strength on our team?
If someone leaves tomorrow, who steps in?
Are we staffed appropriately for the growth we’re expecting this year?
Do we truly have the right leaders in the right seats heading into the busy season?

These questions are not new. But what is interesting is how frequently they are coming up right now—and how proactive companies are being about leadership hiring, succession planning, and long-term workforce strategy in the building products space.

And almost every conversation eventually includes one simple question:

“What are you seeing out there right now in recruiting?”

The State of Hiring in the Building Materials Industry

The building materials sector continues to be one of the most dynamic segments of the construction economy. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, construction spending in the United States has surpassed $2 trillion annually, with residential and infrastructure projects continuing to drive demand for products such as lumber, millwork, roofing, siding, windows, decking, and building envelope materials.

This level of activity creates significant opportunity—but it also places pressure on companies to ensure they have the right leadership and operational talent in place to scale.

Across manufacturers, distributors, lumberyards, and specialty dealers, we are seeing companies focus heavily on three leadership priorities.

1. Strengthening Leadership Bench Strength

Many organizations are taking a serious look at their leadership pipeline.

Senior leaders know that if a key executive retires, leaves, or moves into another role, they need strong talent ready to step in. Yet many companies realize they may not have enough internal successors prepared for those transitions.

This is why conversations about bench strength, succession planning, and leadership development are happening earlier and more strategically than ever before.

2. Preparing Leadership Teams for Growth

The building materials industry is cyclical by nature, but strong organizations plan ahead.

Companies expecting growth this year are asking important leadership questions:

Do we have the right leadership structure to support expansion?
Are our senior leaders positioned to scale operations and revenue?
Do we need additional executive horsepower to support the next stage of growth?

Leaders know that once business accelerates, there is little time to pause and solve leadership gaps.

3. High-Level Roles That Are Most in Demand

One of the most common pieces of market intelligence companies want to understand is which leadership roles are hardest to fill right now.

Across the building materials sector, the most competitive searches we are seeing today tend to focus on high-level leadership positions such as:

Vice Presidents of Sales
Regional Vice Presidents and General Managers
Directors of Operations
Vice Presidents of Manufacturing
Division Presidents and Executive Leaders responsible for scaling growth

These roles require a combination of deep industry expertise, operational leadership, and the ability to drive growth across complex organizations.

Professionals at this level are rarely applying to job postings. Most are already leading successful teams and must be approached strategically.

Why Real-Time Market Intelligence Matters

When companies ask, “What are you seeing out there in recruiting?”, they are really asking for insight into the broader leadership landscape.

Because our team at SnapDragon Associates speaks with industry professionals every day—including executives, senior sales leaders, operational leadership, and emerging industry talent—we are able to provide clients with real-time market intelligence such as:

Which companies are expanding
Where top leadership talent currently sits
What compensation trends look like across regions
What motivates high-performing executives to consider a move
Which leadership roles are becoming more competitive to fill

Having access to this type of recruiting intelligence within the building materials industry allows companies to make smarter decisions about hiring strategy, leadership structure, and succession planning.

The Shift Toward Proactive Leadership Hiring

One of the most encouraging trends we’re seeing across the building materials industry is a move toward proactive leadership hiring.

Rather than waiting for a leadership vacancy to occur, companies are beginning to treat talent strategy as a core part of their long-term growth plans.

They are asking questions like:

Who are the future leaders inside our organization?
Where do we need to strengthen our executive team?
What leadership capabilities will we need to scale in the next five years?

This shift is particularly important in an industry where relationships, operational expertise, and market knowledge take years to build.

Delivering Speed and Quality in Executive Recruiting

When the time comes to hire, companies are looking for two things above all else:

Speed and quality.

The ability to quickly identify and engage the right leadership talent can significantly impact a company’s ability to execute growth plans.

Strong recruiting partnerships help companies access:

Passive executive talent
Proven leaders with industry track records
Professionals capable of scaling complex organizations

Ultimately, the goal is simple: connect the right companies with the right leaders at the right time.

Demand for Leadership Talent Continues to Grow

Demand for strong leadership across the building materials sector remains extremely strong. In fact, the demand we are seeing has been significant enough that SnapDragon Associates is currently hiring internally to keep up with the recruiting needs of our clients.

As companies continue investing in leadership, operational scale, and growth strategy, the need for specialized recruiting support within the industry continues to expand.

Final Thoughts

The building materials industry has always been built on strong relationships and long-term thinking.

The conversations we’re having right now with leaders across the industry reflect that mindset. Companies are thinking carefully about bench strength, leadership structure, and the talent required to support growth.

And we are grateful to be part of those conversations.
Helping companies understand the leadership landscape, strengthen their executive teams, and make great hires is one of the most rewarding parts of what we do every day.

Ready to Talk About Your Leadership Needs?

Whether you’re planning ahead for growth, thinking through succession, or need to fill a critical leadership role, we’d love to hear what’s on your mind. Reach out to our team and let’s start the conversation.

Let’s Connect →

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Beyond Recruiting: Why SnapDragon Associates Is the Executive Recruiting Partner Driving Leadership Success

Written by Sarah Lucas on January 22, 2026. Posted in News & Insights.

Our Work Has Never Been Limited to Recruiting

At SnapDragon Associates, LLC, recruiting is only one part of what we do.

We help companies hire strong talent, but the real value we bring to our clients goes far beyond filling an open seat.

Leaders in building materials, construction, and manufacturing are operating in an environment with tighter labor markets, faster growth expectations, and far less room for error. People’s decisions carry real weight. One hire can move a business forward or quietly hold it back.

That is where our role truly begins.

The Roles We Play With Our Clients

Our clients do not engage us simply to run a search. They rely on us because we work alongside them as trusted partners. As an executive recruiting partner, our goal extends beyond filling roles—it’s about shaping leadership teams that drive long-term success.

Advisors with Perspective

We are advisors when leaders need an outside perspective and a place to think out loud.

Partners in Growth

We are partners when growth plans feel heavy, and the path forward is not fully clear. One client described us this way:

“I highly recommend SnapDragon Associates to any organization looking for a proactive, results-driven recruiting partner.”

Confidants for Critical Decisions

We are confidants when difficult people decisions need to be talked through before they are acted on. The cost of a wrong leadership hire can easily reach two to three times the person’s annual compensation, not including the impact on teams, culture, and momentum.

Strategists for the Future

We are strategists when structure, succession, or scale is being considered. Another client shared:

“Having worked closely with SnapDragon, I can confidently say that their approach to recruitment is both strategic and personal, providing an unparalleled experience in the hiring process.”

Implementation Professionals

And we are implementation professionals when it is time to execute. Insight without action does not move a business forward.

Where We Sit and Why It Matters

We sit in the middle of talent, operations, culture, and long-term business goals. That position comes with responsibility, and we do not take it lightly.

As an executive recruiting partner, we understand how a single hire can influence performance across an organization. The right person can strengthen leadership teams, improve execution, and create stability. The wrong person can create friction that shows up everywhere.

Why Clients Call Us

This is why our clients do not call us only when a role opens.

They call us when something important is changing:

A growth initiative
A leadership transition
A founder stepping back
A new market or product line
A realization that the team that built the business may not be the team that scales it

Leadership gaps remain one of the biggest barriers to sustained growth. Those gaps cannot be solved through transactional recruiting. They are solved through thoughtful partnership.

What It Means to Be a Right Hand

Being a right hand means understanding the business, not just the job title.

It means understanding the pressure leaders are under, the personalities behind the org chart, and the stakes attached to every decision.

It means helping leaders slow down when clarity is needed and move quickly when timing matters.

It means standing alongside our clients when the decision feels uncomfortable but necessary.

That is the work. That is the partnership. That is SnapDragon.

About SnapDragon Associates, LLC

SnapDragon Associates is a leading executive recruiting partner serving the building materials, construction, and manufacturing industries. We go beyond recruiting — helping leaders make better people decisions that drive sustainable growth.

Join industry leaders who trust us—contact us to get started.

Why Building Materials Companies Hiring 60+ Talent

The Long Game: Why Building Materials Companies Are Investing in 60+ Talent

Written by Sarah Lucas on December 23, 2025. Posted in News & Insights.

Why Building Materials Companies Are Hiring 60+ Talent

In the building materials industry, experience is everything. For decades, the typical career arc ended with a handshake and retirement at 65. Today, that picture is changing fast. More and more companies in construction supply, manufacturing, and distribution are welcoming employees in their 60s—not as a last resort, but as valued contributors shaping the industry’s future.

This isn’t just about keeping pace. It’s a smart strategy that leverages hard-won expertise, steadfast reliability, and an unmatched commitment to the craft—qualities that keep projects, customers, and teams moving forward.

Changing Times, Changing Workforce

The building materials sector thrives on know-how, relationships, and deep product knowledge—qualities that don’t fade with age. As people live and work longer, these strengths have become even more valuable. According to recent industry figures, a growing share of the workforce is over 60, and many are choosing to stay involved well into their 70s.

Often, these workers aren’t staying for financial reasons alone. They stay because they’re passionate about their work: they like solving on-site problems, advising customers, and sharing stories that turn into lessons for younger generations. A full retirement just doesn’t appeal to those who feel at their best with a hard hat on or a supplier catalog in hand.

Experience: The Bedrock of Building Materials

Why are employers in this industry actively hiring seasoned professionals? The answer is simple: their knowledge is both broad and deep.

Industry Acumen and Practical Insight

There’s no substitute for decades spent learning the ropes—whether on job sites, in a lumberyard, or overseeing fleet deliveries. Employees in their 60s have seen advancements in materials, weathered economic downturns, and know what keeps supply chains running. They understand why one type of fastener outperforms another, or which concrete blend withstands tough climates. That wisdom can mean the difference between a smooth project and costly mistakes.

Dependability and Consistency

Older team members have built reputations for reliability. In a business that rewards punctuality, follow-through, and safety, their steady approach is a major asset. They bring focus to each order, ensure standards aren’t overlooked, and often take pride in mentoring apprentices and junior staff. Their commitment spreads a culture of responsibility throughout the company.

Mentorship That Builds the Future

Few industries rely on hands-on learning as much as building materials. Employees in their 60s are natural teachers—passing down safe handling techniques, sales wisdom, or lessons in customer service that can’t be taught from a manual. They bridge generational gaps, turning new hires into confident, capable professionals who understand both the technical and personal sides of the business.

Battling Age Bias, Building Stronger Teams

While the benefits are clear, some age-related stereotypes persist. Forward-thinking companies are pushing back—prioritizing multi-generational teams not just for diversity, but because it delivers better results.

Programs that invite experienced pros back as trainers, safety advisors, or part-time consultants are on the rise. Flexible work arrangements also allow seasoned staff to stay involved while enjoying a balanced lifestyle.

Instead of seeing age as a limitation, building materials companies are recognizing it as an advantage. Their older employees have built vendor relationships, solved inventory crises, and earned customers’ trust over decades. They keep institutional knowledge in-house and make sure every detail—from load calculations to regulatory compliance—is handled with care.

A Win-Win for Everyone

Investing in employees over 60 is a win for both sides. For the individual, continued work means purpose, structure, and the opportunity to share a lifetime of skills. For employers, it means fewer training headaches, fewer costly errors, and a stable workforce that’s always ready for the next challenge.

Playing the Long Game in Building Materials

If you manage hiring or operations in the building materials world, it’s worth reviewing your approach. Are you missing out on top talent because of outdated assumptions? Are you inviting experienced hands to mentor your younger crew?

The companies leading the way understand that success in this industry depends not just on what you build, but on who’s part of your team. By welcoming the insight and reliability of workers in their 60s and beyond, you’re investing in a foundation that will last for generations.

Looking to build a more dependable team this year? Head to our Contact Us page to talk with our team and see how we can support your hiring goals.