The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. said Aug. 31 that it has named leaders of three new regional offices that have been formed to drive long-term growth in its core consumer business. New offices will be in West Palm Beach, Fla., Houston, Texas, and Orange County, Calif. The offices will house cross-functional teams focused on driving market share by improving local consumer intimacy. The offices will be responsible for developing and implementing sales and marketing strategies for the Southeast, Southwest, and West Coast, respectively. Currently, the company’s market share in these regions is roughly 40 percent, more than 10 points lower than the rest of the U.S. By improving market share in these regions to a level that is consistent with the rest of the country, Scotts believes it can drive incremental sales of $300 to $500 million over the next several years.
“We are not simply opening sales offices, but beginning a fundamental shift in how we operate our core consumer business,” said Mark Baker, president and chief operating officer. “Historically, a centralized approach to operating our business was appropriate as our largest retailers were aggressively growing their store base. As the growth of new retail stores has declined, we must more proactively drive category growth, which requires us to further improve our intimacy with the consumer.”
Leading the Southeast region will be Mike Lukemire, a 14-year veteran of the company with more than 30 years of operational experience. He was most recently executive vice president of Global Technologies and Operations for Scotts, and previously senior vice president of supply chain. He will be responsible for Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and the Carolinas.
Jim Tates will lead the Southwest region. He joined Scotts in 2005 and most recently was vice president of store operations, overseeing the in-store field sales force. He previously led the Home Depot business development team office in Atlanta. His region includes Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming.
Phil Jones has been tapped for the West Coast. He joined Scotts in 2007, and recently led the Roundup business. His affiliation with Scotts dates back to 1998, when he was employed with Monsanto. His region includes California, Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.
All three will report to Barry Sanders, executive vice president of North American operations.
Each regional office also will include a leader for field sales, who will focus on executing plans for the company’s largest national retail partners. The offices will also include lead roles for independent garden center sales, marketing, business development, finance, and human resources. The staffing for the regional offices is expected to be neutral to the organization as responsibilities are being shifted from the Marysville, Ohio, headquarters to the field. However, the company will continue to maintain business development offices in the headquarter city of each of its major national retail partners.