Experience | Ben J Manlongat

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

I’m a results-driven executive with nearly 20 years of experience helping companies grow, build high-performing teams, and deliver meaningful results. Most recently, I’ve worked across multiple North American business units, leading strategic sales efforts and operational turnarounds that drove record-setting profitability and deeper client partnerships.

With a background that spans engineering, operations, and enterprise sales, I enjoy tackling complex challenges and aligning teams around solutions that matter. I’ve led cross-functional teams across the USA and Europe, developed tools that turned data into direction, and negotiated some of the largest deals in company history.

Above all, I’m passionate about creating cultures where people do their best work and where customers feel the difference. Whether it’s leadership, strategy, or solving complex problems, I’m always open to connecting and sharing ideas.

ACTEMIUM (a VINCI brand)

2021 - 2024

Vinci has never ceased to expand its business model, moving from electricity concessions in the early 20th century into motorway, airport and renewable energy concessions in the 21st, and from building and infrastructure construction into specialist activities in civil engineering and information technologies. As it has diversified its areas of expertise, so has VINCI entered more and more international markets. Our business model has always been based on the complementary nature of our activities conducted over different time frames, with the Energy business characterised by short cycles, the Construction business by medium-length cycles and the Concessions business focused on the long term. Income generated by the short- and medium-term business activities can thus be reinvested in concessions. This complementarity is key to our longevity and gives us the ability to ride out crises. Our business model’s resilience also stems from our management approach. Due to our decentralised organisation and strong entrepreneurial culture, all VINCI companies and their teams are particularly agile in responding to the trends and cyclical ups and downs of their business environments. Backed by this shared set of strong fundamentals, we aim to continue implementing our strategy over the long term and developing our three core businesses.

Actemium delivers bespoke solutions and services to clients across 40 countries. Its multi-disciplinary network combines the expertise of 400 local business units with a global approach to create value throughout the entire industrial life cycle. The Actemium’s 24,400 experts share with their clients the strong conviction that industry is key to building a sustainable world and strive to make a positive contribution to global performance. ADVISE - By working alongside you, Actemium's highly qualified consultants help you move from idea to realization by assessing nice-to-have from need-to-have and keeping the focus on process & output improvement. DESIGN - Actemium provides consulting services to audit the performance of the clients' facilities, resulting in the definition of the scope and resources for the project during the design engineering work. BUILD - Following the conceptual plan, Actemium mobilizes all the resources and deploys a wide range of industrial expertise to build and implement our solution while respecting international standards. MAINTENANCE & OPERATION - Actemium is able to maintain all types of industrial processes in various market segments to ensure the clients' plant reliability. Actemium delivers training to teams and explain the best practices to use.

CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER - MULTIPLE NORTH AMERICAN BUSINESS UNITS

• Stationed at newly acquired business units in North America (Detroit and Charleston), mentored each president and leadership team with their development of yearly strategic plans.

• Initiated and led strategic discussions with the C-Suite of our largest enterprise clients, identified gaps in value proposition, redefined marketing to communicate alignment with client short-term and long-term goals, executed successful sales campaigns leading to significant increases in gross margin resulting in the single largest profitable project in business unit 25+ year history.

• Led global sales teams from USA and Europe expanding markets in North America, primary negotiator with global enterprise clients for new activity, awarded rare single-source multimillion-dollar contracts for North American facilities.

• Designed new reporting tools and key performance indicators of customer history, exposed trends showing sales team misdirection towards the long-term vision, revealed under-performing project management and engineering personnel operating at significant losses, guided sales and operations teams leading to healthier project selection and results.

• Aligned all levels of business around excellent customer service and delivering results, led by example and performed the Sandler sales system techniques with key customers, system was immediately adopted by the Detroit business unit, within 2-years fully adopted by all 13 North American business units training all levels: leadership, sales and operations.

• Performed Enterprise Sales and uncovered new opportunities for substantial growth with buyers and purchasing teams, increased focus on customer pain points and creative solutions, leading to new commercial activity and larger project packages valued at 10x the typical customer yearly spend.

• Markets included: automotive, food & beverage, life sciences, aerospace, logistics, and defense.

KENNEDY INDUSTRIES, INC.

2010 - 2021

Kennedy Industries is Michigan's leading representative for pump, valve, control, and specialty products. Our experienced and knowledgeable sales engineers, account managers, customer service specialists, and project coordinators ensure unparalleled levels of excellence from start to finish. From the smallest application to the largest, Kennedy Industries is a leader in new equipment sales, pump repair, field service and controls for many industries. We strive to exceed expectations on every project, and take pleasure in serving our customers knowledgeably, efficiently, and with great enthusiasm. Of course, any company is only as good as its workers, which is why we are proud to have employees with decades of experience who are committed to providing the best service possible.

VP, CHIEF TECHNICAL OFFICER - KISM BUSINESS UNIT [2016 - 2021]

• Served as General Manager of KISM business unit with 7 direct reports including 1 inside sales, 1 project manager, 2 controls engineers, 2 field service technicians and 1 datacenter technician, managed shared services with parent company including 10 account managers.

• Reported directly to the CEO and President of the parent company, mentored by CEO for their excellence in operations, building repeatable systems, and consistently increasing net profit percentage year-over-year, mentored by the President for their excellence in sales, marketing and customer service, leading to the KISM business unit exceeding expectations.

• Negotiated award and delivery of single largest order in parent company 50+ year history, navigated the multi-year sales process by thoroughly understanding customer wants and needs, guided client understanding of how our technology delivered results, assisted client through the award process, achieved sole-sourced contracts for our products and services.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MANAGER [2014- 2020]

• Managed the CAPEX and OPEX budget for all information technology, strategized IT infrastructure development, software integrations, cyber security protection for onsite and offsite datacenters, managed multiple 3rd party consultants, led the selection process and installation for new ERP and CRM software resulting in adoption by 20+ sister companies.

ACCOUNT MANAGER [2012 - 2021]

• Performed all quotations, presentations, and negotiations for the KISM product line, achieved installations in 70+ unique clients, over 500+ subscription sites, and 1000+ users in multiple markets: municipal water, transportation, energy, oil and gas, and chemical.

CONTROLS MANAGER [2010 - 2016]

• Directed business development efforts and overall strategy for the controls department, developed the Kennedy Industries System Master (KISM) product for subscription cloud SCADA services, mentored programming team for SCADA, PLC, HMI, and VFD projects.

Motor City Electric Technologies

2005 - 2010

Motor City Electric Technologies Inc. is a leading provider of electrical and electronic system design, engineering, installation, integration, maintenance, repairs, and upgrades for a wide range of technology, automation, and communications projects. Our extensive experience in critical equipment installations, combined with expertise in turnkey projects involving equipment placement, electrical installation, rigging, and startup commissioning, reflects our commitment to seamless operations. We utilize minimal downtime cutover techniques and adhere to essential methods of procedure (MOP) for worry-free installation, upgrades, and replacement of critical equipment.

PROJECT MANAGER / CONTROLS ENGINEER

• Programmed, supervised, and delivered on multiple non-typical project installations, primary point of contact for client activity, quickly learned unique software packages, performed office programming and onsite installs, individually closed projects up to $500k.

Lear Corporation

2001 - 2005

With over 100 years of experience, Lear has earned a legacy of operational excellence while building its future on innovation. Our talented team is committed to creating products that ensure the comfort, well-being, convenience and safety of consumers. Working together, we are Making every drive better™. We are committed to each other, our suppliers and our customers as well as protecting the environment and supporting the communities where we live and work. From developing innovative intelligent vehicle experiences to streamlining operations, we are always moving forward. By working as a team, understanding our customers’ needs, showing respect, empowering others, making sound and timely decisions, investing in our talent for the future and focusing on long-term goals instead of short-term gains, we get the results the right way.

SOFTWARE ENGINEER / HARDWARE ENGINEER (CO-OP STUDENT)

• Completed full-time placement rotations in multiple departments: SQL database development, software quality assurance, software programming, hardware design, and AutoCAD.