Aug 2017 – Mar 2018 · 7 mos · Plymouth, Minnesota

• Stepped in, on behalf of the Board, to ignite growth prospects of two merged business acquisitions. Mandated to improve profitability, accelerate a branded business model and position the business and team for longer-term success.
• ► Repositioned the brand proposition of Tino’s Artisan Kitchen, refreshed the iconography and messaging. Laid down the foundation to refocus the brand and product development on premiumization and clean-label opportunities.
• ► Accelerated previously-stalled branded product innovations and executed their successful market launch by prioritizing SKUs, bolstering the R&D capability and disproportionately focusing initial efforts on a single channel.
• ► Instituted a robust financial analyses and modeling approach, including budgeting and cashflow tools that were used to uncover, scenario-plan and manage true costs and margin enhancement opportunities. (Weekly reporting, zero-based budgeting, value chain costing). Positioned organization for next stage financing and early exit options.
• ► Reframed recruitment and compensation approach for the organization to better compete for and retain higher-caliber plant and executive staff. Recruited key sales and operations executives to implement evolving company strategy.
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Oct 2010 – Present · 15 yrs 6 mos · Milwaukee, WI

• Advisor to CPG companies and private equity portfolio brands seeking to restore sustainable growth through penetration-led pricing and route-to-market strategy.
• UpScalability is a boutique advisory firm that helps leadership teams translate strategic outlooks into actionable growth game plans across channels, retailers, and markets. The work focuses on diagnosing route-to-market profitability and aligning pricing strategy, distribution expansion, trade promotion, and brand investment to restore sustainable volume growth.
• The work is grounded in the belief that pricing power is not the ability to charge more, but the ability to sustain strategic price levels while strengthening brand penetration and long-term growth.
• Areas of focus
• Pricing power and price architecture
• Penetration-led brand growth
• Route-to-market profitability
• Revenue Growth Management (RGM)
• Distribution and channel strategy
• Portfolio value creation for investor-backed CPG brands
• Frameworks
• The Brand Growth Flywheel™
• Margin Velocity Accounting (MVA™)
• Author of the forthcoming book Pricing Power is Brand Power, exploring how penetration, pricing strategy, and brand availability interact to drive sustainable CPG growth.
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Jan 2001 – Jan 2010 · 9 yrs · Johannesburg, South Africa and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

• ✔ SABMiller plc, 2nd largest global brewer • $28B+ net revenues p.a. • 77K employees, 75+ countries • 29% U.S. market share by volume (2010) • 30+ brands, 20K accounts, 400+ distributors (U.S.)
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• After spearheading a new direction for 7 mega breweries at SAB plc’s Johannesburg subsidiary (Manufacturing Development Manager, 2001-03), corporate in London acquired Miller Brewing Co and approached Manoli to join Miller’s U.S. CEO in ► master planning a 5-year corporate development strategy, which was critical to Miller Lite’s swift flagship-brand resurgence and later led to the $7.0B MillerCoors joint venture (JV).
• Manoli took the strategy lead (Director, Corporate Strategy, 2003-06) on a full operations turnaround—a monumental task filled with complexity, ambiguity, and resistance—but the collective efforts and focus:
• ► Spiked global sales for Miller Lite, ousting Coors Light from 2nd place.
• ► Stalled Anheuser-Busch’s growth as category leader (the first time AB had been challenged in 20 years).
• ► Cut OPEX by $10s of millions and substantially improved operational and go-to-market performance.
• As SABMiller and MillerCoors were facing highly dynamic market challenges, he took on more diverse senior-level roles to:
• ► Sustain $300M in yearly revenues of a specialist business unit and identify $100s of millions in new revenue and cost saving opportunities (Director, Business Development, 2006-08).
• ► Exceed $750M savings target by $15M, a full year earlier than planned (Director, Procurement Integration Synergies, 2008-09).
• ► Slash $200M in margin losses (Director, Special Projects, 2009-10).
• "Understanding that we jointly contributed to something much bigger than all of us, our relentless pursuit of stepping up organizational and management capabilities and creating a strong and highly differentiated portfolio of brands not only captured consumer preference but changed beer industry history."

Jan 1997 – Jan 2001 · 4 yrs · Johannesburg, South Africa

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• ✔ Primeserv Performance Solutions, (now Primeserv HR Solutions, a Primeserv Group Ltd subsidiary) was the merger between Manufacturing & Technical Skills Institute (MTSI) and Personnel Performance • South Africa’s leading consulting organization for outcomes-based workforce performance, assessment, and skills development • 40 employees
• Select Clients: South African Breweries, Coca-Cola, Cadbury, Nestlé, Tiger Brands, Unilever, The Cold Chain, Bridgestone-Firestone, Caterpillar, Mobil, and Woolworths.
• This was manoli's first successful business venture: He founded, grew, and sold MTSI to Primeserv Group—one of the largest human capital development and investment holding companies in Southern Africa—as a roll-up merger, which ▶︎ led to the most oversubscribed listing in Johannesburg Stock Exchange history (10M shares offered vs. 2.4B share applications).
• Manoli stayed on as Executive General Manager of the merged PPS operations and:
• ▶︎ Produced > 2X revenue growth in 4 years,
• ▶︎ Yielded 2X YoY profitability growth for 3 consecutive years, and
• ▶︎ Grew PPS into Primeserv’s #1 profit generator.
• Manoli's favorite elements about his work (then and now) have always been architecting and orchestrating, which means:
• ▶︎ Firstly, decoding the complexity of situations and challenges and then distilling them into frameworks and approaches that can be used to drive comprehensive progress and change.
• ▶︎ And secondly, working with and mentoring teams to assume ownership, build internal capability, and drive meaningful change themselves.
• Working with old-world organizations facing the barrage of hungry international companies entering the new democratic South Africa, those elements were key to building highly skilled workforces and positioning his corporate clients to compete on a global scale.
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Jan 1993 – Jan 1997 · 4 yrs · Johannesburg, South Africa

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• ✔︎ Interdependence & Transformation in South Africa (ITISA) is South Africa’s leading workplace transformation, leadership development, and participative practices consulting organization • The only for-profit business consultancy that gained credibility and legitimacy with trade unions at the time
• Select Clients: IBM South Africa, Nampak, Salmac, Bromor Foods, Dorbyl-Salchain, and Consol Packaging.
• The thrill of effecting widespread culture change at Unilever prompted Manoli to go into organizational development (OD) consulting. "It wasn’t easy—at times we found ourselves fighting against the status quo of old-world organizational structures or influencing stereotypically hierarchical, white male-dominated organizations to adopt open and inclusive thinking—but it was worth it, because we ▶︎ played our part in changing our communities (and the country) for the better."
• Playing a central role in one of ITISA’s turnarounds for a large manufacturing client, Manoli rolled-up his sleeves and helped groom 20 WCM and OD transformation facilitators from politically repressed minority groups—an extremely bold and risky undertaking at the time—"but I’m glad I stood my ground in sponsoring these high potentials; they ▶︎ turned into the company’s (and South Africa’s) most prolific C-level leaders."
• You simply can’t put a dollar value on that kind of experience.
• Putting his proclivity for tinkering to use, Manoli also developed business, supply chain, and WCM consulting tools and processes that were used to empower client-side facilitators—and ▶︎ added multiple new revenue streams to ITISA’s traditional business model at the same time.
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Jan 1988 – Jan 1993 · 5 yrs · Boksburg, South Africa

• Unilever SA Boksburg Factory (Detergents), 1 of 8 manufacturing sites, accounting for $100M p.a. in packaged products
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• Leading the full-scale turnaround of Unilever’s largest CPG factory in the Southern Hemisphere, Manoli became obsessed with commercially focused missions grounded in a meaningful purpose.
• That change initiative not only ► saved $60M, it also shifted management philosophies, which created the most highly valued, loyal 300-person workforce in the region while other companies operating in politically charged South Africa faced strikes and outbreaks on factory floors.
• ★★ Letter from Unilever Shop Stewards: “You have created a feeling of belonging, mutual trust, and warmth … Your achievements can be attributed to your openness, your interest in other people, treating everybody equally regardless of race or color, and being a man who stands by his word …” ★★
• A couple of things Manoli learned (and still implements today) when leading large-scale change:
• ► "Most change processes and initiatives focus on the WHAT and the HOW. But if you take the time and effort to honestly communicate and engage employees on the WHY, you’ll achieve more meaningful, sustainable results."
• ► "In most cases, organizations reflect the values and behaviors of its most senior executives. Therefore, long-term change will stick if leaders model the behavior and drive the change themselves. "
• Manoli's time at Unilever also opened his world up to the power and role of phenomenal branding and route-to-market execution. "That experience and brand-focused culture helped me develop my extreme interest and ability to integrate and span go-to-market needs with supply chain capabilities.'
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