Interim CEO / Managing Director / Management Consultant

Interim CEO / Managing Director | CMM Solutions

Hands-on leadership to stabilise performance, unlock growth, and build accountable teams.

Martin Hawkins headshot

I am an accomplished Managing Director and senior manufacturing leader with over a decade of experience leading UK operations, driving profitable growth, and improving organisational performance in complex industrial environments.

With full P&L accountability and responsibility for multi-site operations, I have successfully led businesses through strategic and operational transformation, including manufacturing centralisation, efficiency improvement, stronger financial control and sustained revenue and margin growth.

I bring a commercially focused, hands-on leadership style, combining strategic clarity with operational discipline across manufacturing, sales, business development and international distribution networks.

This interim leadership offer is available on a full-time or part-time basis, delivered either on-site or through a hybrid working model to suit the needs of your business. I work across a broad cross-section of organisations and sectors, bringing highly transferable leadership and delivery skills spanning manufacturing, distribution, service-based and not-for-profit environments.

Full P&L leadership
Budgeting, governance and stakeholders
Multi-site operations
Manufacturing leadership and consolidation
Profit & performance
Margin, throughput and delivery control
Culture & accountability
KPIs, ownership and execution

What I focus on as Interim CEO / MD

1. Stabilise and regain control

  • Clear priorities, constraints and leadership alignment
  • Immediate operating cadence and performance rhythm
  • Rapid financial visibility – margin, cash, WIP and inventory
  • Decision rights, ownership and delivery accountability

2. Improve operational performance

  • Throughput and productivity improvement
  • Planning, scheduling and on-time delivery focus
  • Procurement and inventory discipline
  • Practical bottleneck removal

3. Drive profitable growth

  • Value proposition, pricing and margin focus
  • Pipeline structure and conversion improvement
  • Key account and win-back programmes
  • Customer experience and retention focus

4. Build a high-performing culture

  • Visible KPIs and performance standards
  • Leadership team alignment and role clarity
  • Coaching, engagement and performance management
  • Cross-functional collaboration

Sales delivery & export channel experience

Sales delivery that converts

  • Sales operating rhythm: pipeline visibility, forecasting and cadence
  • End-to-end sales-to-delivery alignment with operations and supply chain
  • Value-led selling and margin discipline
  • Key account management and structured win-back programmes
  • Capital equipment and solution-based selling

Export & distributor channel leadership

  • Building and supporting international distributor networks
  • Partner performance management and enablement
  • Territory and channel strategy
  • Distributor training, joint visits and demonstrations
  • Consistent positioning across international markets

Management consultancy & delivery options

Targeted management consultancy

  • Independent executive-level assessment of performance, structure and capability
  • Operational and commercial diagnostics covering people, process and financial control
  • Leadership team effectiveness and organisational design reviews
  • Sales, margin and growth strategy reviews
  • Manufacturing, supply chain and service delivery performance assessments

Practical delivery-focused approach

  • Clear prioritised findings with commercially grounded recommendations
  • Practical implementation plans aligned to available resources
  • Defined measures of success and accountability
  • Board and senior leadership reporting and facilitation
  • Support through delivery, not just advisory output

Consultancy engagement options

  • Short diagnostic and executive review
  • Focused improvement programmes (operations, sales, margin or structure)
  • Strategic and operational transformation programmes
  • Leadership team development and performance alignment
  • Change and integration support

Flexible delivery model

  • Standalone consultancy engagement
  • Consultancy followed by interim leadership delivery
  • Part-time advisory and execution support
  • On-site and hybrid delivery models
  • Designed to complement existing leadership and teams

Core values

Customer commitment

I am driven by a strong commitment to customers, ensuring decisions, priorities and delivery focus on creating long-term value and trusted partnerships.

Honesty, accountability and empathy

I lead with honesty, personal accountability and empathy, creating an environment where people are trusted, supported and clear about expectations and outcomes.

Diversity and collaboration

I value diversity of people, experience and thinking, and actively encourage collaboration across teams and functions as the foundation for better and more sustainable outcomes.

Passion and continuous improvement

I bring passion and innovation to continuously improve customer experience, internal processes and business performance, ensuring organisations evolve and remain competitive.

Relevant outcomes delivered

  • Led a £15m turnover business with full P&L accountability and delivered 43% gross margin
  • Delivered a 25% increase in manufacturing output without additional resource
  • Improved key product availability to 98%
  • Eliminated production order variances from £500k to zero
  • Centralised multi-site manufacturing into a single operation
  • Delivered structured sales growth across UK and international distributor networks

Engagement models

Interim CEO / Managing Director

Leadership cover, transformation, integration and performance recovery.

Operational turnaround

Short, focused programmes to restore control and improve throughput and margin.

Commercial and growth leadership

Pipeline, pricing, channel performance and key-account growth.

30 / 60 / 90-day plan

Rapid diagnostic followed by a practical delivery roadmap.

Let’s talk

If you need interim leadership that delivers, arrange a confidential conversation.