Executive Search Success Story: Building a Pricing and Revenue Growth Management Team to Transform Price Realization at a B2B Building Products Manufacturer

How JRG Partners executed a confidential, multi-role North American executive search strategy that equipped a $3.1B building products manufacturer with the revenue growth management, strategic pricing, channel program, and pricing analytics leadership required to replace cost-plus and discretionary discounting with value-based pricing, govern distributor and dealer programs, and lift price realization across 40,000 SKUs.

The Challenge

A building products manufacturer had grown through acquisitions into a company with 40,000 SKUs, eleven price lists, and hundreds of distributor, dealer, and builder rebate programs negotiated locally over two decades. Pricing was cost-plus, field sales held broad discount authority, price realization on announced increases averaged under 50%, and rebate accruals were a recurring audit concern. Activist investor pressure had made margin expansion the board’s priority, and the company had no pricing function beyond a small list-price administration team. Executive leadership identified several critical vulnerabilities threatening the margin program:

• Price realization under 50% on announced increases due to discretionary field discounting
• Eleven inconsistent price lists across acquired businesses with no value-based logic
• Hundreds of channel rebate programs with no governance, return analysis, or audit-ready accruals
• No deal desk, discount guardrails, or approval workflow
• No pricing analytics to measure elasticity, pocket price, or margin leakage
• Activist investor and board pressure for measurable margin expansion within two years

Recognizing that margin expansion required a professional pricing and revenue growth management capability, the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer engaged JRG Partners to recruit a Vice President of Pricing & Revenue Growth Management, Director of Strategic Pricing & Value-Based Pricing, Director of Channel Programs & Rebate Governance, and Director of Pricing Analytics & Deal Desk. The company required an executive search partner with deep B2B pricing expertise and access to leaders who had transformed pricing in multi-channel industrial businesses.

Why They Chose JRG Partners

Revenue Growth Management Practice Focus

JRG Partners maintains a dedicated practice recruiting revenue growth management and pricing leadership for consumer and B2B companies, with a clear understanding of value-based pricing, channel program economics, deal governance, and the organizational change required to shift pricing authority from the field.

B2B Pricing Transformation Experience

Our firm has extensive experience recruiting executives who have led pricing transformations at building products, industrial, and distribution companies, delivering measurable price realization and margin outcomes.

Multi-Role Execution

Our team specializes in running coordinated pricing leadership searches in parallel, ensuring the vice president and directors are selected as a complementary unit aligned to a single margin program.

Our Executive Search Strategy

Phase 1 — Margin Program Alignment

Our consultants partnered directly with the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Commercial Officer to review price realization data, price list structures, rebate programs, discount practices, and board commitments, defining four leadership profiles aligned with the margin program.

Phase 2 — Talent Identification & Mapping

Our research team performed an extensive talent mapping initiative targeting pricing, revenue management, channel program, and pricing analytics leaders at building products, industrial manufacturing, distribution, and B2B pricing advisory firms who had led documented pricing transformations. Over 345 executives were systematically assessed across these sectors.

Phase 3 — Candidate Engagement

Priority during outreach was given to leaders with a documented history of implementing value-based pricing across large SKU portfolios, raising price realization through deal desk and discount governance, rationalizing channel rebate programs with audit-ready accruals, and building pricing analytics and software capability. Only candidates meeting these strict performance baselines advanced.

Phase 4 — Selection Process

Finalists presented margin program plans to the Chief Executive Officer and executive committee, completed structured leadership assessments, and underwent reference verification focused on quantified price realization and margin outcomes.

Key Outcomes

• 345+ B2B pricing, revenue management, and commercial analytics executive profiles mapped across North America.
• Successfully placed a synchronized leadership tier spanning pricing, value-based pricing, channel programs, and pricing analytics within six months.
• Consolidated eleven price lists into one value-based structure across 40,000 SKUs.
• Raised price realization from under 50% to 85%.
• Eliminated the rebate accrual audit concern through program governance.
• Improved gross margin by 280 basis points within two years.