Keith Walz

Keith Walz is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Osborn Finishing Group at Jason Industries. Keith has been with the company since February 2015, and in their current role, they are responsible for the P&L and operational ownership of Osborn.

Under Keith's leadership, the Osborn Finishing Group has reversed 3 years of market share and growth erosion. Keith navigated change resistance to reorganize Sales and Marketing, aligned them with a product segmentation strategy, and recruited new leadership to facilitate execution. Within 6 months, these improvements led to customer/channel partner engagement increases of 40%. Within the year, organic growth increased from 1% to 5%, achieving new business and market share growth.

In addition to their work with Osborn, Keith has also been tasked by the CEO and Chairman with growing EBITDA and addressing excess fixed costs and underutilized manufacturing capacity. Over 2 years, they led a plant consolidation strategy that closed 5 manufacturing facilities, restructured resources for a 12% RIF, and relocated complicated manufacturing processes. Within 18 months, this improved profitability by 100bps ($3M) annually, freed working capital, enhanced manufacturing utilization from 60% to 75%, and increased cashflow by $4M annually (20%).

Keith Walz received their MBA from DePaul Driehaus College of Business with a focus in finance. Prior to that, they completed their undergraduate studies at the University of Arkansas, also in finance.

Their manager is Brian Kobylinski, CEO & Chairman. Keith Walz works with Chad Paris - Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Kevin Kuznicki - Senior Vice President and General Counsel, and John Hengel - Vice President of Tax and Treasury.