Senior Executive Project Manager

Description

 Stowers Machinery is proud to expand from East Tennessee into Southern Florida through the launch of Coastal Construction Equipment, LLC, the region's Cat® Compact Equipment Dealer. This significant growth initiative will establish a new organization designed to provide customers throughout Southern Florida with exceptional equipment sales, rental, parts, service, and product support. 

Position Scope:

The Senior Executive Project Manager will serve as the senior leader responsible for orchestrating the successful launch and scale-up of Coastal Construction Equipment, LLC, the Cat® Compact Equipment Dealer for Southern Florida. This individual will function as the central integrator across all business functions, ensuring the organization is built with the operational excellence, customer experience, financial discipline, and strategic alignment expected of a premier Caterpillar dealer.

Requirements

Reporting directly to executive leadership, this role is accountable for transforming Coastal CAT from a startup initiative into a fully operational, high-performing dealership organization. The Sr. Executive Project Manager will oversee the integrated strategy, governance structure, execution roadmap, and cross-functional leadership required to establish facilities, build teams, implement systems, develop operating processes, launch customer-facing operations, and achieve readiness milestones.

This role does not directly manage the day-to-day execution of every functional area. Instead, it serves as the executive program leader responsible for aligning leaders, removing barriers, driving accountability, managing enterprise risk, and ensuring all initiatives collectively deliver the strategic objectives of Coastal CAT.

The Sr Executive Program Director must be capable of providing executive leadership with a clear and immediate understanding of:

• Overall program health and readiness
• Strategic risks and mitigation plans
• Critical path dependencies
• Resource constraints and escalation needs
• Financial and operational impacts of key decisions
• Progress toward market-entry and growth objectives

Executive Leadership Responsibilities

• Serve as the executive owner of the Coastal CAT startup and expansion program.
• Lead the integration of all functional workstreams including Operations, Sales, Rental, Service, Parts, HR, IT, Finance, Marketing, Logistics, Customer Experience, Facilities, and Corporate Services.
• Establish executive governance, steering committees, reporting structures, and decision-making frameworks.
• Drive accountability among functional leaders, vendors, consultants, contractors, and strategic partners.
• Present program status, risks, investment recommendations, and strategic decisions directly to senior executives and ownership groups.
• Identify organizational gaps and develop scalable solutions that support future growth.
• Ensure operational readiness for branch openings, territory expansion, and long-term business growth.
• Champion a culture of safety, operational excellence, customer focus, and continuous improvement.

Knowledge & Executive Competencies

• Proven ability to lead large-scale business transformations, startup operations, or greenfield market expansions.
• Executive presence with the ability to influence senior leaders, external partners, and multiple stakeholder groups.
• Strong business acumen across operations, finance, sales, customer support, and organizational development.
• Exceptional strategic planning, program governance, and portfolio management capabilities.
• Expertise in managing complex, multi-million-dollar initiatives involving numerous internal and external stakeholders.
• Strong executive communication skills with experience presenting to C-suite leaders, boards, or ownership groups.
• Ability to operate effectively in highly ambiguous, fast-changing startup environments.

Preferred Experience

• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in project management, business transformation, consulting, operations leadership, dealership management, construction equipment, industrial distribution, or related industries.
• Demonstrated success leading branch startups, geographic expansions, mergers, integrations, or enterprise-scale operational initiatives.
• Experience working within Caterpillar dealerships, heavy equipment, construction equipment, industrial service, or related sectors strongly preferred.
• Direct responsibility for budgets, capital investments, forecasting, and executive-level reporting.
• PMP, MBA, Lean Six Sigma, or equivalent executive leadership credentials preferred.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is not simply a project manager. They are a strategic business builder who can lead through influence, align multiple organizations toward a common objective, make sound decisions in uncertain environments, and provide executive leadership with confidence that Coastal CAT's market expansion will be delivered successfully, safely, and on schedule.