Ronan Cox

Zotefoams plc (LSE – ZTF) is a world leader in cellular material technology. Using a unique manufacturing process with environmentally friendly nitrogen expansion, Zotefoams produces lightweight foams in Croydon, UK and Kentucky, USA for diverse markets worldwide. These markets include sports and leisure, storage and protection, automotive, aviation and space, railway, healthcare, building, marine and the military. Zotefoams also owns and licenses patented MuCell® microcellular foam technology from a base in Massachusetts, USA to customers worldwide and sells T-FIT® advanced insulation systems made from its patented ZOTEK® fluoropolymer foams. Zotefoams®, ZOTEK® and T-FIT® are registered trademarks of Zotefoams plc. MuCell® is a registered trademark of Trexel Inc.

Specialised interim leadership and business consulting service with an entrepreneurial mindset, delivering cost-effective solutions to drive client success. Enabling organisations to navigate leadership change and embrace transformation as an opportunity for significant profitable revenue growth. Partnering with clients to challenge the status quo, unlock new potential and create sustainable value.

Lontra was a green tech company delivering ground-breaking air compressor designs, with the potential to deliver significant energy savings. The flagship product, the Blade Compressor® purported to drive down energy costs by up to 34% against comparable units. Lontra was developing new technologies and expanding into new industries for compressor applications. These included general manufacturing, cement, food and drink, pharmaceutical, industrial wastewater, drinking water and power generation. Lontra attracted support in terms of grants and awards from Innovate UK, Horizon2020, Edie, IMechE, Royal Academy of Engineering and The Carbon Trust and had attracted a total of £37m of investment most of which was received since 2020. After an intense diligence process it became clear the investment thesis was not deliverable and the business was far away from delivering a commercially viable product due to a combination of product efficacy, range development and channel access. Rather than continuing with equity raises I led the board to take the decision that the only option for the business what to restructure it through administration.

Member of the C suite Group Executive Team leading the Performance Materials Division AND heading all Innovation across the Coats Group. Full P&L and strategic accountability for the $440M global Performance Materials business, driving double digit EBIT margin growth by utilising product innovation, business portfolio re-assortment, manufacturing and sourcing productivity and price increases. Repositioned the newly formed Performance Materials Division, winning board approval for a strategy to grow revenues to 4x by 2027 with a combination of organic growth, M&A and partnerships. Business was built to focus on key growth markets of Composites and Personal Protection as well as speciality applications like automotive safety critical applications. Led the acquisition of Pharr HP ($100M revenues in USA) in 2020. In response to the post Covid era, designed and led the Closer to Customer strategy for the Group in 2022 transforming structures so that activities could be carried out closer to market delivering net saving of $16m in 2022 annualised to $38m in 2023.

As Chief Transformation Officer developed and led a company wide transformation program to make Coats plc fit for the digital age. The 'Connecting for Growth' transformation program focused on driving simplification, innovation and digitisation across the whole organisation. This was a 2 year program and delivered $32m of savings and reinvested $10m in innovation and digitisation over the 2018 - 2020 period. In 2018 lead the transofrmaiton from 45+ country management teams to 10 cluster teams managing the business worldwide significantly delayering the organisation. Global support functions were established in Finance, Technology, Procurement, HR and legal. A key part of this role has been to drive the Coats vision of the Factory 4.0 and delivering investments to connect the supply chain across the business driving speed and productivity and integrating data analytics to drive machine machine learning and more effective decision making.