Matt Gillespie

With Rawhide Executive Solutions, I partner directly with owners of established small and mid-sized companies in the Ohio Valley, primarily manufacturing and service businesses, who feel their company has become heavier than it should be. Most have built real companies over decades. But over time the business becomes too dependent on them. Every decision, problem, and priority flows back to the owner. My work is to help change that. I work one-on-one with owners and their leadership teams to: • Restore clarity and direction when the business has become reactive • Strengthen leadership depth and accountability across the team • Improve operational discipline and financial visibility • Break through growth or operational plateaus • Prepare companies for ownership or generational transition This is not traditional consulting and it is not coaching. I work alongside owners as an executive partner — in person and inside the business — helping them make decisions, implement changes, and rebuild momentum. I intentionally work with a small number of companies at a time. Engagements are flat fee, all inclusive, and typically involve regular on-site sessions supported by virtual meetings and ongoing strategic deliverables. The goal is simple: build a company that works — and a life that does too.

Rawhide Capital invests in and supports differentiated privately held manufacturing and service companies across the Ohio Valley. We focus on long-term ownership transitions – partnering with founders and families to preserve their legacy, protect their people, and grow what they have built. Our approach blends operational experience with patient capital: • We acquire or invest in established small and mid-sized businesses with strong fundamentals • We provide strategic and leadership continuity for ownership transitions • We reinvest locally to strengthen the communities where these companies operate Rawhide Capital is built on a simple belief: the backbone of America’s economy deserves thoughtful stewardship, not short-term exploitation.

Managed all aspects of a self-made, larger-than-life visionary entrepreneur and investor’s single-family office and oversaw their portfolio of over 100 commercial properties and over a dozen operating companies across the United States and Canada. Working hands-on, I coordinated accounting, cashflow and capital planning, legal, tax compliance for each of the family holding companies and Trusts. Always having the courage to initiate the tough conversations for the best long-term success of the family and their portfolio. I spent most of my time working alongside our partners and leaders to continuously optimize and grow the commercial real estate (CRE) portfolios and provided oversight, strategic advice, and direct leadership support to a diverse set of companies from start-ups to manufacturing, hospitality, and legacy national brands. • Advised and coached the senior leaders of both start-ups and existing operating companies to help reinvigorate, reimagine, navigate challenges, tighten operations, and continuously optimize their businesses • Directly supported portfolio company executives through challenges with strategy, key personnel, debt financing, litigation, industry shifts, and external cost structure changes • Negotiated with resolve and integrity, consistently achieving fair and principled partnership and agreements, leases, acquisitions and exits, and six and seven-figure sales contracts • Led the acquisition of a 150-year-old brand and envisioned and managed the careful integration of it into an existing 125-year-old brand resulting in a positive shift in their niche industry and setting the stage for long-term industry growth • Restructured leadership team, shifted the brand focus, and re-envisioned the business of a national consumer brand resulting in a two core revenue streams each doubling within four years • Ensured detailed oversight and debt financing negotiation for multiple simultaneous CRE development projects ranging up to over $100MM

Focused on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of our network of operating companies and holding companies while providing direct, hands-on support to several of our core portfolio companies. I worked to forge new equity partnerships and support the start-ups and acquisitions consumer and hospitality operating companies.

Building on SLEEGERS’ over 45-year history, I led the company's continued transformation as the top propane solutions provider in North America with a broadened offering of engineered products and engineering services. With a shared entrepreneurial spirit and differentiated by both expertise and a unique operating model, the team delivers unparalleled products and services to the propane industry. SLEEGERS has become a key supplier to multiple Tier I automotive customers as well as to some of the leading propane distribution companies in Canada and the United States. I provided strategic guidance and day-to-day support to the customer service and logistics, product engineering, supply chain, production, quality, and operations engineering leaders and their teams of 110+ employees. • Incrementally redesigned the company's operating model to meet the evolving market needs, including an industry-first production shift and compensation program • Developed and rolled-out multiple competitive advantages including best-in-industry coating performance and dimensional repeatability • Enhanced the team's ability to engineer and build more sophisticated products to meet the evolving market needs • Re-engineered the supply chain while developing new and refreshed key supplier relationships • Launched new mechanical-electrical assembly division to support new product lines and improve some existing ones • Guided over a dozen successful new product launches and instituted a renewed design-for-manufacturability focus

Led the ongoing growth and continuous improvement of SLEEGERS’ operations after completing the move into their new facility. Built a new management team and developed more accurate cost and performance metrics while improving overall capability and reducing rework. • Recruited and led new management team as well as a number of other key hires • Cultivated a culture of teamwork, continuous improvement, and an unrelenting commitment to always doing the right thing for the long-term • Envisioned and launched a new insourced part fabrication segment to repatriate margin, improve responsiveness, and shorten supply chain lead time • Through deep root cause analysis and a continuous improvement outlook, significantly reduced internal rework and customer warranty claims • Substantially improved product quality (incl. APQP performance) while cutting end-to-end lead time in half

Led the complete renovation and build-out of a 147,000 sq ft manufacturing facility, before coordinating the physical move and integration of the EDPRO group of companies (EDPRO; SLEEGERS; P38) into the renewed facility. • Oversaw, planned, and managed the renovation of the facility including the complete re-development of the floor plan • Specified, sourced, and installed millions of dollars of new manufacturing and office equipment • Set the framework for a new operating model and began to establish an agile and continuous improvement focused culture • Transitioned the operations from multiple facilities into this new facility without missing a single ship date • Egressed and closed down four smaller facilities

Lead, managed, and continued to improve the propane distribution and service operations of a growing business of 45 employees across three facilities and a fleet of 30 vehicles while driving continuous process improvement with an unrelenting focus on customer value.

A self-starter role focused on initiating, executing, and completing a variety of process improvement projects across the company from customer service to fleet management with a focus on automating low-value task to allow increased focus on the customer.

Provided support and crisis intervention to clients of the homeless and addictions community.

Responded from full-time staffed stations to primary 9-1-1 calls and emergent inter-facility transfers and received Transfer of Function training to expand scope with this paid, publicly-operated EMS provider.

Owned and executed engineering investigation and research projects including: reliability, performance, and efficiency of turboprop engines including developing and editing final project reports for Canadian Forces and USAF projects.

Designed and drafted assemblies and components in AutoCAD for bulk material handling equipment along with work orders and BOMs for production runs. Lead the improvement of modeling standards and developed an electronic drawing database and drafting templates.

With six modules ranging from lease analysis and valuation to equity waterfalls and taxation, this program applied strategic real estate investing principals to real-world scenarios.

This seven course program combined real world case studies and team projects to apply the concepts of marketing strategy from pricing to social media.

An intensive on-site course focused on further developing leadership, organizational strategy, marketing, communications, and finance skills while inspiring all to ‘ask more of business.’

A customer-value centered program focused on the practical application of lean concepts in both manufacturing and non-manufacturing environments (such as administrative processes, healthcare, and service organizations).

Completed degree with aerospace systems focus option and courses in business management, communications, and project management.