Winner: Mark Eglinton
Mark Eglinton, who as Chief Executive of Tenon Ltd took wood out of the commodity basket and up the value curve, outperforming competitors and achieving growth even during the deep US housing contraction, has won the Emerging International Business Leader Award in the New Zealand International Business Awards 2009.
Tenon is a group of manufacturing and distribution assets that markets and distributes New Zealand and North American manufactured wood products to major hardware and home improvement stores across the US.
From his first introduction to the company in 2001, Mark showed uncompromising commitment to his vision for the business – to be the leading provider of specialty wood products and services for use in the North American millwork market.
“Our vision was to put more capital into the market and backfill the supply chain out of New Zealand to meet the market needs, rather than just produce a product, ship it to the US and hope someone wants to buy it at the other end.”
To achieve his vision, capital, intellectual capital and people, including Mark, were shifted to the US.
“We turned the business on its head and moved from being a commodity exporter to a US enterprise selling high value wood products and systems. The idea was to get in the market, get insights, get close to customers and develop the supply chain.”
Mark was appointed Chief Executive in 2005. Under his leadership, the publicly listed company attained impressive results, with annual turnover of more than $500 million. As well as investing in in-market distribution and developing a wider range of high value finished goods for the US, he also established a complementary supply chain into Europe and Asia, to lift overall returns and minimise Tenon’s exposure to commodity price cycles.
Aged 39, Mark recently resigned from Tenon, returning to New Zealand to take up a new challenge as Chief Executive of NDA, a leader in the fabrication of stainless steel process vessels, with international operations.
He says he has left Tenon in a strong position. “The future looks good – we’ve embedded so much growth into the business that will become evident once the housing market recovers in the US. Directionally, we made the right decisions back in 2001 in terms of where to put capital and where to generate the greatest margin across the supply chain.”
Mark’s most recent focus was managing Tenon through the very deep ‘down’ cycle of the US housing market, however, even in this extremely challenging environment he implemented new initiatives, allowing the company to ‘swim against the tide’ and minimise the impact of the market. down cycle.
“We managed to stay ahead of the pack, maintain our growth initiatives and not compromise our best-in-class service performance.”
Mark has tremendous respect across his peer group and amongst his direct reports. His leadership style is directional and outcome oriented.
“It’s very much about giving clear guidance around where we want to get to, the expectations from the company perspective, and really monitoring progress towards those goals,” explains Mark. “In the end, it’s the people around you who are going to make it happen and I had a great group of people at Tenon – the experience in the leadership team is very strong.”
Passionate about New Zealand, one of Mark’s most admirable characteristics is his accessibility and willingness to speak with other Kiwi exporters about his experience in the US and to act as a mentor. He is also a strong supporter of KEA, which he says is important in creating networks of like-minded people who want to keep New Zealand relevant on the world stage.
For further information
Mark Eglinton, Chief Executive, NDA, 07 850 8839, 021 842 322, m.eglinton@nda.co.nz
Ann Clifford, Corporate Communications Manager, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, 04 816 8321, 027 283 3858, ann.clifford@nzte.govt.nz
