s@gmail.com http://www.empowermentrealized.com, http://www.linkedin.com/in/spark stom ________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Executive Management Team Player/Interpersonal Impact Leader, Coach, Mentor Business Manager Results Achiever ________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Accomplished manufacturing business manager with over 15 years as Plant/General Manager. P&L oversight. Direct reports include HR, Maintenance, Engineering, Pur chasing, QA, Operations, Safety, Warehouse and up to 380 hourly employees. Uniqu e leadership style provides superior results in both union and non-union environ ments. Track record of improving the bottom line while spearheading operational improvements to drive productivity and reduce costs. Skilled in leading organiza tions to better quality, quicker service & lower waste. Draws effectively on the team’s resources to solve problems and accomplish goals. Takes personal responsibil ity for achieving customer (internal or external) satisfaction. Proven ability t o build, integrate, start up & operate new processes & products. Core Competencies Business Unit Management Leadership Development Organizational Change Team-Building Empowerment & Accountability Manufacturing Technical Knowledge & Skills ________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Professional Experience Plant Manager 1/2009 – 6/2010 Nonni's Food Company, Inc. non union 300 EEs Management Direct Reports: 8 400,000 sq ft Bakery producing over 100MM lbs/ yr  Converted 400,000 sq. ft. textile plant into an industrial bakery producing salt ed snacks from baked bread items, pita chips, Melba snacks, and filled dessert p astries.  Responsible for overall plant operating budget in excess of $10 million. P& L ov ersight.  Achieved a 98 score on first Siliker Audit.  Directed sourcing, purchasing, shipping, installing, testing, and managing start up and ongoing operation of 5 state-of-the-art high-speed production lines.  Drove Lean and 6-sigma methodologies for effective production manufacturing with 30% higher pounds per man-hour, “best quality in 20 years†with lower standard cost.  Staffed, trained, and developed high performance teams which improved efficiency by 20%.  Led human capital directives that improved safety, decreased turnover to 3% agai nst an industry average of over 17%, and implemented capital improvements in exc ess of $50MM. Consultant and Writer 1/2004 – 12/2009 The 3 Rules of Leadership  Developed, wrote training guides, educated, consulted small business and non-pro fit organizations in the use of The Three Rules of Leadership. Plant Manager/General Manager 1994 – 2004 George Weston LLC Maplehurst Bakeries Division 1998 – 2004 Plush Pippin Pies non union 250 EEs Management Direct Reports: 9 150k sq ft Industrial Bakery producing 35M M lbs/yr  Managed all aspects of Plush Pippin, a baked and frozen pie company.  Led management team of HR, QA, Maintenance, Finance, Warehouse, Purchasing, and Warehouse.  Negotiated union contract, 1 yr later the mechanics decertified their union.  Instituted 3-Rules Leadership achieving turn-around profitability, 4.5 out of 5 in employee satisfaction, improved efficiency to 96% Theoretical Maximum, increa sed line speeds by over 50% from 93 ppm to 120 ppm. Thomas Sparks Phone: 33 6.946.1068 ________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________  Directed empowerment strategies realizing <3% turnover, 950 days without a LTA, < 1% absenteeism, 75% waste reduction, and a 30% decrease in product variance.  Actualized strategies from P&L, capital, procurement, and operations indices res ulting in $3MM savings in direct labor, overhead, and waste.  Utilized 6-sigma methodologies to educate, measure, develop SOPs, implement chan ge, analyze, track, and motivate team to achieve superior world class performanc e in Integrated Process Management & MRPII Class A. Interbake Foods Division 1994 – 1998 Cookie & cracker union bakery 380 E Es Management Direct Reports: 6 Industrial Bakery producing over 100MM lbs /yr  Invoked empowerment strategies realizing <3% Turnover, < 1% Absenteeism, 20% Was te Reduction, 20% cost savings in Direct and Overhead, 68% decrease in customer complaints.  Achieved superior results in safety (LTA dropped to zero from 18), quality (over weight product was slashed 30% while rejected product was reduced 75%), and prod uctivity (efficiency improved 20% and downtime decreased 9%) through participat ory leadership, leadership development, team building of high performing self-di rected teams, empowerment, accountability, and trust.  Achieved Superior AIB ratings, an improvement of over 70 points with reduced san itation crewing.  Applied Kepner-Tragoe problem solving to identify defects, solve for them, brain storm best solutions, and implement those solutions. Solved a recurrent 10 year mixing oil delivery problem.  Negotiated union contracts and presided over plant shutdown. Recordable accident s decreased during shutdown. Process Engineer, Shift Manager 1991 – 1994 Continental Mills non union 300 EEs Frozen Pancakes & Waffles, Dry Mixes, Boxed Mixes Direct Reports 70 Hourl y  Designed, sourced equipment, installed, integrated systems, and started up a com plete new waffle line with state-of-the-art automated mixing, spiral freezing, s mart belt stacking, and ergonomic packaging.  Built Research & Development test kitchen and quality facility.  Managed the design, build, installation, start up and operation of a complete pl ant palletizing system in a refrigerated dock.  Managed all aspects of 2nd Shift operations achieving a 30% improvement in effic iencies, lowering the absenteeism and injuries, Production Management, Quality Assurance, Technical Director 1984 – 1991 Frito-Lay union  Supervised several different process lines including corn snack lines and potato chips.  Managed Quality Control on 2nd shift.  Applied Technical Trainer for Potato Chips.  Led the West Zone potato chip audit team performing ATT audits and material bala nces. Resulted in savings of over $700k annually. Nuclear Engineering, Nuclear Physics, Radiological Controls 1978 – 1982 Defense Department of Navy EDUCATION Brigham Young University - Bachelor of Science Business Management Finance Provo, UT GPA: 3.08 1984