The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has announced that Barry Sanders, president and chief operating officer, will depart the company January 31 as part of an ongoing effort focused on de-layering the company to improve operational efficiency and speed to market.
The company has also announced that Jim Gimeson will assume sole leadership of Scotts LawnService. Gimeson and Mark Wilhelmi have been co-leaders of this business since last summer as part of a transition plan related to Wilhelmi's planned retirement after 40 years with the company.
Gimeson began his career at ScottsMiracle-Gro in 2008 as the finance lead for Smith & Hawken before briefly leading the global purchasing team. Afterward, he was named senior vice president of strategic planning before being named to lead two of the company's flagship business units, including the iconic Scotts and Miracle-Gro brands. In that role, Gimeson led overall strategy, marketing, brand development, operational planning and tactical performance of the brands. He was named chief operating officer of Scotts LawnService in 2014.
More background on “de-layering” initiative at Scotts
Since the beginning of 2014, The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has eliminated approximately 25% of its leadership roles at the senior vice president level or higher. The company intends to have completed the vast majority of these efforts by the end of the first half of fiscal 2015.
"Two years ago, we committed to our shareholders that we would improve the focus and profitability of this company and we continue to deliver on this promise," said Jim Hagedorn, chairman and chief executive officer. "The decisions we have made over the past year have often been difficult, but none more difficult than this one. Barry's (Sanders) contributions to ScottsMiracle-Gro during his 15-year tenure were significant, and we will continue to benefit from the result of that leadership for years to come. The decision we reached regarding his departure came after a series of conversations with the entire leadership team, including Barry, who agreed on the need to continue improving our decision-making processes and eliminate executive-level redundancies.
"While we are the leader in the lawn and garden industry, we are modestly sized compared to other leading consumer goods companies,” Hagedorn continued. “So when we objectively assessed our organizational structure, we realized we had more layers of executive decision-making than we needed. Therefore we decided to further de-layer and divide Barry's duties appropriately."
Mike Lukemire, who currently leads the North American consumer business, will become chief operating officer. The entire global consumer segment will report to Lukemire as will Scotts LawnService. Strategic planning will report to Hagedorn.
