Chairman

C-level Executive and Non-Executive Director    https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfduarte/

Brilliance comes through execution!

Transformation & Turnarounds | Change Management | Cultural Change | P&L Management | Acquisitions & Integrations | Multicultural Team Leadership | Strategy Planning & Execution | Sales & Marketing – Profitable Growth | Plc / PE experience

Charismatic leader bringing 30 years of experience in the optimization of business operations in the support services industry across diverse business sectors and verticals in Europe, Asia and South America. My focus is on delivering value to customers and shareholders through consistently growing top and bottom line results. Proven ability to inspire individuals and teams driving transformational cultural changes. Intuitive business instincts with the ability to master the big picture without losing sight of the detail. A genuine leader of people with talent to relate with all levels of an organization, driving ownership and commitment to achieve outstanding performance improvements.

José is a natural sales leader and very recognized and effective manager, bringing leadership, energy and focus to all the teams with whom he is involved. His passion is growing businesses, particularly in terms of its customer portfolio, but at the same time improving profitability.” Steve Brain (Ex- CEO Safetykleen Europe)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Singularity Digital Enterprise

Singularity DE is a privately-owned company specialized in extracting business value from data through complex algorithms and present it with beautiful visualizations. Singularity DE delivers products and services on the emerging fields of Data Analytics, AI, Machine Learning, Computer Vision and Data Visualizations.

Chairman / Partner                                                           OCT 2017 – Present

Provide leadership and governance focused on Board´s and individual Director´s effectiveness. Major goal for Singularity DE is to achieve double digit growth through the development and sale of disruptive products and solutions that help customers to achieve a deep understanding of their customer base and identifying new revenue streams.

Hg Capital

Hg Capital is a private equity firm targeting middle-market buyouts primarily in Europe. Hg focuses on investments in technology, services and industrial technology sectors.

Industry Advisor                                                             OCT 2016 – OCT 2017

Worked together with the Industrial team focusing on identifying and evaluating markets/targets for investment, target companies/group, market mapping including evaluating sub-segments and companies, managing an internal Pipeline of potential investment opportunities, target company/business assessment and qualification of potential investment opportunities, providing any services reasonably required by the Company relating to any relevant transaction process.

Safetykleen Europe

PE owned, Safetykleen is the largest parts washer business in the world and is the market leader in the Automotive and Industry sectors, providing innovative solutions to specific customer needs across 16 countries and employing over 1500 people. It was acquired by Warburg Pincus in 2008 and generated c£55m EBITDA in 2013.

In 2010, José became Chief Operating Officer for the Safetykleen group with all the countries reporting to him and was responsible for both top line and bottom line growth. As both a board member and part of the senior operating executive, Jose played an important role in both strategic decisions and operational direction and was instrumental in moving the company into the industrial sector.” Steve Brain – CEO

Created sustainable competitive advantage through the execution of business plans that included industry specific market analysis and trends, competitor profiles, marketing strategy and back up financials

COO                                                                                                 2010-2014

Main Board Member; P&L accountability for all the countries, driving both top line and bottom line growth. As both a board member and part of the senior operating executive team, played a very important role in both strategic decisions and operational direction and was instrumental in driving the company into the more profitable industrial sector.

  • Revenue growth of over 29% and Ebitda growth of over 27% in 2007 to 2013 period.
  • Led the team in the UK through the development of a strategy focused upon selected customer verticals and improved customer retention initiatives resulting in sales productivity growth of over 300% in a 12-month period. Year on year revenue increased by £ 4m with an Ebitda dropdown of 50%.
  • Led the turnaround in Iberia from over 5 million Euros book of business losses, declining revenue and profits, in 2009, back to top line and bottom line growth in 2014, through change management, redefining the strategy and company positioning in the market and cultural change. Sales productivities became the best of the Safetykleen group in Europe despite very tough market conditions.

I worked with José at Safetykleen-europe and he is quite simply the best international operator I have worked with. His ability to migrate from strategy to detail is impressive and he always successfully managed the delicate balance between being a Director and the leader of the Country Managers.” Swag Mukerji – CFO

Northern Regional Director                                                             2005-2010

Northern Regional Director with responsibility for UK, Belgium and Eastern Europe & Germany.

Redefined the strategy, focused on the most profitable industrial sector, restructured the management team in the countries, actively engaged and retained top talent with the support of outside firms, implemented new training and coaching practices, transformed operational practices and sales processes leading the team to achieve operational excellence.

  • Revenue growth and EBITDA growth of 1,6x and 1,8x respectively

During 2007-2008 actively supported the CEO as one of the executive team driving the sale process of the company which ended successfully with the acquisition of the business by Warburg Pincus from JPMP in 2008.

Jose reported directly to me and from 2005 expanded his responsibilities to become Northern Regional Director looking after the UK, Belgium and Eastern Europe as well as Germany. He then worked with me as one of the executive team during the sale process of the company from one private equity group to another private equity group in 2008 and became an Executive Director on the main board.” Steve Brain – CEO

Safetykleen Europe – Industry Advisor                                                    2004

Led strategic review and implemented a change management programs supported by the Board of Directors strategic and structural change program which led to strong top line and bottom line growth of the German business. 

From 2004 to 2013 the German business grew its Book of Business and Ebitda by a CAGR of 12% and 14% respectively.

Rentokil Initial

Rentokil Initial a Footsie 100 company at the time, was the largest business to business service company in the world, operating in 44 countries around the globe and employing 95,000 people at the time. Market leader for Pest Control & Washroom Services in most of the countries where it was operating.

Regional Managing Director                                                            2000-2003

Member of the Main Executive Board, responsible for 56 business units in different market sectors such as Pest Control, Washroom Services, Textile Services, Industrial Hygiene, Tropical Plants, Daily and Specialist cleaning, Medical Waste Disposal, Office Machine Solutions and Environmental Services, across 22 countries, with combined revenues of €0,5 billion and profits of close to €100 million, employing 10,000 people in the Region covering the major markets in Europe and Asia.

  • Turned around a declining region achieving revenue growth and local operating profits up by over 7% and 10% respectively in the period 2000-2003

José has exceptional people management skills, together with his intuitive business instincts set him apart as a leader of teams with a will to win and a hunger for success.
José could relate to people at all levels, and could use those interactions to develop performance improvement initiatives on a grand scale that were deliverable, and were indeed delivered. His key skill was keeping the message simple, so that it was understood easily and acted upon effectively, no matter in which country or for what business. As a genuine leader of people, he was an inspiration to work with
.” David McCoy – Finance Professional (previously Regional Finance Director at Rentokil Initial)

José is an experienced, high energy business leader who has successfully filled a number of European wide senior director roles. He is an outstanding, focused, numerate individual with the ability to master the big picture without losing sight of the detail. Also, able to combine a flair for sales growth whilst balancing the need for cost control in a positive balanced manner. He has a charismatic character of integrity with gravitas, an inspirational speaker with an exceptional ability to motivate teams.” Clive Ward – Consultant (previously Regional Managing Director at Rentokil Initial)

Managing Director Germany                                                            1996-2000

Germany was the largest subsidiary in Europe for Rentokil Initial at the time. Led a turnaround through redefining the strategy, a cultural change program and change management.

Business grew by over 20% in revenue and its margins were consolidated at over 30%, returning Germany to solid top and bottom line growth. Supported the acquisition of a key player in the Textile services sector and became Chairman of the holding company that included Rentokil Initial GmbH and Initial Textiles GmbH.

“It is due to his exceptional human approach, which is very difficult to find, his motivational and team player skills, beside his professional attitude combined with lots of efforts that José achieved success and brought Germany back to where it did belong.

Due to his remarkable success José has been promoted to Regional Managing Director. He became an executive board member responsible for 56 business units in different market sectors such as Pest Control, Washroom services, Textile services, Industrial Hygiene, Tropical Plants, Daily and Specialist cleaning, Medical Waste Disposal, Office Machine Solutions and Environmental services, across 22 countries, with combined revenues of € 0,5billion and 10,000 co-workers in the major markets of Europe and Asia”  Jaap Alting – Managing Director Europe

Rentokil Initial Portugal – General Manager                                             1989-1996

Developed the company through organic growth and acquisitions from just €60K annualized revenue and €60K losses to over €5 million revenue and €1,5m LOP in less than 7 years. Rentokil in Portugal became a case study within the company, got various awards and was for years the fastest growing company in Europe.

José started our business in Portugal which at that time was under his enthusiast management the fastest growing company in Europe. I appointed José as Managing director Germany in 1996, which was our largest subsidiary in Europe, a not so easy task, but I did have full confidence that José would succeed despite the fact he didn’t speak German when he started”  Jaap Alting – Managing Director Europe

Early Career & Other Projects

In 2001, in addition to the position as Regional Managing Director was appointed as Sector Director responsible for Washroom Services to spread best practice worldwide and to focus on the development of competitive advantage in key markets (Washroom was present in 44 countries).Worked for Merck Sharp & Dohme and American Cyanamid in the Pharmaceutical sector before joining the support services sector

  • Founder and Partner of Quartz Quality a private company operating in the washroom sector
  • Founder and Partner of Gedja a private company operating with two divisions: Consultancy and external accounting services and Design and Web design services.

 Education, Professional Certifications and Affiliations

Certified in Pedagogic CompetenciesAdvanced Executive Management Program by Universidade Católica Lisboa

Certified in International Coaching

Board Member of the Portuguese Association of Facility Services

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