Thorsten Sowa

Result-focused Vice President with 28+ years’ experience in sales, engineering, and operations. Proven track record of success in developing new markets in automotive, aerospace, power generation, and mining & construction industry. Skilled leader leveraging strong management, interpersonal, and technical abilities to achieve objectives. Effective communicator with internal and external customers at all levels within international organizations. Adaptable to changing world markets and new products.

• Vice President Sales, Frenzelit Inc., Industrial Textile and Gasket Division, 01/01/18, present, Establish newly formed Industrial Textile Division., P&L responsible. 6 mil annual sales., Got the division ready for ISO 9000 Audit., Establish procedures, set up business plans and models, hire employees., Strengthen established business relationship and expand into new markets and engineered products., Pushed new 2d cut part business from 0 to 1.5 mil in 18 months., Growing Mexican Market from 150k to well over 3 mil., Direct report to the President of Frenzelit Inc. and the owner of Frenzelit over in Germany., Merger in 2020 with the Gasket division., Implementation of SAP.
• Sales Manager, Frenzelit North America Expansion Joint Division, 07/01/14, 01/31/18, Responsible for Sales and Marketing for highly engineered expansion joints., Market growth, project management, and establishing a sales agent network., Extensive travel domestically, South America and Europe.
• Business Development/Sales Manager, Ellwood Advanced Components (EAC), LLC in Winston-Salem, NC and Ellwood Closed Die Group (ECDG) in Houston, TX, 10/01/12, 06/30/14, Managing and assigned geographic sales area to maximize sales revenues., Meeting corporate objectives for envelope and/or precision forged and finished machined airfoils., Develop new markets in the non-blade business., Provide quarterly results assessments to VP Sales & Marketing, VP B&D and GM., Project Management, lead technical and commercial review from concept design to finish serial production., Negotiate Long Term Agreements and Terms and Conditions., Travel up to 60%.
• Sales Manager, ThyssenKrupp Precision Forge, Inc., Selma, North Carolina/USA, 11/01/00, 07/31/05, Provided technical and commercial sales support to customers totaling 8.9 million dollars in sales., Coordinated international projects in Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Thailand, and Australia.
• Strategic Quality Engineer, Victor Reinz Gaskets GmbH- DANA Corporation, Neu-Ulm/Germany, 10/01/99, 11/30/00, Managed QS 9000 and DIN-ISO TS 16949 auditing., Coordinated production transfer for injection molded cam covers.
• Production Manager, Victor Reinz Gaskets GmbH- DANA Corporation, 10/01/98, 10/31/99, Managed a new production-line and facility for injection molded cam covers., Managed operation of up to 25 employees.
• Process Manager, Victor Reinz Gaskets GmbH- DANA Corporation, 10/01/97, 10/31/98, Managed and improved production processes in the cylinder head gasket production lines.

US Green Card

06/01/13

German Federal Defense Army, Lance Corporal, 06/01/91-06/01/92, Boot Camp Boelcke Barracks Ulm/Donau Germany and Rommel Barracks Tank Division Dornstadt/Germany

Citizenship: German