Q&A with Terry Hill

What interested you most about this role with Maroon Group?

Having served on the Board of Maroon Group for the past couple of years, and in the chemical distribution industry for over 30 years, I've been able to see firsthand how Maroon Group is differentiated in the market. We have a tremendous amount of talent, a team that I am excited to work with, and the opportunity to continue creating value for our customers, principals and employees. Mark Reichard has done an amazing job building an organization aligned on the mission of Creating Customer Success®. There is a common goal at every level of the organization to create a fantastic customer experience and to be a valued partner to our customers and principals. This culture has proven successful for the last four decades and will continue going forward; I am thrilled to be a part of it!


What was it that you saw that differentiated Maroon Group?

In addition to its culture and track record of excellence, Maroon Group has a unique business model with several sustainable competitive advantages. It starts with a world-class, technical sales team delivering market leading technologies, value-added services and security of supply. This model requires access to the best products, ongoing technical support and innovation, intimate market knowledge, and a team focused on market leadership and continuous improvement. We deliver our customers value and solution-based results so that they can provide the same to their customers.

We also have a unique portfolio of specialty chemicals and ingredients sourced both domestically and internationally, and a first-class logistics operation. We will continue to differentiate ourselves by providing the right product, at the right time, to the right place, and at the right price. Our warehouse and logistics network throughout North America provides an amazing level of service to our customers with lead times often measured in hours, not days or weeks.

Our industry continues to evolve and we’re excited for the many opportunities we see in the market. Maroon Group is well positioned today and primed for significant growth in the future.


What are some of the key challenges and opportunities facing specialty chemical and ingredient distributors?

Specialty chemical and ingredient distribution has always been a very competitive business with fluid market dynamics. The landscape is always changing as our customers, principals, and competitors continually evolve their go-to-market strategies and combine through mergers and acquisitions to drive efficiencies within their own supply chains. Our customers and principals have experienced the value that Maroon Group provides through our breadth of products, market access, and industry-leading service levels, and as a result, they will increasingly leverage the distribution channel. Moreover, this ongoing consolidation will create opportunities for us to expand our product offerings, to strengthen our relationships with key principal partners, and to get even closer to our customers.

Through the combination of our industry leading technology and intimate customer relationships, we have the opportunity to identify and understand market trends and provide our customers and principals with innovative new concepts and solutions. Over the last several years, we've invested heavily in our technical support teams and formulary capabilities. It is critical for us to continually find ways to be the leader in our markets, drive targeted and aggressive growth, and to build a culture of continuous improvement.

I have spent a significant portion of my career focusing on leveraging technology and eCommerce to differentiate in the marketplace. Today, digitalization is enabling Maroon Group to provide technical and commercial information much more quickly, and the pace of global business today is far ahead of where it was just a few years ago. We operate in a global marketplace and I am excited to help lead our continued investment in technology to better support our customers' evolving needs and ways of doing business.


What can we expect from Maroon Group in the next few years?

First and foremost we will continue to focus on Creating Customer Success® and to deliver the consistent quality and service we're known for. In addition, it is critical that we remain at the forefront of key global trends as our customers look to stay ahead of their competitors; for example, we will go deeper with natural and green products, which is a key priority for many of our customers. We also plan to expand our formulary support and customer-focused laboratories.

Our vertically-aligned commercial teams will continue to focus on achieving above-market organic growth rates and delivering a broad portfolio of products and services to our customers. Our performance, product breadth and deep technical expertise has been an important differentiator to our principal partners and customers alike.

We will also continue to pursue strategic acquisitions to complement our organic growth strategy. The team has completed and integrated multiple acquisitions over the last four years, helping us broaden our base of principals, customers, end markets, technologies, and capabilities, all resulting in our having established a more diversified, sustainable and scalable business. You will continue to see us be acquisitive in our current end markets and in new verticals and geographies.

Additionally, you will see Maroon Group focused on continuous improvement across all aspects of our business. The leaders in our industry will be the organizations that are open to change and willing to invest in both people and technology. We will strive to be great corporate citizens that value social responsibility and sustainability.

I'd like to thank our principals for trusting Maroon Group to represent them. We will continue to align our business to reach your goals by providing value in growth, market insights and efficiencies in doing business together. We will continue to safely distribute and be good stewards of their products, while we work to create new markets and increased demand. We realize our customers have a choice, and together we need to earn their business every day!