Emerging Leader's Tactical Expertise Shines During Move

Launching a new facility requires a lot of preparation and strong leadership to perform the task successfully. Mike Gresen knows this well. Over the past year, he led his team through the process of opening a new Benchmark Electronics location without interrupting supply to customers and within the company budget, shutting down production for only three business days.

As director of programs, Gresen is the point of contact for Benchmark’s customers. Therefore, when the company outgrew its Tempe, Arizona, building and moved its warehousing and vertical integration departments (half of the business) to this new facility in Mesa, Arizona, he acted as the liaison between the site transition team and the customer to ensure the team was meeting customer expectations. The team’s responsibilities included managing deliveries, meeting customer specifications, qualification timelines and more. 

A huge undertaking such as this must rely on capable and efficient teams, teams which Gresen led but refused to micromanage. He defines his leadership style as one with team-building attributes that enables people to make their own decisions. “I want to work with my team, helping them break down barriers so they can be successful,” he says. “Because the stronger that my team is around me, the better we’re all going to be, and the better and more successful I’ll be.”

Gresen in fact delegated the transition responsibility to another member of his team, but being the prudent leader he is, he played a supporting role. He attended the transition meetings with the customer and had internal discussions with the team to ensure that his co-workers had the necessary tools to keep the project on track and that they were focused on the right priorities.

“If there were any issues among the team, the person running the project and myself, we would interface with the customer to figure out what they needed, what we were missing and what challenges they were having,” he explains. Integrating this process facilitates a smoother transition which, in turn, creates a happier customer.

He adds that he and his team did a lot of upfront preparation for the move. Besides guaranteeing that the new site was ready to intake the new work, certifications and qualifications had to be in place prior to opening a new location.

Benchmark offers concept design and prototype creation to full-volume production of parts for industries such as aerospace, defense, medical and semiconductor. Since Gresen first began working there 12 years ago when he was an intern earning his engineering degree, he has had many opportunities at the company. He has guided a team of 25-plus people as production supervisor, lead a cross-functional team as a program manager and has traveled the world as a global account manager. He has also served in the engineering and operations departments.

“My past and current experiences continue to help steer me to my goal of leading a site or company in the manufacturing industry,” he says. He appears to be well on his way to accomplish this. His nominator and general manager at Benchmark, Jeremy Austin, says, “Mike provides leadership, along with a great attitude, pulling together departments, which contributes to our One Benchmark environment,” he explains. “His future is bright, and I can easily see him being a general manager and corporate leader.”