Sector practice head — Logistics (India) · CMO

Position overview

Gladwin International Leadership Advisors is representing a confidential organisation in Logistics & Supply Chain on a senior CMO leadership mandate anchored in India. The remit explicitly spans Canada.

This is a sector or practice-head mandate combining deep domain credibility with commercial ownership of a vertical P&L or global practice line.

The client values executives who build repeatable operating mechanisms, not heroic firefighting that resets every quarter.

Context you will inherit

• Market & sector: Sustainability in logistics — EV fleet transition, green warehousing, and Scope 3 emissions reporting are becoming leadership requirements from major shipper clients
• Geographic spine: Primary hub India with explicit corridor responsibility across Canada.
• Organisation stage: Customer concentration in a handful of strategic accounts shapes both opportunity and reputational risk.
• Stakeholders: Key interfaces include headquarters strategy, regional risk and legal, local regulators (where material), and anchor channel partners.
• Secondary lens: Cold chain professionalisation — building temperature-controlled logistics operations that meet pharmaceutical GMP and food safety standards requires specialised technical and operational leadership

The mandate (12–24 month arc)

1. Win/loss intelligence: Systematise why deals are won or lost; feed insights to product and pricing weekly.
2. Channel conflict: Clarify rules of engagement where direct and indirect routes overlap.
3. Localization at scale: Templates and playbooks that local markets can adapt without fragmenting the brand.
4. Analyst & influencer relations: Where sector norms apply, strengthen third-party validation without over-promising.
5. Marketing operations: SLAs between marketing, sales ops, and RevOps — fewer dropped leads, faster follow-up.
6. Budget agility: Shift spend quarterly toward working channels — kill sacred cows with weak CAC/LTV.

Responsibilities (representative)

• Build product marketing capability tied to roadmap and revenue plays.
• Improve marketing ROI measurement — acceptable proxies where full attribution is impossible.
• Develop partner and channel marketing where indirect routes dominate.
• Instil crisis communications readiness with legal and corporate affairs.
• Coach the organisation on narrative discipline — one story, many channels.

Leadership profile

• Judgment: High signal-to-noise under pressure; ethical clarity; willingness to halt initiatives that break risk appetite.
• Education: Strong undergraduate grounding; MBA / advanced degree / professional qualification common at this level.
• Communication: Executive presence in English; additional languages valued where market-relevant.
• Modern marketing: Fluency with data, segmentation, and accountable spend — not only creative excellence.
• Geographic muscle: Comfort operating from India with regular engagement across Canada.

Team & culture

You inherit a mixed-tenure team — pockets of excellence beside roles that need upgrade. The mandate is to raise the bar without demoralising the organisation: clear standards, fair process, and visible wins that prove the new pace is achievable.

Success measures (examples)

• Value creation: EBITDA / cash trajectory vs. owner or board case — especially under stress scenarios.
• Execution: On-time delivery of named transformation milestones; reduction in repeat incidents or audit findings.
• Leadership: External hires and internal promotions that stick; reduction in key-person concentration.
• Innovation: Launched offers or capabilities that move the needle on differentiation, not pilots that stall.

First 90 days (orientation arc)

• Days 1–30: Map cash, covenant, and customer concentration risks before announcing initiatives.
• Days 30–60: Align owners and board on a 12-month value story — financial and non-financial.
• Days 60–90: Launch two quick operational fixes that build credibility with frontline managers.
• Deep-dive on talent — who is load-bearing, who is blocking, where external hire is mandatory.
• Socialise a simple KPI tree so every function sees how their metrics roll up.

Stakeholder map (illustrative)

• Internal: Executive committee, functional peers, shared services leads, and programme PMOs.
• External: Key suppliers, technology partners, and joint-venture boards where applicable.
• Board / owners: Expect deep dives on risk, liquidity, talent, and transformation — slides light, substance heavy.

Travel & mobility

Multi-hub rhythm — plan for weekly or bi-weekly cross-border travel during integration or transformation peaks.

Compensation

Package aligned to CMO benchmarks in Logistics & Supply Chain — typically fixed, variable, benefits, and mobility where applicable. Structure detailed at shortlist.

Application status

This mandate is no longer accepting new applications. The search progressed through Q4 2025 and closed for submissions in February 2026. We retain this posting for transparency on the type of leadership work we carry in Logistics & Supply Chain and India. For similar active mandates, browse open roles or submit a general profile through executive search inquiry.

Reference: logistics-supply-chain · CMO · India · Gladwin International Leadership Advisors