1. Dirk Z. Lay
(805) 587-3377
dirklay@roadrunner.com
www.linkedin.com/in/dirklay
5759 Tonopah Court, Simi Valley, CA 93063
Leadership ∙ Strategic Planning ∙ Business Development ∙ Customer Retention
Customer oriented MBA seeks leadership position driving top line revenue, improving internal
responsiveness to customer requests, and enhancing customer retention and portfolio value.
Consistent record of meeting or exceeding expectations with industry leaders. Proven ability to
transition successfully to new roles, challenges, and industries. Enthusiastic change agent.
SKILL SETS
• Leadership – Experienced and talented team builder, focusing on superior training, motivation,
coaching, retention, recruiting, and alignment of incentives. Strongly encourages team
environment with enthusiastic participation in decision making and constructive feedback loops
to minimize risk.
• Strategic Planning - Gets quickly to the point and identifies the real drivers of a decision using
persuasive diagnostic business development skills to more clearly translate technical features into
financial benefits for the customer. In depth knowledge of business operations and financing
requirements for small, midsize, large, global, private, public, and non-profit companies in
several industries and segments.
• Business Development - Creatively and effectively designs and implements strategies for new
business development, major account development, profit growth, revenue growth, goal
achievement, negotiating agreements, problem solving, customer segmentation, coordinating
resources, personnel development and training, market research, prospecting, cross selling,
customer retention, and client relations.
• Customer Retention - Researches, designs, and implements out of the box ideas that actually
work to streamline internal operations and improve response time to prospects and customers.
Strongly believes that the first one in with an accurate, complete, and compelling proposal
usually wins.
• International - Worked in 39 countries on five continents, lived in Italy for four years, worked
for two global corporations based in U.K. and Germany.
MARKETS SERVED
Aerospace/ Defense ∙ Chemical/Energy/Environmental ∙ Manufacturing/Food ∙ Health
Care∙ Commercial Lending /Real Estate ∙ Consumer Lending /Banking
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
OPTIMAL BUSINESS FINANCING SOLUTIONS – President - 2009 to present.
Private Consultant. Company website is at www.optimalwc.com. Works directly with business
owners to find willing lenders among my personal network and negotiate final agreements for
working capital lines of credit.
• Success Story example – Negotiated a $500M line of credit for a company that lost over $500M
on sales of $10 million by skillfully emphasizing company strengths and mitigating challenges.
2. MANUFACTURERS BANK - Vice-President, Commercial Business Development – 2008
to 2009. $2B Middle Market Regional Commercial Bank. Coordinated bank’s marketing efforts
to territory with over 2 million people, targeting businesses with annual sales of $10-100MM.
• Developed $12MM pipeline in the most turbulent banking year in recent history.
WELLS FARGO BANK – Commercial Loan Officer – 2006 to 2008.
$133B National Commercial and Consumer Bank. Targeted businesses with annual sales of
$1-20MM. Analyzed tax returns, financial statements, credit reports, and other information to
determine credit worthiness, specifically determining leverage, debt service coverage, collateral
evaluation, management strength, industry forces, and overall company performance trends
• Developed $10MM pipeline in first two years in banking through personal referral network.
U.S. FILTER (SIEMENS WATER TECHNOLOGIES) - Sales Engineer – 2004 to 2005.
$100B Global corporation based in Germany. Designed and sold activated carbon systems to
remove volatile organic compounds (VOC) and chlorinated solvents from air, water, and soil.
• Grew territory revenues by 9%
BOC GASES (now LINDE) - Account Manager – 1997 to 2004.
Global corporation based in the United Kingdom, BOC is the second largest manufacturer and
distributor of industrial gases in the world. Responsible for new business development, revenue
growth, profit growth, cost reduction, customer relations, and company and customer safety in a
$10M territory. Coordinated total customer solutions, including design and engineering services,
turnkey or third party installation, and maintenance of systems using nitrogen, oxygen, argon,
helium, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide (CO2). Major accounts included: Coke; Pepsi; Miller
Brewing; Anheuser Busch; Safeway; Northrup Grumman; Chevron; Occidental; Shell, and U.S.
Filter.
• Grew portfolio from $2MM to $10MM in 7 years.
• Met or exceeded expectations every year, under four different incentive plans.
• 100% customer retention during crippling product shortages due to strength of my personal
customer relationships.
U. S. NAVY – Commander (O-5)/ Naval Aviator.
(active duty 1981 to 1993, reserve from 1993 to 2005)
• Executive Officer – Leader of 65 law enforcement professionals, performing worldwide anti-
terrorism, force protection, dignitary protection, and security assignments.
• Naval Aviator - Flew over 4,000 hours and 12 years in jets, turboprops, and helicopters without
a single safety incident, accident, injury, or fatality.
• Air Terminal Officer during in Operation Desert Storm – Coordinated a 24/7 operation
processing personnel and cargo in support through Sigonella, Italy.
• Command, Control, and Communication (CCC) Officer - Decoded messages authorizing the
release of nuclear weapons for use by U.S. and NATO aircrews.
AFFILIATIONS & EDUCATION
Pepperdine University – MBA. Business Administration.
Miami University – BA. English - Professional Writing / Environmental Science emphasis.
Wells Fargo – Formal credit training, including Moody’s Online.
Real Estate Salesperson license – California.
