Interim CEO & Board Director
A chief executive resigns without notice. An acquisition needs verifying before the money moves. A transformation stalls at exactly the point it starts costing money. None of these are solved by a six-month search — they need an executive in the seat now, accountable for the outcome, delivering from week one.
Situations I Solve
Most people arrive here with a problem, not a job title in mind. Start with what is actually happening.
The CEO has resigned without notice
The board has no independent challenge to management
You are acquiring a plant and the numbers look too good
The ERP programme is late, over budget, and nobody owns it
The deal closed and the integration has stopped moving
Delivery is slipping and performance is below plan
Leadership is caring about the others. Skin in the game — always.
— Janis Vilums
The Mandate
Full executive authority when the business cannot wait for a permanent hire. I hold the seat — chairing the management team, facing investors, and owning the decisions that carry consequence. And because I have run the operation myself, the strategy I set is one the business can actually execute.
A non-executive seat that does more than attend. Governance, risk, and real challenge to management — from a director who reads the operation as well as the report, and knows which numbers a board is being shown and which it is not.
Where I Create Value
Full executive authority through leadership gaps, transitions, and crises.
Non-executive seat with governance weight and independent challenge.
Owning structural, cultural, and ERP-driven change personally, at CEO level.
On-site verification before acquisition or investment. Beyond the statements — capacity, condition, and capability.
See the scopeTarget screening, operational review, post-merger integration, and the first 100 days.
Underperformance diagnosed where it occurs, then resolved. Diagnosis before action.
Physical Due Diligence
Most failed industrial acquisitions were not mispriced. They were misunderstood.
The capacity was theoretical. The maintenance had been deferred to flatter EBITDA. The people who actually knew how to run the line were three months from retiring. None of that appears in a data room — all of it appears on a factory floor to someone who has run one.
The full production route, in sequence, as material actually moves — not as the layout drawing claims.
Condition, age, remaining life, and the capital expenditure the seller has quietly postponed.
Demonstrated output against nameplate, and what it would genuinely take to close the gap.
Skills, supervision, dependency on individuals, and what walks out of the door on completion.
Planned versus reactive, spares holding, records quality, and deferred work carried as hidden liability.
Supplier concentration, single points of failure, lead times, and inventory that is not what it appears.
Every finding rated by likelihood and financial impact, so the deal team can price it or walk from it.
Structured for an investment committee, with findings evidenced and ranked rather than merely listed.
Written to be read by people who were not on site. Every finding evidenced, rated, and tied to a financial consequence.
Scoped to the target and the stage of the process, and able to move faster when an exclusivity window demands it.
Fixed fee agreed in advance against a defined scope. No day-rate drift.
Sectors
The Method
On-site from day one. Structured interviews at every level, the numbers reviewed, the operation walked in person. No diagnoses — only information gathered.
An unvarnished assessment to the board. Priorities ranked. A 90-day plan agreed.
Full leadership of the agreed priorities. The work is done — not overseen.
A structured transition to permanent leadership, with stronger managers than I found.
Contact
Leadership problems do not improve with time. An initial conversation costs nothing.