About Gil Roberts

Always Enjoyed Business: Even as a boy, I actively pursued and developed my own businesses. Whether selling seeds door-to-door, mowing yards, or painting houses, I consistently worked to develop my entrepreneurial skills.

Studied Business in College: My family would tell you it was no surprise that after high school I continued to pursue my interest in business. I studied accounting and business at Wake Forest University and was the President of the Accounting Society. After working for four years, I wanted to learn more about sales, marketing and general management so I pursued an MBA at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduating in the top 5% of my class.

From Entry-Level to Division President at Fortune 500 Companies: After graduating from Wake Forest, I knew I wanted to eventually run a business. To gain more skills, I started working in large publicly traded companies. My first professional position was in Accounting at AT&T. After earning my MBA, I joined Sara Lee Corporation working in Sales and Marketing. The strong culture and wonderful team environment at Sara Lee allowed me to build my general management skills and provided an opportunity to move up from an entry level Marketing Assistant to the Vice-President level. Over time, my work experience led to me being recruited by the Russell Corporation, another Fortune 500 company. During my tenure at Russell Corporation, I was President of two different businesses. 

CEO with International Business Experience: After college I vacationed outside the country with family and friends, often on bicycle tours. I found international travel fascinating. Meeting the people and learning about their histories, cultures, and foods was fun. My first international leadership position was in Toronto, Canada working as the Managing Director for a family-owned travel services company. My second international position was in Dublin, Ireland where I was the Managing Director launching a new licensing business for Russell Corporation. Both jobs provided incredible learning opportunities which led to me being hired by a Canadian private equity firm to be CEO of a consumer products business headquartered in Sonoma County, CA. This was truly an international company with 70% of annual revenues from outside the US. We sold our products globally in over 100 countries. 

Family-Owned Businesses: During my career, I managed family-owned businesses. In addition, at several businesses I led, we sold products to distributors or managed licensing agreements with licensees. The distributors and licensees were mostly family-owned businesses. I enjoyed working with these companies. The owners sincerely wanted to develop relationships with suppliers and customers and were often hungry to learn new ways to improve their business performance. 

Buying and Selling Companies: As companies grow, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) can become an important strategy for growth. During my career I gained invaluable experience in M&A. Early in my career at publicly traded companies I learned to operationally merge companies which were acquired. Later, I identified and acquired companies that complimented businesses where I worked. Finally, as CEO of a private equity owned company, I led a successful effort to build the business during the Great Recession and participated in the sale of the company to a new owner.  

Regards,

Gil Roberts

Value Creation Advisors

Portland, Maine