VP of Business Development

Company Overview

Our client is a collaborative broad-based corporation with divisions and affiliates spanning a wide array of disciplines; each focused on helping customers meet their goals. They develop long-standing partnerships by providing the greatest value to our customers with the best quality products and services which maximize their profitability. This also creates internal opportunities for personal growth, responsibility, and reward for their team members. Entrepreneurial spirit drives them as they build companies ranging from foodservice to branded and private label food products, to commercial real estate development, to property management and logistics.

Division Overview

With hundreds of Distributor Members nationwide, this division is a national foodservice sales and marketing agency leveraging their Member’s strength and unity to develop programs that enhance a distributor’s competitiveness and bottom line. Their goal is to find innovative and effective solutions to assist people and organizations with their challenges and opportunities. Our client's associates possess tremendous experience in the foodservice industry and their obsession with helping our Distributor Members grow has yielded them substantial annual savings and financial returns.

Position Purpose

The Vice President of Business Development leads our client's business development and Distributor Member recruitment function, with responsibility for setting strategy, guiding team execution, and driving new Distributor Member growth. This role leads the Business Development Manager and any future team members within the business development department, ensuring clear direction, accountability, and consistent execution across Prospect development, pipeline management, and recruitment conversion. The Vice President of Business Development partners with executive leadership to align recruitment priorities with our client's broader growth strategy and long-term business objectives.

Key Responsibilities

Department Leadership & Strategy

• Lead the business development department, including the Business Development Managers and any roles added to support Distributor Member recruitment and growth.
• Establish annual business development priorities, pipeline expectations, and execution plans that support our client's new Distributor Member growth objectives.
• Provide coaching, direction, and performance accountability to team members, ensuring clear goals, consistent follow-up, and measurable progress.
• Develop scalable processes, tools, reporting practices, and meeting rhythms that support team alignment, forecasting, and leadership visibility.
• Serve as the department lead for executive updates, strategic recommendations, pipeline reviews, and market opportunity assessments.
• Represent the business development function in broader client planning discussions, ensuring recruitment priorities are connected to organizational growth initiatives.

Distributor Recruitment

• Set direction for recruitment activity from targeted outreach through signed agreement.
• Build and actively manage a qualified Prospect pipeline, prioritizing opportunities that align with our client's Membership profile, strategic priorities, growth potential, and measurable sales volume opportunity.
• Develop and execute territory-based recruitment strategies that target geographic, segment and market gaps and expand our client's Distributor Member representation.
• Lead consultative Prospect meetings, business reviews, and Membership presentations that translate our client's capabilities into customized solutions aligned with each Prospect’s goals, challenges, profitability, and competitive position.
• Manage the full recruitment cycle, maintaining momentum from first contact through evaluation, negotiation, contract execution, and structured transition from recruitment to onboarding.
• Generate qualified Prospect leads through networking, referrals, Supplier Partner relationships, industry events, market engagement, and direct outreach.
• Maintain accurate and timely CRM records, including Prospect activity, meeting notes, pipeline updates, and forecasting data.

Industry Networking & Business Development

• Represent our client and the business development department at food shows, industry conferences, regional meetings, and networking events.
• Build and maintain strategic relationships with Supplier Partners, industry partners, referral sources, and senior-level contacts to strengthen program awareness, market intelligence, and recruitment opportunities.

Success Metrics

Success in this role will be measured by:

• Achievement of annual recruitment goals, including new Distributor Member agreements signed, revenue volume added, and overall growth contribution generated by the business development department.
• Qualified Prospect pipeline health, target attainment, and Prospect-to-Member conversion rates.
• Prospect meetings, presentations, and site visits completed.
• Team performance, coaching effectiveness, and consistency of business development execution.
• CRM accuracy, forecasting discipline, executive reporting quality, and leadership visibility into business development progress.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 15 years of experience in business development, Distributor Member recruitment, foodservice distribution, wholesale purchasing, sales leadership, or a related industry, with prior responsibility leading people, teams, or department-level initiatives.
• Demonstrated success prospecting, negotiating, closing complex business opportunities, developing compelling business cases, and generating measurable growth.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, coach, and develop team members while creating clear goals and accountability structures.
• Experience building business development strategies, managing pipelines, reporting progress to senior leadership, and translating market opportunities into growth plans.
• Strong financial, analytical, communication, and presentation skills, with the ability to clearly articulate our client's financial and strategic value to Distributor Members and Prospects.
• Executive presence with the ability to establish credibility, influence decisions, lead strategic conversations, and build trust with Distributor Member owners, presidents, senior decision-makers, Supplier Partners, and internal leadership.
• Self-motivated, results-oriented professional with strong problem-solving, organizational, and project management skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, including Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, Outlook, and Word.
• Willingness and ability to travel 50–70% of the time.
• College degree in Business or a related field.
• Ability to lift and carry 20 to 50 pounds.