Mike Underwood, Vice President

Mike is a Vice President at Strategex and is a lead consultant in our Profit Enhancement and Growth Strategies (PEGS) service. Over the past twenty-five years, he has transformed companies by drastically improving long-term profitability.

Mike recently retired from ITW, after a long and successful career as Vice President and General Manager of ITW Performance Polymers and Fluids Division. He brings to Strategex years of experience and extensive knowledge in profit enhancement.

At ITW, Mike ran the Automotive Aftermarket Group for the Americas division, which included 10 operating units throughout Canada, USA, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. Mike was the driver behind the creation of this division which was started in 1997 with the acquisition of a small AAM Chemicals business in South Florida. During this time, Mike was involved with 11 acquisitions which have formed the foundation of this group. One of Mike’s achievements at ITW was to grow the Mexican Operation from less than $1M in 1995 to over $50M in 2008 — generating in excess of 20% ROS annually throughout the transition.

Mike started his career as a trainee Industrial Engineer with Uniroyal in Scotland. During the six years that he worked there, he gained his certification in Industrial Engineering and was transferred to the USA to be the Manager of Industrial Engineering in a Uniroyal plant. He requested a career change into sales and was given the territory for Uniroyal exports to the Spanish and French speaking countries of the Caribbean. Mike advanced through various sales and marketing positions until he left after 20 years to return to the United Kingdom with his family. There, he was Managing director of a fruit distribution business for 3 years, turning it from a loss to a profit. He later joined the MCL Group and became General Manager of the newly-acquired Jiffy Lube franchise for the UK. Mike then went on to be promoted to Director of Business Development for the MCL Group and succeeded in securing the Kia Motor distribution rights for the UK. Mike left the MCL Group to join ITW as General Manager of the Devcon/Plexus division for Europe. After six years in this role, he was transferred to the USA to join the Polymers and Fluids division.

Mike is fluent in Spanish and has a working knowledge of French. He is currently based in St. Augustine, Florida.