ESCRYPT is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ETAS GmbH, owned by the German Bosch Group, and a leading provider of security solutions and embedded systems. Brand awareness for the Waterloo office was fairly low, and the local team had been formed through an acquisition. They had just undergone some changes in their organizational reporting structure with their German parent company, so this role was crucial to help support the Waterloo office, manage up to the larger organization and continue to drive innovation forward.

We met with the local and global leadership team to understand the evolution of the Waterloo office over the last four years since it was established and discuss their plans for continued investment and growth in Waterloo. We helped to define the position profile, and set out to find a leader who could help to align the organization. 

We had a diverse shortlist of candidates and coordinated two days of on-site interviews in Waterloo correlating with the hiring managers being in town. Once the finalists were selected, they flew to Germany to meet the broader ETAS global leadership team in person.

It was paramount that this General Manager was able to appreciate the cultural differences between Canada and Germany to effectively represent the local team in navigating the larger organization. A full day of meetings in Germany was a necessary step to be able to get a true sense of cultural fit. 

We placed Ken Schultz in the role, which as an ideal match. Ken has a background in engineering and entrepreneurship having previously founded a company in the semiconductor space. More recently, he was in an outbound community-focused role, working closely with the tech sector. We were able to combine Ken’s operational business strengths + passion for technology. To top it off, Ken had a strong appreciation of the German culture, having led remote German teams previously, and he was semi-fluent in the language.