Selim Bassoul '81

Selim Bassoul ’81: Turnaround expert dares to be a ‘game-changer’

By Kevin Hoban based on the reporting of Matt Golosinski

[Ed. note: The following profile is based on an keynote address given by Mr. Bassoul on Feb. 11 at the Kellogg School as part of MOSAIC conference, a series of events that highlight the school's global perspective on management.]

For a guy who claims he can’t even boil water, Selim Bassoul ’81 has kept things cooking at his company.

As CEO of Elgin, Ill.-based Middleby, a commercial food service equipment manufacturer, Bassoul and his team have attracted widespread praise since a turnaround effort in 2001 rescued the firm from near bankruptcy. Since then, Middleby has fought back to garner heaps of critical praise and land on Fortune’s 100 Fastest-Growing Companies and in the top 10 of Forbes’ Top 200 Best Small Companies.

The results are less surprising given the leadership behind Middleby’s rebirth.

Before becoming CEO, Bassoul had been with Middleby since 1996 when he was president of the Southbend division prior to becoming chief operating officer in 1999. Earlier, the Kellogg finance major had spent eight years at American Hospital Supply and Baxter Inc.

Bassoul, a self-described lifelong “contrarian,” said he turned down lucrative opportunities at leading consumer goods firms for a chance to take “a less traveled path” as an entrepreneur at a company where he could make a difference. And so he has.

The Lebanon native quadrupled Middleby’s sales and growth since becoming CEO in 2000, while pushing into new markets like China and India. The company’s stock was floundering around $5 a share in 2001; by early 2007 it hit $144 before splitting in June. Revenue in 2007 was $453 million, with $156 million in gross profits. By comparison, in 1998 the company lost $4 million on $132 million in sales. The following year Bassoul said the firm’s dismal customer retention rate was less than 50 percent — small wonder, when about a third of all Middleby orders were delivered late. The company took a number of steps to right itself, beginning with refocusing on what it does best: producing commercial kitchen equipment, most notably food warming gear.

Today the company has some 1,300 full-time employees in 17 offices worldwide and manufacturing facilities that produce nearly two dozen respected brands, including Middleby Marshall conveyor ovens, Blodgett ranges, steamers and convection and pizza ovens, and Pitco fryers. Investment in customer service and superior technology has paid dividends, said Bassoul, 51, who is also Middleby’s president and chairman.

Early in his tenure, Bassoul focused the company’s strategic initiatives on improving employee morale and targeting major restaurant chains. The company also made innovation a priority by hiring top engineering specialists in combustion and heat retention, paying attention to issues of energy conservation — even while Americans were still driving Hummers.

“We bet on energy efficient ovens” when it seemed few in his industry were paying attention to the benefits of greener technology, Bassoul said.
At the same time Middleby began positioning itself as a global brand, seeing an opportunity to become a worldwide player in a segmented arena that saw Italian manufacturers dominating Europe and Japanese suppliers serving Asia. Bassoul noted that his company has successfully entered markets such as India with innovations that include specialized samosa fryers whose technology aims to improve taste.

It’s these strategic insights that have resulted in Bassoul being inducted into the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame in 2006 and earning the 2005 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He also was named a finalist in the 2005 American Business Awards’ “Best Turnaround Executive” category. In 2007, the online investment adviser Motley Fool named him “Best CEO.”  He’s also lent his leadership talents to other organizations, most recently serving as a an active member of the Chicago 2016 Committee, the group charged with bringing the Olympic Games to Chicago.

Bassoul takes it all in stride. “If you are willing to be transparent, ethical, demonstrate a passion for business and can explain your business,” he says, “people will reward you.”

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Posted July 2008