In
Nick Caggiano
Profile
Nick Caggiano came to WVU knowing that he wanted an engineering career. He also knew that he wanted a career in management. When he attended the Industrial Engineering presentation, he knew he found the major that was right for him. “I really liked the breadth of the courses,” Nick says.
Throughout college, Nick really enjoyed the project focused classes. “My classmates were very smart, but I was very good in the more practical courses.” Nick’s future career success was foreshadowed when his senior internship project was selected to be presented at the Institute of Industrial Engineers student conference.
When Nick graduated, he had a number of job offers and took a job with Masland Industries (which quickly became Lear Corporation). “I was a production supervisor from day one,” Nick says. “I was working long hours 6/7 days a week. My wife was going to graduate school, so we hardly ever saw each other.
One of the key factors in Nick’s success was having good mentors. In his career, Nick changed companies six times. In most cases, he was recruited by a former boss or someone he had worked with.
Nick’s career has involved companies that made automotive carpeting, motor homes, fiber board, lime, and compost. When asked how hard it was to transition to an entirely different industry, Nick comments that he never had much difficulty in making the transition. “Every business is basically people, processes, and products. The way you manage people and processes really isn’t that different from one type of business to another. You do have to learn the technology of new products, but that’s not that difficult.”
When asked about the difficulty of moving that often, Nick comments that the moves he made were critical to being where he is today. “Typically each company change brings with it an increase in pay and responsibility,” Nick says.
Nick advises students that work attitude and work ethic are critical. “I look for people who aren’t afraid to put in long hours and approach every assignment with a can-do attitude. You don’t learn that in college.”
Bio
Nick Caggiano
Vice President of Operations at Synagro
Summary
A skilled executive with diverse business management experience, including multi-site P&L responsibility and implementation of Lean Manufacturing principles in multiple industries. Proven leadership abilities and experience in process improvement, quality systems, engineering, project management and product development. Process oriented approach to deliver operational excellence and achieve bottom line results.
Experience
Vice President of Operations at Synagro
April 2017 – Present
Responsible for the strategy and execution to achieve successful outcomes in financial, operational and personnel performance, while exceeding customer expectations, in sustaining and growing the Composting Business Unit.
Director of Operations – Facilities Strategic Business Unit at Synagro
August 2015 – April 2017 (1 year 9 months)
Multi-Site Area Operations Manager at Carmeuse North America
January 2007 – June 2015 (8 years 6 months)
Multi-Site Area Operations Manager – Responsible for 3 lime manufacturing facilities.
Project Leader / Business Manager – Oversaw the business evaluation, design, engineering, and permitting analysis for a $168M facility expansion project and managed a Joint Venture Partnership for a new lime facility.
Site Operations Manager – Directed one of the largest lime manufacturing facilities in the company consisting of multiple kilns, a stone processing operation, a lime hydrating plant and a 3M+ ton per year underground limestone mining operation
Plant Manager – Oversaw a 1M+ ton per year lime manufacturing facility, including a stone processing and lime hydrating operation.
General Manager at Knight Industries
2002 – 2006 (5 years)
General Manager – Managed fiberboard manufacturing facility including operations, customer service, logistics, engineering, maintenance, accounting and human resources.
Operations Manager – Directed all manufacturing, logistics, operations and customer service.
Production Manager at Fleetwood Enterprises
2000 – 2002 (3 years)
Production Manager – Directed manufacturing, quality and continuous improvement in two motor home manufacturing facilities.
Product Compliance Manager – Responsible for development, implementation, training and follow-up of the Product Compliance Program for 17 manufacturing and service facilities of the Recreational Vehicle Group. Member of the Quick Response and Special Work Action Team (SWAT) for plant turn-around situations.
Continuous Improvement / Quality Engineer – Directed quality, continuous improvement and lean manufacturing efforts within five plants of the Motor Home Group.
Production Manager
1998 – 2000 (3 years)
Production Manager – Managed manufacturing and logistics operations for the carpet finishing facility.
Quality/Continuous Improvement Manager – Initiated methods to refine and standardize quality control procedures at three manufacturing facilities. Developed and maintained the QP3/Continuous Improvement (Kaizen) Schedule. Provided Continuous Improvement training, guidance and support.
Manufacturing Manager at Lear Corporation
1996 – 1998 (3 years)
Manufacturing Manager – Managed manufacturing operations for the carpet dying and finishing departments.
Team Leader – Responsible for shift operations
Education
West Virginia University
Industrial Engineering, Engineering, 1991 – 1996
Center for Creative Leadership
