Market Development Director

Position Overview:

The Town of Ashland, Maine is seeking an exceptional Market Development Director residing in New England or New York to collaboratively build the market for Structural Round Timber (SRT) across the north and mid-Atlantic East Coast. This position will work with strategic partners to provide education and resources to the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction community. By growing markets for SRT, this role will be key in generating economic opportunities for northeastern forest products in sustainable commercial construction.

This role reports to the Town of Ashland and WholeTrees Structures, the Town’s strategic business partner for administration of this grant and position. Initially, this is a grant-funded position through Original Mass Timber Maine, with opportunities to transition employment to strategic partners at the end of this time period.

Position Details:

As a Market Development Director for the Town of Ashland, Maine, you will lead market development projects and education programs to build new strategic markets, solutions and use cases for Structural Round Timber (SRT). You will use your knowledge of the market to identify gaps and opportunities to help increase awareness and market penetration for SRT products.

As a spokesperson for the Town of Ashland, SRT, and northeastern forest products, you will attend events and briefings including public speaking, presentations, and webinars. You will support additional elements of market evangelism and promotion to help drive a better understanding and positive perception of SRT in the market. You will engage with market influencers to help develop the ecosystem necessary to realize opportunities, including: identifying industry champions, creating and providing stakeholder education, and building a bridge for marketing promotion through business partners.

• Work with management team to build out and implement an East Coast marketdevelopment strategy based on similar successful strategies in other regions of the country.
• Work with management team to define budgets and spending goals and track budgets forgrant reporting.
• Work with management to define market development goals and KPI’s. Track goals andreport analysis quarterly.
• Develop an in-depth understanding of all the aspects of SRT building products includingforestry, sustainability, design, commercial commodity trends, construction markets, andstructural building systems.
• Extensive regional and occasional national travel to attend trade shows, industry events,etc. (Digital strategies may shift the level of travel required due to the ongoing Covid 19Pandemic).
• Effectively "cold prospect" through multiple mediums (email, calls, etc.).
• Generate qualified sales opportunities for business partners to further qualify, negotiate,and close.
• Collaborate with business partners to penetrate targeted markets with innovative andstrategic approaches.
• Efficiently use provided contact lists and other tools to research stakeholders, identify keycontacts, and reach out to prospective influencers.
• Effectively develop strong professional relationships across the AEC community

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior prospecting or market development experience.
• Technical background in sustainable materials, forestry, engineering, architecture, orcommercial construction.
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office, Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and PhotoShop.
• Two or more years of demonstrated experience in prospecting, building product sales,sustainability, green construction, or public relations.

Compensation

Full time salary commensurate with experience. This position will be based remotely from home office. Health care benefits included.

About Original Mass Timber Maine and WholeTrees® Structures:

WholeTrees Structures, a 13-year old certified B Corp and WBE, partners with Ashland, ME and other regional strategic partners to develop Original Mass Timber Maine, an initiative to grow markets for Northern Maine-sourced Structural Round Timber. WholeTrees integrates over two decades of custom architecture and construction with present-day material science research to innovate standardized round timber structural systems. The company has created the tools and technologies to bring low-value trees resultant of sustainable forestry to commercial construction markets.

WholeTrees Structures and Original Mass Timber Maine have partnered with support from the Northern Forest Center and Maine Development Fund. In this Maine SRT Initiative, industry-leading technical experts and sustainable forestry join forces to build markets for and provide beautiful, affordable, and durable round timber structural systems. When digital supply chain systems, advanced grading technologies, and BIM are applied to nature’s original engineered wood, trees thinned from managed forests become the least energy intensive mass timber structural system available to commercial construction. WholeTrees and Original Mass Timber Maine bring SRT to new markets while instilling a love for nature, promoting conservancy, and restoring a sense of awe and delight in our woodlands. Low value trees become high value commercial construction materials. Together, we change the way people connect to and interact with the built and natural environments by bringing sustainably sourced structural round timber to the places we live, work, and play.