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Interim management: general management and commercial leadership
Thierry Leroux is an interim executive based in Nîmes, in the south of France. For a defined period, he takes on the general management or sales leadership of industrial and B2B companies, in France and internationally. He steps in when a capable team can no longer move forward: he listens, decides, gets things moving and leaves behind an organisation that carries on without him.
- Role
- Interim general management and commercial leadership, full-time or part-time
- Form
- Executive appointment or consulting engagement, directly or through an interim management firm · usually six to twelve months · from €900 per day excl. VAT
- Based in
- Nîmes (Occitanie, France) · assignments across France and internationally
- Languages
- French and Portuguese (native), fluent English and Spanish
- Sectors
- Automotive and heavy truck, aerospace, pharma and chemicals, industrial packaging, food, luxury, consumer goods
- Experience
- Thirty years in international B2B, including managing director of a European subsidiary and founder of an industrial sales grouping
- Credential
- ICF PCC certified professional coach
- Company
- Leroux Management, SAS, 14 rue de Beaucaire, 30000 Nîmes, France
What is interim management?
Interim management places an experienced executive from outside the company in a leadership role for a limited period. The interim executive genuinely holds the role: decides within the mandate, leads execution and answers for results to the shareholders or the board. The assignment ends when the agreed objectives are met and a successor is in place.
It answers a need for immediate experience. Recruiting a senior leader often takes several months; a deteriorating situation cannot wait that long.
When companies call on him
A leader leaves and the seat stays empty
He holds the leadership without a break, across the full scope and accountable for margin, while you recruit the right person, then helps the successor settle in.
A subsidiary or business is losing money
He establishes the facts, sets three priorities and puts in place weekly management of cash, margins and stock that makes every improvement visible.
Salespeople are exhausted without selling more
Talent is rarely the issue; structure, processes or tools have fallen behind the market. He reorganises territories and key accounts, clarifies pricing and introduces a CRM and reporting that support decisions.
Several businesses sell side by side without selling together
He builds a common offer, a single point of entry and shared margin rules, negotiated with each leader.
A distribution network to revive, in France or abroad
He goes into the field, chooses the partners who want to grow, renegotiates terms and opens the missing countries.
A sale is being prepared
A buyer acquires an organisation that runs without its founder. He documents the margin, secures customers, trains successors and writes the procedures.
How an assignment runs
- Framing with the shareholder or leader. Objectives, scope, duration and form of mandate are agreed together.
- Listening and diagnosis, within a few weeks. The numbers, then the customers, then the teams: the people doing the work often know what is blocking them.
- The first hundred days. A focused plan, fast and reversible decisions everyone can see, and wins within the quarter.
- The management rhythm. Priorities reviewed every week, a rolling thirteen-week forecast, indicators shared by the team.
- The handover. Successors trained by working alongside them, so the organisation carries on without him.
Track record
Results achieved as an employed executive or on assignment, presented in context. Clients are never named; every fact can be checked in an interview.
Turnaround of a European subsidiary (Wild Republic Europe, 2019–2024)
Managing Director Europe, 59 staff, 80 including interim responsibility for supply chain and quality. Profitability restored in twelve months, EBITDA raised from 0.1% to 12%, revenue up from DKK 100m to DKK 143m between 2019 and 2022, Covid period managed without redundancies. Five sales regions merged into a single European organisation.
Creation of an industrial sales grouping (OnePac, Groupe Alizon, 2025–2026)
Economic interest grouping built from the ground up for five industrial companies, de facto general management for fourteen months. Common offer launched in four months against a group average of twelve, €7.5m qualified pipeline in six months, sixty salespeople led, external costs down 31% and EBITDA back in positive territory in under four months.
Building markets and networks
France–Italy–Benelux region grown from €1m to €2.5m starting with two people; heavy-truck aftermarket built for thirty countries at Timken ($61m); marketing department created from scratch in Kassel for a DaimlerChrysler axle plant, in a joint venture with Hendrickson.
Turnaround feasibility review
For an interim management firm: financial analysis of an industrial SME over four financial years and three turnaround scenarios.
Background
Born in Lourenço Marques, Mozambique, Thierry Leroux grew up and worked across southern Africa, France, Venezuela, the United States, Spain, Germany, Ireland and England, with field assignments in India and China. This path taught him to walk into an organisation he does not know, read its codes and install a method. He teaches complex sales and international customer relations at Euridis Business School and mentors business leaders on a voluntary basis.
Frequently asked questions
What is interim management?
Interim management means entrusting a senior leadership role, for a limited period, to an experienced executive from outside the company. The interim executive takes the role with a clear mandate and objectives agreed with the shareholders or the board, and leaves once those objectives are met and a successor is in place.
When should a company bring in an interim executive?
When a leadership role falls vacant with no successor ready, when a subsidiary or business unit is losing money, when a sales organisation needs to be rebuilt, when several businesses must learn to sell together, or when a company is preparing for sale and needs to run without its founder.
How is it different from consulting?
A consultant recommends; the company then decides and executes. An interim executive holds the role: decides within the mandate, delivers, is accountable for results and reports to the shareholders.
How long does an assignment last?
An interim leadership assignment usually lasts six to twelve months, adjusted to the need. A diagnosis takes a few weeks. Part-time leadership can run longer, a few days a week.
How does Thierry Leroux work?
As an executive appointment or a consulting engagement, full-time or part-time, through his company Leroux Management, based in Nîmes, France. He works directly with companies or through interim management firms.
Where does he work?
Based in Nîmes, in the south of France (Occitanie), he works across France and internationally. He works in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.
Which sectors?
Industrial and B2B businesses first: automotive and heavy truck, aerospace, pharma and chemicals, industrial packaging, food, luxury and consumer goods.
How do the first hundred days work?
There is no fixed recipe: the steps are agreed with the leader or shareholder. The first weeks are spent listening to teams, customers and the numbers. Then come a plan focused on three priorities, decisions visible within the quarter and a management rhythm the team keeps after the interim executive leaves.
Does an interim executive make people redundant?
That is never the starting point. Thierry Leroux first looks for what is holding a capable team back. He takes difficult decisions when the strategy requires them, with respect for everyone: the European reorganisation he led merged five sales regions with four departures out of fifty-nine roles, and the Covid period was managed without redundancies.
How is an assignment priced?
By the day, from €900 excluding VAT, depending on scope, duration and form of mandate; rates are open to discussion. A first twenty-minute conversation, with no commitment, frames the need.
How can the results be verified?
Clients are never named. Every fact can be checked in an interview, figures in hand, and recommendations from former managers and colleagues are available on LinkedIn.
How to get in touch?
By email at thierry.leroux@leroux-management.fr or by phone on +33 6 73 33 80 65.
Let's talk about your situation
A twenty-minute conversation is often enough to understand the challenge and see whether I can help.
thierry.leroux@leroux-management.fr · +33 6 73 33 80 65 · LinkedIn · Assignment brief (PDF)