Robert Hirschey
Business Advisor
Robert Hirschey, President of Oliver Wight Americas, and board member of Oliver Wight International, has nearly 25 years of experience in the forest products and related industries. His diverse background includes strategy development, execution, and measurement; business planning and analysis; capital investment analysis; mergers and acquisitions, and various corporate development activities. Bob’s experience extends to the private label consumer products industry, where he helped start up a new division for a company in the disposable personal care products business.
Bob has held positions such as Vice President, Finance & Planning; Vice President, Finance and Administration; Vice President, Strategy; Vice President, Corporate Development; and Chief Financial Officer. Bob’s breadth of experience from executive suite to plant management makes him uniquely qualified to lead organizations through their business process transformation initiatives.
As Vice President, Strategy, for the Cellulose Fibers business of Weyerhaeuser Company, Bob led the effort to adopt integrated planning and control best practices, ultimately achieving Class A certification for the entire business. This included the implementation of Sales & Operations Planning at the leadership level, Integrated Planning & Control processes at multiple manufacturing facilities, and Demand Management processes across an international sales and marketing organization, including four international offices. This was the first “end-to-end” supply chain certification granted by Oliver Wight in the pulp and paper industry.
In nearly 10 years, as a business advisor of Oliver Wight, Bob has assisted companies in a broad range of industries in transforming their business planning and execution processes – consumer packaged goods, retail food and beverage, generic pharmaceuticals, downstream oil and gas, OEM transportation equipment, and automotive lubricants. Bob was the primary coach for two divisions of BP that achieved Class A certification in Integrated Business Planning. This broad, real-world experience and delivery of results make Bob uniquely qualified to apply industry best practices to a wide range of industries and companies.
Bob is passionate about the alignment and integration of planning, execution, and measurement to achieve business excellence. He brings extensive experience in developing and deploying business management processes, including associated change management, as well as ongoing continuous improvement. He uniquely combines financial management expertise with operational planning experience to bring integrated solutions to business process improvement opportunities.
Bob has spoken at numerous events, including the keynote address at an APICS Best of the Best S&OP Conference, the Supply Chain Management Summit, the 10th Annual Forecasting and Demand Management Conference at the University of Tennessee College of Business Administration, several Innovation Enterprise Sales & Operations Planning Summits, and multiple public webinars sponsored by The Innovation Enterprise Group, Association of Financial Professionals, and Oliver Wight.
Bob earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University and an MBA in general management from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College. He earned academic awards and distinctions in both his undergraduate and graduate study programs.
