Cheryl Merchant

Biography

“The best thing about working at Hope Global is the team of people that we have assembled from the shop floor to the front office. These people truly care about the quality of their work and strive daily to put our customers first. I am proud of them every day at every level.”Before Cheryl became the President and CEO of Hope Global in 1999, Cheryl built her career from the shop floor to top management in leading operations around the world with the automotive industry giants of General Motors, Mazda, Ford Motor Co. and Lear Corporation. Under her leadership, Hope Global’s sales have more than tripled and operations have grown beyond our world-wide headquarters and manufacturing facility in Rhode Island to include manufacturing facilities in Mexico, China, and the Czech Republic, as well as sales offices in Detroit, Brazil and Asia and a distribution facility in Texas. She has built a Team of Experts that is united, focused and driven to take the company to unprecedented levels of growth. A recognized industry and community leader and highly sought after lecturer and speaker, Cheryl has been honored with two honorary Doctorate degrees, the first in 2012 and second in 2014 and named 2014 New England Business Woman of the Year.

Research Interest

Specialties: Mergers and acquisitions (most recently: purchased with extensive due diligence and merged 2 companies in last 2 years), general operations (lean manufacturing, supply chain management, production consolidation (closed operations in France and Ireland to consolidate into Czech Republic), and develop management in all levels.