Our Director of New Business Development, Al Bobst, is an early riser. When he’s not traveling, he’s always the first to the office and ready to roll. Early morning is a favorite time of day for Al for planning, thinking, and having thoughtful conversations with other early risers!
Al is the go-to guy for questions about Monadnock’s manufacturing capabilities and technical/specialty products. He was promoted to his current position after serving as a Senior Technical Sales Representative for 10 years. With this background, it’s no wonder that a big part of Al’s job is to work alongside the sales team as the company continues to explore new and often disruptive technologies for fiber-based solutions .
He wears lots of hats. In fact, if you ask him (which we did), he’ll tell you that his job title doesn’t quite hit the nail on the head. He not only works closely with the sales team, he’s also on the front line working directly with customers, technology partners and suppliers. Al nimbly navigates all of the unique value chains where Monadnock’s papers are sold.
On any given day he might be working with our technical team to optimize the print quality of a new inkjet coating for digital wide format or finding new markets and customers for our line of pressure sensitive adhesive coating base stocks.
With this in mind, it makes sense that for Al, there is no “typical day.” In fact, he often has to re-prioritize based on project updates and prospective customers. A typical question of Al’s is what can we do to accelerate this project? He also keeps his eyes open for synergies between projects.
He arrives at the office with his yogurt and a banana. He starts his day (early!) by checking his email and handling inbound inquiries that arrived overnight from customers and contacts around the world. He then moves on to his planned new business development activities and touches base with project teams. He’s often trolling for snacks sometime mid-afternoon (Al has a very high metabolism!)
Al ends his day by planning for the next and following up with any contacts he couldn’t reach earlier. According to Al, this last round of outreach often catches people doing the very same thing and he usually wraps up his afternoon at the office with a successful phone conversation and (sometimes) an exciting new opportunity to consider!
The most rewarding part of Al’s job comes down to one word: partnerships. He loves to work as a team to create impactful relationships that turn into commercial successes. He’s all about driving high performance outcomes that showcase Monadnock’s excellent reputation for quality and consistency.
Perhaps one of the ways that Al drives smart solutions and identifies new business opportunities is to ask a lot of challenging questions. In fact, when we sat down to ask him about a “day in his life” it was as if the tables had turned. He’s always thinking about the next step and anticipating answers he’ll need to provide, as he strives to find a better solution!
The last question we asked Al (and he had no hesitation in his answer!) was about how he likes to relax after a long day at the paper mill. His answer – spending time with his wife of 30 years. They love to eat out and take in shows at the theater. He’s also passionate about hiking in the White Mountains with his buddies.
Al keeps a good work-life balance and we’re lucky to have him here at Monadnock.
