Tom Robertshaw
Tom Robertshaw was born in Washington, DC, in 1947, where his father, a Marine, was stationed after WWII. He grew up in various cities around the Chesapeake Bay, went to college at the University of Virginia obtaining a BS in aeronautical engineering, and the University of West Florida obtaining a MS in operations research.
He joined the Marine Corps in early 1970, went to flight school and became a UH-1 pilot. He spent the rest of his time in Camp Pendleton, California, where he had duties as a line officer in HML 267( a helicopter squadron), ANGLICO platoon commander with the 1st Marine Division, and upon separation as a captain was the assistant maintenance officer of HML 267. Entering civiliain life, he joined the Alabama National Guard as a helicopter pilot and served another six years.
He then joined Motion Industries as a sales trainee in late 1975. Motion is a distributor of technical replacement parts and small capital equipment selling into the manufacturing sector of the economy. Motion Industries was purchased by Genuine Parts Company, (Atlanta, GPC ticker) a year later and became the basis for their industrial group. Motion grew in sales from $100 million in 1975 to $8.2 Billion in 2023, and expanded into Canada, Mexico, and Australia.
Tom progressed throughout this growth having branch manager, regional manager (10 branches), and group manager in the West (35 branches) and Southwest (100 branches) responsibilities, all field roles.
In 1999 he came to corporate headquarters and led various efforts, the first as VP of business development; acquisitions, adjacencies and new business models. He then took the role VP of sales role and concurrently strategic planning. He developed Motion's global sourcing effort and entry into the industrial supply market. Retaining strategic planning he took on the role of marketing and COO of the Industrial Group, formed from acquiring vertical industrial supply companies.
He retired from Motion Industries in January of 2012 and formed a consulting company, Do Something, LLC, focusing on strategic growth, leadership and sales development.
He had previous consulting engagements with local Birmingham not for profits, Junior Achievement and the Lakeshore Foundation.
He opened a business in Birmingham for car enthusiasts to store and work on their cars, whether classic or performance, called Alabama Gearheads.He resides in Birmingham, Alabama
www.dosomethingllc.com
dosomething@bellsouth.net
205.908.2294
You'll get to know what Do Something does by pondering the following sample of strategic questions:
- Is it important to lead as well as manage? What is the difference, and value of each?
- How will our industry evolve? What are the trends that will reshape industry competition?
- What are our strengths and weaknesses? What opportunities are possible?
- Is my sales force effective? Is it bringing in new business?
- How do we define our business model? What are its pros/cons?