Bruce Adair
David C. Cook Publishing Company, Ret.
Bruce Adair has over 30 years of business development and operational leadership experience in both corporate and not for profit settings and is a House Business Advisor at Lakeshore Advantage. He has successfully led every facet of operations from product development to marketing and sales during his tenure at David C. Cook Publishing Company. His record of results combines strategy development and business planning with an instinctive understanding of customer needs. While at Cook, he successfully guided the delivery of products that helped them become the leading independent provider of church educational program materials in the United States.
Bruce's proven planning process and results driven approach served Cook well as he rose to Executive Vice President. His accomplishments include leadership of private brand development initiatives resulting in increased share and market penetration, the development of the necessary publishing technologies to support new clients and the implementation of new manufacturing processes to complete the process. To control costs, increase profits, and expand manufacturing capacity, Bruce located new off-shore manufacturing providers that reduced costs by 25%. As a Division Vice President, his leadership helped generate record after-tax profits exceeding 17 percent - an exceptional result in the publishing industry.
Bruce's diverse background also includes corporate acquisitions that have enabled gains in market share and penetration in declining markets. He has led the integration and retention of core competencies of acquired organizations both domestically and internationally. After acquiring the leading religious publisher in the United Kingdom, he turned their 5 year history of losses into solid financial gains within 18 months. He also guided the research and development of new brands that quickly became category leaders.
Bruce has used his strengths to increase revenue and reduce costs based on critical analysis leading to innovative strategic plans to benefit publishers around the world. As the highest rated instructor at the International Christian Publishers Institute, he taught and coached publishing leaders from two thirds world countries in proven management, planning and leadership strategies.
Bruce is experienced in corporate governance as a board member for over 14 years and a corporate officer for 8 years. Bruce and his wife Linda live in Holland, Michigan and have three children and seven grandchildren. He has a variety of interests including teaching, sailing and building furniture.