Business Advice, Consulting, Maine Business Solutions

Ernie DelleDonne

Ernie started his business career in 1971 selling potato chips to grocery stores. Within a very short time he was promoted to Route Supervisor where he managed and trained 12 other route salesmen. Thoroughly enjoying sales and dealing with people he was enticed to try something new….cold selling vending machines to the public without sales leads and strictly on a commission basis. Ernie enjoyed great success with this new endeavor and broke nearly every sales record established at that time. Ernie learned the “art of negotiation” and successful “think on your feet” selling techniques over the next couple of years. Missing the snack food business Ernie decided in 1975 to accept a position with the Cain’s Potato Chip Company in New England as an account executive. Soon thereafter Cain’s sold the business to the Bachman Company where Ernie was promoted to the position of Division Manager of New England managing six branches and 150 people. That was a huge leap from account executive to Division Manager but through hard work, common sense and a strong desire to succeed Ernie’s Division became one of the most successful in the company. It is in this position that he began to learn the operational side of business and the importance of selling for profit.

In 1980 Ernie left Bachman and accepted a position with Wise Potato Chips, a much larger snack food company owned by the Borden Company. At the age of 27 he was promoted to Vice President of the Northeast United States for Wise and assumed responsibility for 100 million in business, 37 distributing companies and many employees. It should be noted that at that time Ernie was the youngest Vice President in the history of Borden, a 6 billion dollar company. As an additional responsibility Ernie became part of an elite 3 member team that consulted with distributors who were failing and required restructuring to continue being a distributor. It is here that Ernie learned why some people fail while others enjoy great success.

Fast forward to 1987 when Ernie felt he had learned enough about business to strike out on his own. He decided to purchase a small construction equipment rental company just outside of Boston Massachusetts. After quickly learning the many differences between snack foods and construction equipment Ernie set out to build the business so that someday it could be sold for a considerable profit. To do this Ernie had to completely gut the company and start over. He changed all but 2 employees, introduced fax machines and computers, moved the company to a better location and offered services that took the peaks and valleys out of the year and provided income stability. By putting a practical and affordable business plan together and executing it Ernie built the company into one of the largest and most successful equipment companies in the area and in 1999 sold it to United Rentals, the largest construction equipment company in the world.

Although not in the original plan, Ernie decided to stay with United Rentals and over the next 9 years held several senior executive positions as this young and exciting company began to grow. Ernie quickly became known as a person who preferred the most visible and challenging assignments. He reported directly to the Chief Executive Officer and over his time spent at United built and rebuilt many programs and departments. Some of his notable achievements were the rebuilding of Fleet Operations which was the department that purchased more than 1 billion in goods and services annually. He also started a new Federal Government Program which exceeded 20 million in revenue the very first year. Ernie also restructured the National Account Program, opening a call center and providing premium services to the company’s largest customers. This program contributed 800 million in revenue annually and today still stands as the premier national account program in the Industry. Another notable achievement was the complete rebuilding of a contractor supply program that included 9 distribution centers nationwide and sales of 450 million.

As you can see Ernie’s career has touched on most every business aspect and all have resulted in significant success. Ernie credits much of his success to his wife Debbie who took care of the home front and their two daughters while he was on the road working and learning.

Through all of this Ernie managed to pursue some personal goals as well. Aside from business Ernie has another passion, flying! Ernie holds a commercial pilot certificate and has traveled extensively for pleasure throughout the US, Canada and the Caribbean. His other passions include riding his Harley Davidson and spending time with his grandchildren. It took 35 years but Ernie has finally struck a comfortable balance between work and his personal life.