For most of the past two decades, the dominant logic of global manufacturing was straightforward: move production where it’s cheapest, and optimize the supply chain to deliver it. That logic is unwinding fast.
58% of CEOs with overseas operations are now considering reshoring, and 82% of manufacturers have already moved factories back to the U.S. or are in the process of doing so—up 55% from just three years ago. Among C-suite leaders at organizations with over $1 billion in revenue, 39% expect to move faster on reshoring and nearshoring in the next two to three years, with formal planning and active execution both accelerating sharply.
Tariffs, geopolitical instability, and a renewed focus on supply chain resilience have made domestic and near-domestic production strategically attractive in a way it hasn’t been in a generation. But strategy is the easy part. Execution is where most companies fall short—and execution starts with leadership.
Why This Is an Executive Talent Problem
Reshoring and nearshoring aren’t supply chain adjustments. They’re full organizational transformations that touch manufacturing, procurement, logistics, workforce, technology, and capital allocation simultaneously.
A University of Tennessee Global Supply Chain Institute white paper put it plainly: “While reshoring sentiment may be on the rise, a firm’s willingness and ability to act are constrained by a profound and persistent labor skills gap.” That gap is most consequential at the executive level, where the wrong hire doesn’t just slow things down—it derails the strategy entirely.
Searches for plant managers, directors of operations, and VPs of manufacturing consistently run long, and the candidates who have real reshoring experience are already employed. Understanding specifically what you’re looking for is the starting point.
The Roles That Matter Most
Reshoring isn’t a single job. It’s a set of interdependent capabilities that need to be represented at the leadership level. These are the roles that consistently determine whether a strategy succeeds or stalls:
COO / VP of Operations
Owns the mandate end-to-end: turning strategy into running operations, managing multi-site complexity, and leading through the transition period when legacy offshore production is still running while new domestic capacity is being built. The COO who has managed only mature, stable operations is not the same as one who has built something from the ground up under pressure.
VP of Supply Chain / Chief Supply Chain Officer
Rebuilds the network: new domestic and near-shore supplier relationships, redesigned logistics infrastructure, and procurement strategies calibrated to a different cost structure. The candidate profile here looks meaningfully different from a traditional supply chain executive at an import-heavy operation.
VP / SVP of Manufacturing
Determines whether a new facility reaches capacity on schedule. In a reshoring context, that means experience with facility launch, workforce ramp, lean manufacturing implementation, and the operational troubleshooting that comes with standing up a new production environment.
Chief Procurement Officer / VP of Procurement
Reshoring fundamentally changes the procurement equation. The CPO’s job becomes developing domestic and near-shore supplier relationships from scratch—and making the total cost of ownership case that accounts for reduced freight, duty savings, and lead time compression against higher unit costs.
The Skills That Cut Across Every Role
Beyond functional mandates, a few capabilities are non-negotiable for any executive leading a reshoring initiative:
- Greenfield and startup operational experience. Reshoring often means building something new—a facility, a supplier network, a workforce. Executives who have only managed established operations will be underprepared for the ambiguity and pace that comes with it.
- Change management at scale. This is an organizational change as much as a physical one, affecting procurement, workforce composition, technology, and cost structures simultaneously.
- Technology fluency. Digital platforms, AI, and data analytics are operational requirements in a reshoring environment. The executive who treats digital transformation as someone else’s problem is the wrong hire.
- Geopolitical and regulatory literacy. Nearshoring introduces regulatory, customs, and political risk considerations that require leaders who have actually operated across borders.
- Financial discipline under pressure. Reshoring initiatives are capital-intensive and frequently exceed initial projections. The executives who manage them well track spend against milestones, communicate transparently, and adjust in real time when the plan meets reality.
What to Watch Out For
A few patterns surface consistently in reshoring-related searches:
- Offshore optimization experience isn’t reshoring experience. Fifteen years optimizing an Asia-Pacific supply chain is valuable—but it’s not the same as building domestic production capacity. Screen for the distinction explicitly.
- The talent is already employed. Build in the time and resources for a serious search. The instinct to move quickly with a familiar candidate often produces the wrong hire for what is genuinely a different kind of leadership challenge.
- Title match isn’t profile match. A VP of Supply Chain at an import-heavy consumer goods company and one at a domestic industrial manufacturer may share a title but have dramatically different skill sets. Define the mandate before evaluating candidates against it.
Execution Is a Talent Decision
The companies that execute reshoring well over the next three to five years will have done two things right: defined a credible strategy, and put the right executives in place to deliver it. The leadership gap is real, the talent market is competitive, and the window to move is narrowing.
Start with clarity on what each role needs to accomplish. Build the search around specific experience—not the title, and not the resume that looks most familiar.
Reshoring and nearshoring require niche leadership. Success is the product of vetting the right executive for the right role. Let’s talk about how we can help you get there.
