Bryan Marsal
Co-Founder, Co-CEO
Alvarez & Marsal
Excellence in Leadership
In 25 years at the helm of Alvarez & Marsal, Bryan Marsal thought he had seen everything. He helped bring the scandal-laden HealthSouth back from the brink. That turnaround was challenged by the fact that the FBI took all files from the office cabinets—including the accounting books.
When he served as the chief restructuring manager of Arthur Andersen, he too thought "this is one of a kind."
Those engagements are nothing compared to his current assignment. Last September, he got a call from a member of Lehman Brothers' board of directors. The company had just decided to file bankruptcy and wanted Alvarez & Marsal to oversee the process.
"It was about 10 p.m. and I was watching Sunday Night Football when the phone rang. Lehman's board wanted me to serve as chief restructuring officer. I asked a few routine questions to gauge how prepared they were to begin the process: 'How much cash is left? Not much. How much planning has gone into the bankruptcy? None. This phone call is our first step. When do you plan to file? Two hours.' "
That exchange set in motion the largest bankruptcy in the country's history. At the time, Lehman had $651 billion in assets, more than six-times larger than WorldCom, whose 2002 bankruptcy with $107 billion in assets had previously held the record.
The size of the bankruptcy was not the only complication. Unbeknownst to Marsal when he accepted the job was that Barclays would announce its intention to buy the firm the following day. A few days later, 10,000 of Lehman's 10,400 employees were gone—taking with them their institutional knowledge and understanding of the firm's assets, liabilities, claims and derivative book.
Marsal has spearheaded more than restructuring projects as co-founder and co-CEO of the firm. The firm also offers non-turnaround services, such as tax, real estate, business consulting and transaction advisory that produced record revenues for 2008—even before the current restructuring wave.
—Jess Scheer
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