Excellence in Leadership
Fred Crawford
CEO
AlixPartners
Even though the firm's business model has shifted significantly over the last several years, Fred Crawford is well aware most people still see AlixPartners as a restructuring firm. "And that's just fine," says Crawford, the firm's CEO. "That's been our legacy since we launched 30 years ago. AlixPartners remains the gold standard in terms of restructuring. In 2010, we took marketshare and won many of the largest and most visible engagements."
Some of those engagements include: Borders Group, General Growth Properties, LyondellBasell, Xerium, Neff and a wrap-up of the largest industrial restructuring in history, General Motors. "We're proud to be able to serve clients when they need us most," Crawford says. "We're involved in some of the most historic assignments in the history of commerce."
But Crawford is also quick to point out that AlixPartners isn't just a restructuring firm anymore. In 2010, the non-restructuring revenue mix increased 9 percentage points, to 62 percent of total revenues. That includes revenue from the firm's Enterprise Improvement and Financial Advisory Services practices.
"Those businesses picked up momentum in the fourth quarter of 2009 and have been building ever since," Crawford says. "There's a large pipeline of work and a lot of backlog." The Enterprise Improvement practice, in particular, will fuel the growth of the firm over the next several years. In that time, Crawford says he expects non-restructuring revenue to account for as much as three-quarters of the firm's overall business.
He has pushed the firm into new spaces like aerospace, energy, financial services, telecommunications and healthcare. He's also opened offices in Washington, D.C. and Dubai. In Washington, "we thought we could be successful if we could provide the right mix of business and government professionals." To that end, AlixPartners hired Susan Markel away from the SEC, where she served as chief accountant for the division of enforcement.
Meanwhile, Dubai was a "strategy right" move as financial turbulence hit the Middle East, he says. "That's a perfect example of us living by our new tagline: 'When It Really Matters.' "
—J.K.
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