Consulting: What will be some of your biggest priorities in your "first 100 days" as COO at Ankura?
Messing: At the speed at which things move at Ankura, 100 days goes by very quickly. Nevertheless, I set three priorities for my first 100 days. First, because I spent my entire career as a professional in one single practice area, I prioritized getting to know my colleagues better and learning about their respective service lines and practice areas. Our firm has attracted an incredibly diverse group of professionals and we are engaged in a wide range of expert and advisory services – all of which I need to know and understand in order to serve in my role as COO. Second, as we enter what we believe will be an exciting new phase of growth at Ankura, I've worked with the leadership team to ensure that we are fully aligned in our goals and strategies across our global businesses for 2021 and beyond. Third, for the first time in our short history, we turned to public debt markets, receiving ratings from Moody's and S&P Global, and completed a refinancing of our debt to position us for the future.
Consulting: What are some of the practice areas you'll be looking to grow?
Messing: Our entire firm is in growth mode. In our mature practices, we continue to add extraordinary professionals and expand our existing service lines within those practice areas. Our data and technology practices, including cybersecurity and privacy, have all been in growth mode for some time, as has our turnaround and restructuring practice. We also expect to see an increase in litigation and investigation related activities as we come out of the economic turmoil of the pandemic. At the same time, we continue to expand the breadth of our capabilities through a combination of acquisitions and strategic hires. In 2020 we acquired Water Street Partners, the world's highest rated joint venture advisory practice and added our Office of the CFO Practice, both practices where we expect to see tremendous growth in 2021. In 2021 we launched a Global Strategies and Solutions (GSS) practice to provide high-level advisory, strategies and solutions to clients dealing with existential issues around the world like COVID, ESG, activism, and government intervention. We believe these issues will define the business landscape for years to come, and we hope to be a leader in this area.
Consulting: How much has the pandemic shaped your priorities in your new role and the areas of the business you'll be particularly focused on?
Messing: Balancing the new operating normal for Ankura and our clients is central to my role.
The pandemic has fundamentally reshaped the operating environment for every business, including our own. We have ensured our people are safe and able to manage the unique challenges so many are facing when working from home and serving clients remotely. It is a testament to our people that we were able to make it through 2020, with all of the year's adversity, and still grow, thrive, and provide exceptional services to our clients. We are currently optimistic about reopening our offices sometime later this year and we will be spending time to make sure we get that right and have the right balance for our employees and clients. At the same time, we have worked to help our clients adapt to the new paradigm whether it relates to transformation, restructuring, issues like real estate and construction as well as disputes while also providing data, technology and cybersecurity support as we see the massive acceleration in the transition to the digital economy and the new global landscape. Many of these issues will take years to sort out, and we are working to provide our clients with the expertise, advice and strategies to create, protect and recover value regardless of their challenges or opportunities.
Consulting: Will you be looking to expand Ankura's headcount? Any preliminary numbers or goals you're able to share?
Messing: We're entirely driven by service to our clients, providing challenging and rewarding careers for our employees, and having a positive impact in the world. It is not about putting numbers up on the board. We talk about growth, not because we're trying to become a particular size, but because we see so much opportunity to add talented people and expand the range of expert and advisory services that we provide to our clients.
Consulting: Talk about some of the headwinds and opportunities professional services firms, including Ankura, are looking at this stage of the pandemic with light at the end of the tunnel finally in view.
Messing: We were able to finish 2020 ahead of plan, and we believe there are significant tailwinds for our business as we move into 2021. The massive stimulus and government interventions as well as disputes, restructuring, and operational changes that will inevitably emerge as economies and clients sort out issues that have been deferred during COVID will keep us very busy. In terms of headwinds, I think companies will be cautious about the ramp-up until there is more certainty in terms of how open the economy will be and when COVID interventions will start to recede. We plan to minimize any downside by having multidisciplinary business groups and professionals that provide critical expertise, solutions, and services through all parts of the business cycle. We are confident in our ability to meet our clients' needs and optimistic for the future and whatever it may hold.
Consulting: Looking at the market broadly, what are some of the big consulting opportunities you're seeing that you're most excited to capitalize on?
Messing: Our clients are facing an incredibly disrupted global operating environment and the emergence of new paradigms including post-COVID changes, ESG, supply chain disruption, digital economy issues like technology, data and cybersecurity practices, disputes that span every aspect of businesses and, in many cases, the need for major transformation to adapt and even restructure or rethink performance and business strategy. These are complex issues that require real expertise, multidisciplinary skillsets and experience to navigate. Now more than ever, our clients are facing enormous challenges – whether it's to create value, protect value, or recover value as events unfold. Ankura is built for the challenges of today and tomorrow in a way that truly differentiates our firm.
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