FTI Consulting adds senior advisors to teams in New York and Washington DC

FTI Consulting has strengthened its offices in New York and Washington DC with two senior hires. Tara Chandra arrives in the firm’s DC locale as Senior Director in its Strategic Communications segment, while Keith McGregor takes up the role of Senior Managing Director in FTI’s New York-based Corporate Finance & Restructuring segment.

Global consulting firm FTI is experiencing a period of high demand in North America, with private and public sector sources both keen for external expertise, amid an uncertain geopolitical environment. Now the hire of two senior figures has seen the firm bolster its offering, in anticipation of a growing workload.

Tara Chandra

Tara Chandra brings 12 years of foreign policy and strategic communications expertise to FTI Consulting, with a specialty in navigating geopolitical, economic and security issues across the Gulf states and the broader Middle East, as well as Eurasia and Africa. She specialises in developing and executing crisis management, nation branding and diplomatic engagement strategies and has served as a trusted advisor to foreign governments, heads of state, CEOs and multinational corporations on some of the most complex international issues.

Most recently, Chandra was a Vice President at Podesta Group, where she helped to expand the firm’s sovereign representation and reputational management work, Kresse added. At Podesta, she worked on accounts such as the Center for Studies and Media Affairs at the Saudi Royal Court, the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and the Democratic Party of Moldova. Prior to joining Podesta Group, Chandra worked at the Harbour Group, Growth Energy, the Rendon Group, C&O Resources, and the Department of Defense.

Now based in Washington DC, Chandra has already commenced work as part of FTI’s public affairs and government relations team, led by senior Managing Directors Jackson Dunn and Tom Crawford. She is tasked with supporting clients with cross-regional interests between the US, the Middle East, and Africa. FTI is seeing growth from Africa, particularly from clients with cross-border and cross-regional needs.

Commenting on the appointment, Tom Crawford, a Senior Managing Director in the Strategic Communications segment at FTI Consulting, said, “Tara’s addition to our deep network of experts will help bring a localised approach and value to our clients facing complex and evolving regulatory issues in these unique markets.”

Chandra added, “I am enormously impressed with how FTI Consulting’s global breadth and capabilities seamlessly integrate to deliver solutions to some of the most critical issues companies face today.”

Keith McGregor

Keith McGregor joins FTI Consulting from EY, and will be based in New York. He brings more than 25 years of experience in restructuring as a financial advisor, restructuring banker and chief restructuring officer (“CRO”) in multinational and domestic situations across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. He has deep experience in retail restructurings as both an advisor and executive. Since the global financial crisis of 2008, he has personally led large and complex restructurings across multiple industries with a capitalisation of more than $100 billion.

McGregor has significant experience in the New York consulting space, having spent three years with EY’s US restructuring business in the Big Apple. During that time, he worked on restructurings in the energy, consumer products, infrastructure and media sectors, both in and out of Chapter 11. Prior to his spell in New York, McGregor led the Big Four firm’s restructuring group in Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa, supporting the development of the global corporate finance practice in the United States and Asia Pacific.

As a Senior Managing Director in FTI’s Corporate Finance & Restructuring segment, he will focus on working with distressed companies, their stakeholders and prospective alternative capital providers across multiple sectors globally. McGregor will also focus on continuing to deepen the firm’s global company-side restructuring capabilities.

Michael Eisenband, Global Co-Leader of the Corporate Finance & Restructuring segment at FTI Consulting, said of the appointment, “Keith draws on his extensive background working with corporations, governments and financiers to help his clients identify value from financial and operational restructurings. His experience is a perfect complement to our ongoing commitment to be the leading diversified global restructuring practice.”

McGregor meanwhile remarked, “The most important factor for me was the ability to fully leverage my experience with the breadth of FTI Consulting’s platform. It has a leading reputation globally, and in addition the diversified offerings enable the firm to provide services to clients beyond pure restructuring, which is increasingly important, especially to alternative capital providers. The depth and breadth of the platform and the expertise are a perfect fit, and I am excited to begin working with the team.”  

Related: FTI Consulting welcomes five new Senior Managing Directors in London.