Catalyst Development appoints Didier Faure as CFO
Catalyst Development has announced the appointment of Didier Faure in the role of Chief Financial and Operational Officer. The former AlixPartners professional will oversee the firm’s finances amid a period of extended growth.
Fast-growing financial services consultancy Catalyst Development enjoyed a record year in 2017, tripling the firm’s headcount in its London office to 100 employees. Between April 2017 and March 2018, Catalyst substantially grew its investment base, services, markets, clients, staff and profitability, as well as beginning to supplement its growth with an ambitious M&A strategy. In Autumn 2017, this saw the financial services consultancy secure a growth investment, in the form of a management buyout backed by private equity investor Livingbridge.
As the firm prepared for further growth in 2018, Catalyst hired Blythe Barber as a Senior Commercial Partner. Following up on this, the consultancy has further grown its team with the addition of Didier Faure to the position of Chief Financial Officer. Faure possesses a deep knowledge of professional services management, serving as a CFO and board director of global and private equity backed companies for nearly 20 years.
Most recently, Faure was Chief Financial Officer of the CSL DualCom Group, where he spent a year. This came on the back of an extended period with AlixPartners, during which he had a material involvement in AlixPartners’ acquisition and integration of ZolfoCooper, a leading financial advisory firm, in 2015. He joined the global restructuring advisory firm in 2008, after almost a decade as the CFO and Director of Operations Grey Healthcare Group, a subsidiary of WPP.
Commenting on the appointment, Andrew Middleton, CEO of Catalyst, said, “Didier joins us at an extremely exciting time in Catalyst’s history and his expert knowledge will be a great asset to our growing company. Didier has a proven track record and will play a major role in our planned future acquisitions and subsequent integrations.”
Didier Faure himself added, “I am delighted to be joining Catalyst and look forward to helping them to achieve their ambitious growth plans. I am pleased to have found a firm which shares my passion for accelerating business and operational performance in their clients and wants to apply that approach to growing their own business. “
Related: Financial services consultancy Catalyst Development triples headcount.
