Rav Hayer, Faisal Ahmad and Ian Foottit join Alvarez & Marsal
Alvarez & Marsal has appointed three Managing Directors to its London office. Rav Hayer, Faisal Ahmad and Ian Foottit take up the roles as the firm continues its strategic expansion.
The appointments beef up the digital banking, payments, data and intelligence offerings of Alvarez & Marsal (A&M), along with the company’s ability to provide effective and tailored solutions for private equity backed mid-caps. Hayer and Ahmad will lead the firm’s UK Digital Banking and Data Intelligence team, while Foottit’s 25 years of banking and payments strategy experience will bolster A&M’s financial services offering.
Jean Laurent Poitou, Managing Director and A&M’s Head of Digital, EMEA, said, “Rav, Faisal and Ian join A&M with varied skillsets, but each with unique digital credibility and industry expertise. Businesses need specialised, hands-on, operational advice, and the addition of Rav, Faisal and Ian will ensure A&M continues to provide just that.”
Rav Hayer specialises in applying and integrating disruptive technologies to help clients transform their businesses, and will focus on using high quality data to add value for clients. Bringing 20 years of experience to the role, he joins A&M from PwC’s risk business, where he oversaw digital, data and analytics for banking and capital markets in the UK.
Speaking on his new challenge, Hayer stated, “Companies, no matter their sector, face a rapidly evolving environment and clients, particularly financial institutions and digital banking operations, continuously ask how they can transform digitally. Businesses need partners that can help them improve their data strategies and ensure greater agility for meeting their customers’ demands.”
Faisal Ahmad also arrives from PwC, having previously spent 15 years with the Big Four firm. This was primarily in its deals division in London, where he led a range of global data intelligence and analytics projects for private equity funds and the firm’s portfolio companies, driving performance improvement, value creation and deal-readiness. At A&M, he will help companies leverage data intelligence to drive business performance across multiple areas, and will initially focus on introducing a new data-led approach in support of private equity clients and their portfolio companies.
Ahmad reflected, “We’re at a cloud computing capability inflexion point. While the cost of data processing has declined, data volumes have risen exponentially, leading to the increasingly rapid adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Clients need advisors with the right blend of commercial and operational experience to help them capitalize on opportunities and drive change with successful digital integration at scale and pace.”
Ian Foottit arrives from another Big Four firm. He formerly spent 16 years with Deloitte, where he led the firm’s financial services strategy team. In that time, he supported more than 60 projects focusing on growth and innovation; most recently working with a buy now, pay later (BNPL) player to re-assess its strategy and participation in the UK market. He also co-founded Deloitte’s European payments practice. At A&M, he will primarily focus on performance improvement, growth and M&A.
Foottit added, “It’s vital to bring a strategic perspective to everything we do for our clients, to work in tandem with deep technical expertise and hands-on execution. This is especially true in the banking and payments space, where supporting businesses to maximise long term value alongside driving shorter-term earnings is crucial.”
