David Garfield and Rob Hornby named co-CEOs of AlixPartners
AlixPartners has announced it will be dividing its global CEO role in two. Co-CEOs David Garfield and Rob Hornby step into the shoes of long-serving Simon Freakley, who is now executive chairman of the consultancy.
AlixPartners is a New York-headquartered consultancy with offices around the world. Since 1981, the international business advisory firm has been known for its work in corporate turnarounds, bankruptcy assignments and restructuring.
Since 2015, the firm has been headed up by Simon Freakley – who stepped into the shoes of another long-term CEO, Fred Crawford, who had been in the role for 11 years previously. Under Freakley’s watch, the firm has grown significantly in size and market recognition.
AlixPartners now advises many global large corporate, private equity and law firm clients, and is recognised as a leading name in corporate transformations and high impact consulting. But after a decade in charge, Freakley will now hand that legacy on – and instead become Executive Chairman.
He commented, “As proud as I am of our firm’s achievements over the past nine years, I am equally energized about what lies ahead. As our clients regularly tell us, AlixPartners is uniquely qualified to help them capitalise on the opportunities and mitigate the challenges, arising from an increasingly disrupted business environment.”
But there is significant change at the top of AlixPartners, not just because there will be a new name in the CEO’s office. In fact, the firm is dividing the job in two – so that David Garfield and Rob Hornby will now serve as co-CEOs of the company – with Freakley adding he looks forward to working with them, as they “lead the firm to even greater success.”
Garfield is a proven executive and business leader with a consistent track record of driving profitable growth and shareholder value. He has worked across all of AlixPartners’s client constituencies – corporate clients, private equity, and referral channels, and most recently served as the firm’s global head of industries, responsible for all the firm’s commercial activity by sector, where the firm has grown both revenues and profitability significantly. Before life at AlixPartners, he also served as a global relationship partner at PwC, and co-president of Encore Corporation.
He noted, “It’s an immense privilege to have been selected to lead our firm. AlixPartners is a special business, made up of brilliant people, who come together to deliver outstanding outcomes for our clients. Our firm’s success has always been built on combining respect, expertise and trust in everything that we do in pursuit of the best possible outcomes for our clients, and this is exactly how Rob and I will work together as we take on our new role.”
Hornby meanwhile is a career technologist, who has been with AlixPartners since 2011. Having begun his career with seven years at Andersen Business Consulting, he spent time in industry with Sky and Old Mutual, before returning to the consulting sector to help AlixPartners’ clients make the most of digital innovation to drive commercial success and enterprise value. He has held several senior leadership positions, including head of the firm’s digital practice and, over the past four years, EMEA regional leader, during which time he oversaw a doubling of the region’s revenues.
Hornby concluded, “David and I are inheriting an incredible platform for growth and innovation at an exciting time for both our firm and the industry we are a part of. It’s a sector in which we know we already stand out, but there is even more opportunity to do so ahead of us as we blend technological precision with best-in-class human insight. I’m very excited about what the next leg of the AlixPartners journey looks like and am honoured to have been chosen to play my part in leading it.”
