Michael Grindfors, AlixPartners’ chief executive officer, said, “I’m very pleased to have seasoned, broad-gauged businessmen such as Stefano and Peter in these roles at this time, as AlixPartners continues to expand both globally and in terms of services. Our firm’s unique business model, which is based on senior practitioners delivering client service, a ‘results-not-just-reports’ work ethic and a ‘skin-in–the-game’ compensation model, will be well-served by Stefano’s and Peter’s energy, enthusiasm and business acumen.”

Grindfors went on to note that a big part of Aversa’s and Fitzsimmons’ duties will be continuing the firm’s expansion into the areas of corporate consulting and litigation advisory, beyond the company’s well-known stronghold in corporate turnaround. “Over the past ten years,” said Grindfors, “AlixPartners has enjoyed organic revenue growth of 30% annually on a compounded basis, and today more than half of our revenue comes from work with healthy companies. Yet, all the while, we’ve remained very much a leader in the restructuring industry – in fact, in 2006 alone AlixPartners was retained in two of the three biggest corporate bankruptcies in the United States.”

In his new role, Aversa, previously stationed in Detroit, will oversee AlixPartners’ growth in Asia as well as deeper into European markets. He was a founding member of the firm’s Milan office when he joined in April 2003. He has more than 20 years of experience leading performance improvement initiatives in such industries as automotive, consumer goods, retail, chemicals and construction. In particular, he has helped several automakers and suppliers through strategic and operational transitions in Europe and the U.S. He joined AlixPartners from A.T. Kearney Inc., where he served for 15 years, most recently as the global leader of that firm’s automotive and aerospace practice. Aversa holds an MBA from the University of Turin and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and robotics from the University of Florence.

Fitzsimmons, most recently located in London and now charged with taking AlixPartners’ North American business to the next level, has a deep background in stabilizing and turning around underperforming companies, and in providing financial restructuring advice to senior executives and creditor groups. He joined AlixPartners’ New York office in November 1995, and then moved to the U.K. in 2002 to lay the groundwork for the firm’s expansion into Europe starting in 2003. He has served in interim-executive roles at several companies, and among his most notable clients are Parmalat SpA and WorldCom Corp., where he helped lead the development and implementation of a cash-focused restructuring plan involving businesses in Asia, Latin America and Europe. Prior to joining AlixPartners, Fitzsimmons worked in the restructuring and reorganization group at Ernst & Young LLP in New York. He also was an operating manager in the retail and distribution industries. He holds an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College.

“AlixPartners is literally changing the way consulting is done,” said Aversa. “Our business model of using seasoned, senior people to help solve our clients’ challenges, rather than freshly-minted MBAs, is truly different in our industry. And I’m confident that more and more clients throughout the world, including private-equity funds and other corporate owners, will find our approach to be as refreshing and results-oriented as so many other clients have already.”

Fitzsimmons added, “AlixPartners now serves the entire spectrum of companies, from healthy to challenged to troubled ones. Our ‘services footprint’ is much wider than that of either traditional turnaround firms or typical consulting companies, and I think our clients benefit greatly from our broad background and capabilities. We are truly a ‘one-stop shop’ for clients looking for real results to their urgent business problems.”

Grindfors went on to note that more than half of AlixPartners’ 2006 revenues came from “healthy-company” clients, and that such present or past clients include Water Pik Technologies Inc., Toys “R” Us Inc., Henkel Corp. (the U.S. affiliate of Henkel KGaA) and Ferrari SpA. In addition, he said, a large number of major private-equity firms and other financial owners are partnering with the firm to help create value in their portfolio companies.

About AlixPartners
AlixPartners is a global performance improvement, corporate turnaround and financial advisory services firm. The AlixPartners’ “one-stop-shop” suite of services range from operational performance improvement and financial restructuring across all major corporate disciplines (manufacturing, supply chain, IT, sales and marketing, etc.), to financial advisory services (including financial reporting, corporate governance and investigations) to technology-enabled restructuring and claims management. Headquartered in Southfield, Michigan, the firm has approximately 600 employees, and has offices in Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Düsseldorf, London, Los Angeles, Milan, Munich, New York, Paris, San Francisco and Tokyo. It is on the Web at www.alixpartners.com.