Careers at Riveron: Spotlight on Restructuring & Turnaround Services
Restructuring and turnaround professionals across Riveron share recent career highlights, including unique growth opportunities and the value delivered to clients.
Why work at Riveron?
Experience career-changing projects working alongside client decision-makers and seasoned leaders. Learn more:
Riveron partners with our clients to elevate performance and expand possibilities—and we provide the same opportunities for our people. Spanning restructurings, bankruptcies, and other turnaround scenarios, our teams work at the center of finance and operations-focused projects to serve distressed businesses and other stakeholders.
Riveron’s restructuring and turnaround professionals bring client possibilities to life and share project highlights that have enriched their careers:
Guiding executives at distressed businesses to reimagine their finance and operations
Kwaku Danso-Abeam, Director, Detroit
“At Riveron, I work with underperforming and distressed companies to assess and evaluate alternatives to resolve challenging liquidity issues and create value.
One of my clients had a business crippled with significant debt, and the organization continued to be in default of its financial covenants with its lenders due to consistently poor performance across finance and operations. These issues resulted from the effects of bad business decisions from previous management, the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as supply chain constraints. Serving as a financial advisor in a capacity that transformed the organization, our team created a comprehensive bottoms-up business plan. The plan included a financial model for the client and its lender group, which was primarily comprised of banks and private equity investors, to help the parties fully understand the viability of the business as well as its immediate and future cash needs.
The projects I’ve worked on have been a rewarding career experience as our team’s business plans have allowed the various constituents to make optimal decisions that were in the best interest of the organization and drive value—whether through additional capital infusion, acquisition, or reorganization. Our approach has been very welcomed by our client’s senior executives and their lenders.”
Providing interim financial leadership and success for clients, buyers, and lenders
Matt Dalton, Director, Boston
“During my time working in restructuring and turnaround services, I’ve experienced a full spectrum of engagements ranging from business and financial assessments to interim management roles to bankruptcies resulting in liquidations and asset sales. Working across a multitude of engagements, I’ve had opportunities to work closely with C-level management, provide day-to-day support across various business functions, optimize efficiencies, and bring fresh perspectives to meet our client’s needs.
Working on long-term bankruptcy engagements has allowed me to better understand the bankruptcy process from start to finish as we walk our clients through the entire process, outline and define the different options, and then help them execute. During one engagement, after a client’s CFO resigned, I filled the role as an interim CFO/controller and worked closely with the CEO, COO, and investment bank. We were able to successfully sell the business to a strategic buyer thus preserving a family-owned business and saving over 200 jobs. This engagement was especially rewarding as the outcome was beneficial to all parties involved—our client, the buyer, and the lender.
When I first started working in restructuring and turnaround services at Riveron, I quickly realized and enjoyed how invaluable the experiences were, offering daily learnings as we get deeply involved in projects that have a fast-paced nature. A career in restructuring and turnaround services affords professionals many opportunities to understand how different companies and organizations run—from the inside out and provides a view across various industries. I’ve worked on engagements in a multitude of different industries including aerospace and defense, retail, distribution, manufacturing, and more. At Riveron, I am continually learning new things and expanding my knowledge base.”
Addressing liquidity challenges with creative, expertise-backed business solutions
Brittany Hasselbring, Manager, Chicago
“In my work at Riveron, one of my main areas of focus is helping clients navigate liquidity challenges. Most recently, I have been able to leverage my experience and expertise to help clients navigate the inventory appraisal process with the overall goal of improving liquidity but also educating the client on the process along the way.
One client was facing a tight liquidity position and was also in the process of undergoing their annual inventory appraisal to support their asset-backed loan credit limit. I was able to leverage my appraisal expertise to identify unaddressed gaps in the valuation and to help the company effectively communicate those findings with the appraisal team. The overall result was an improved appraisal outcome which meant increased borrowing limits and thus an increase to the overall liquidity available to the company.
Solutions for most of our clients are not a one-size-fits-all approach. At Riveron, we embrace and encourage an entrepreneurial approach to problem solving, which allows professionals the autonomy to be creative in order to come up with the best solution for our clients. This provides a very rewarding working environment, fosters growth and development for the professional and happy clients because of the solutions-focused, no-nonsense approach that ultimately translates into results.”
Tackling turnaround scenarios and optimizing decisions through detailed cash flow analysis
Chad Porterfield, Director, Chicago
“In one of my recent projects, a consumer products company faced severe cash flow issues due to multiple celebrity product launches that fell short of forecast. My role involved managing the 13-week cash flow forecast in the weekly disbursements process that helped extend the cash runway. One of the most rewarding things about this project was the level of coordination needed to manage the company through the turnaround process. Whether it was partnering with liquidators to monetize inventory, factoring accounts receivable to bring in cash, or ultimately resizing the overhead cost structure, each area of focus was instrumental to keeping the company afloat.
Working for Riveron gives the ability to chart your own career trajectory, and there are countless accomplished individuals in the firm to learn from and help colleagues grow. One area of personal growth has been continuing to refine my modeling skills specific to the 13-week cash flow forecast in a distressed environment, which requires extreme detail and precision. Without this information it can be ineffective to manage a business, and I have been able to see the impact of my work on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis.
One of the great things at Riveron is the policy for professionals to ‘design your own day’ while working with clients and collaborating with colleagues across the firm. For the past two years, I’ve been able to spend the month of January skiing in the backcountry in Utah—while effectively balancing my work schedule and serving clients. The design-your-own-day policy enables me to enjoy my career and pursue something outside of work that I’m passionate about.”