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Colin
Adams

Senior Managing Director
New York Office Leader
New York

A senior turnaround leader with a rare mix of operating, investment, and legal experience, brought to the most complex restructurings, recapitalizations, and turnarounds.

Colin Adams, Senior Managing Director
$35B+
Indebtedness & Equity Restructured Across the Capital Structure
45+
Companies Advised Through Financial or Operational Dislocation
20+
Boards Served as an Independent Director
10
Businesses Led as a C-Suite Executive
Background

Three decades of leadership through crisis resulting in recovered value.

Colin Adams is a senior turnaround professional who draws on his operating, financial, investment and legal experience to accelerate growth and unlock value for clients. Few people in the market bring all four.

Colin began his career in corporate law and became a partner at Kirkland & Ellis in 2007. In 2010 he joined Morgan Stanley, where he built and led a special-situations direct investment business. He went on to serve as a Senior Managing Director at M3 Partners, a global turnaround and financial advisory firm, and most recently as Partner and Chief Operating Officer of Uzzi & Lall before joining Areté.

Over the course of his career, Colin has restructured more than $35 billion of indebtedness and equity at every level of the capital structure. He has been a C-suite leader for ten businesses that were successfully stabilized, has served on more than 20 boards as an independent director, and has advised the management, boards, or stakeholders of more than 45 companies facing financial or operational dislocation, including Sears, Neiman Marcus, American Airlines, and Relativity Media.

He holds an A.B. in economics and history from Duke University and a J.D. with a Certificate in Business Law from the UCLA School of Law. He has taught corporate restructuring and value investing at Duke, Columbia Business School, and NYU School of Law, and co-founded Reserve Aid, which has raised more than $20 million for the families of deployed reservists.

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Areas of Expertise
Restructuring & Recapitalization
Consensual and in-court restructurings, recapitalizations, and 363 sales across the capital structure, from covenant defaults through Chapter 11.
Interim & C-Suite Leadership
Interim CEO, COO, CRO, and executive chair roles that stabilize operations and liquidity and drive measurable EBITDA improvement.
Board & Fiduciary Service
Independent director, special committee, and chair roles that resolve governance conflicts, investigations, and stakeholder disputes.
Special-Situations Investing
Sourcing, underwriting, and managing distressed and opportunistic debt and equity investments, built leading a special-situations business at a global bank.
Legal & Transaction Execution
A deep legal foundation across credit agreements, M&A, securities, and complex litigation, from a partnership at a leading law firm.
Client Work
Notable Engagements
Sears Retail / Deputy Chief Restructuring Officer
Neiman Marcus Retail / UCC Advisor
American Airlines Airline / Lender Advisor
Twitter Technology / Expert Witness, Special Committee
Relativity Media Film & Television / Interim CEO
Gulfport Energy Oil & Gas / Special Committee Advisor
Akorn Pharmaceuticals Pharmaceuticals / Chief Restructuring Officer
Sleep Number Consumer Products / Special Committee
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