Globe-trotting Alvarez & Marsal leader Neil Hayward on his career journey
After earlier working in the US and Europe, Alvarez & Marsal’s former Middle East co-leader Neil Hayward jumped at the opportunity to rejoin the consultancy when it set up shop in Australia.
Across an eventful career spanning more than 25 years, turnaround & restructuring expert Neil Hayward has spent time living and working in the business recovery sector out of the US, UK, and Middle East, the latter where he would first join Alvarez & Marsal from PwC in 2017 as regional head of restructuring and serve as office co-leader alongside Saeeda Jaffar.
When Jaffar joined from Bain & Company one year earlier, A&M’s regional headcount stood at four. That figure today is probably somewhere closer to the 300-mark, but nevertheless the firm’s restructuring arm was engaged on some of the GCC region’s most significant cases during Hayward’s time driving its early growth, including the disastrous Abraaj collapse.
After a brief detour as a partner at KordaMentha upon arriving down under in 2020, Hayward has once again had the chance to experience the rush of a rapidly growing local advisory practice backed by the firepower of a major global player, this time with A&M’s burgeoning Australian branch since rejoining the firm as a managing director in Sydney in 2023.
Now, as part of a spotlight series on returning alumni – or so-called ‘boomerangs’ – Hayward has discussed his career journey to date in an extensive in-house interview published on A&M’s global website, including the lessons he’s gained from repeated border-hopping and their useful application in the business and consultancy realm.
Australia
“I left A&M in the Middle East for Australia in 2020 and would have stayed within the company if there had been an office here,” Hayward says in the Q&A, with A&M only really ramping up its local operations two years after his arrival. “So when Alvarez & Marsal opened up in Australia, I was extremely excited about the opportunity of again working at the firm.”
He adds; “As in many new markets that A&M opens in, Australia is dominated by the Big Four and global management consultancies, all of which have suffered reputational and commercial issues in recent years. A&M’s focus on bringing leadership to situations, delivering results quickly, and working alongside clients is a real differentiator and already generating great traction with clients.”
Globe-trotting
It’s not unusual for career consultants to spend time living and working on projects in different parts of the world, but Hayward’s passport is probably a little bit more tattered than most. In addition to being based out of New York, London, and Dubai for around a half a decade each, Hayward has been engaged on assignments in dozens of countries as far afield as Saudi Arabia, Norway, Canada, and Pakistan, just to name a few.
On this subject, he contends moving abroad can be difficult in the short-term, including, alongside the standard logistical issues of uprooting and heading overseas, having to adapt your work approach and prove yourself all over again in a different market, but then massively beneficial in the medium-to-long term, from both a business and personal perspective.
“You challenge yourself in a new environment,” says Hayward, who in an effort to assimilate into the community joined the Bronte Surf Life Saving Club upon his arrival and ended up leading training and participating in its beach patrol; “You immerse in cultures and experiences you would never have otherwise, and this is why it’s also an enjoyable and hugely beneficial experience.”
As to how his expat experiences have shaped his approach to consulting, Hayward responds; “I think the biggest lesson for me has been not to assume anything, but to ask lots of questions to really understand the situation and perspective of stakeholders. Then I apply the best solution, developed from the different experiences I’ve had in each of the places I’ve worked.”
Career advice
While sharing his own experiences, Hayward also acknowledges the mentors he’s had across the journey. Before his move into consulting, Hayward earned a master’s degree in engineering and French from the University of Nottingham. Since then, he’s received advice from many senior leaders, including the big man himself; A&M co-founder and former CEO Bryan Marsal.
“Bryan gave me the confidence to believe I could actually be a chief restructuring officer, and the focus to make a successful career at A&M,” Hayward says. “I will never forget his pep talk when I first joined the firm from PwC on the challenges that would come and how I would be successful. It was the motivation I needed. He also gave me the crucial insight that work should be fun.”
Hayward concludes; “Moving between Europe, the Middle East and now Australia, I think my family has been forced to learn to adapt to new situations quickly. Our experience in the Middle East was probably the best learning experience of all. My children had 140 different nationalities at their school, so observed Diwali, Ramadan, and Christmas, and learned about many other cultures.”
