Being Indispensable-A Turnaround Origin Story
July 25, 2024
The pressroom shakes you up. Not just because of its size—printing plants are huge, to stage all the unprinted paper at the beginning, store the
The Plan identifies what’s actually driving profit and what’s destroying value through systematic diagnosis of three error types: Strategy Errors (companies abandon profitable core products), Measurement Errors (faulty cost systems hide true performance), and Execution Errors (poor implementation of sound strategy).
The Team engages employees in creating and owning solutions rather than imposing cuts from above.
Financing builds credibility with lenders through consistent delivery on realistic commitments.
This isn’t cost-cutting. It’s strategic refocusing that restores sustainable profitability.
Walter Simson has over 40 years of turnaround management experience. Upon turning around a family manufacturing firm, he studied finance at NYU’s Stern Graduate School of Business. After earning his MBA he joined Allomet Partners, a Turnaround Management Association founder firm. Simson has completed over 60 successful turnaround engagements including bank workouts and refinancings; chapter 11s, ABCs and receiverships; performance improvement assignments and postings in CEO, CRO and CFO roles. Simson’s assignments are usually on behalf of the debtor, whether in the form of a PE firm, trust or family ownership. He is the author of Core Turnaround Strategy: The Indispensable Business Restructuring Guide (2026). Prior to his consulting career, he worked at The Chase Manhattan Bank where he completed a number of international assignments. He graduated from Columbia University in the City of New York.
Joe has over 25 years of investment banking, advisory, and operating experience. He is a Managing Director of Corporate Finance Associates, where he advises business owners, boards, and senior management on mergers and acquisitions, financings, valuation, exit planning, and restructurings.
Joe’s perspective comes from both sides of the table. As an investor and operator of four middle-market businesses, he learned firsthand what drives value and what destroys it. One didn’t work out. Two were great. One returned 14x in four years. His best advice: plan the exit before you need one.
Prior to CFA, Joe founded The Spectrum Capital Group in 1996, an investment banking and merchant banking firm that completed dozens of transactions with both healthy and distressed businesses. In 2009, Spectrum sold its investment banking practice to Morgan Keegan, a subsidiary of Regions Financial. Earlier, Joe was VP of Fulcrum Capital, directed corporate development for a children’s clothing company that grew from $12 million to over $100 million in four years, and began his career as a CPA with Arthur Andersen and an associate with Merrill Lynch in New York.
His clients are generally private companies with revenues between $25 and $300 million.
Walter Simson has over 35 years of turnaround management experience. Upon turning around a family manufacturing firm, he studied finance at NYU’s Stern Graduate School of Business with bankruptcy pioneer, Dr. Edward I. Altman.
After earning his MBA he joined Allomet Partners, a Turnaround Management Association founder firm. Simson has completed over 40 successful turnaround engagements including bank workouts and refinancings; chapter 11; performance improvement assignments and interim or permanent management as both a CEO and CFO.
Most companies are shocked by what the X-Ray reveals. The products leadership thinks are profitable often destroy value. The customers who demand the most attention frequently contribute the least profit. The X-Ray cuts through cost allocation games and political assumptions to show economic reality.
Once you see your true core, the turnaround strategy becomes clear. Focus resources on what actually works. Fix or eliminate what doesn’t.
Fixed-price engagements that produce comprehensive turnaround plans. Following extensive interviews and financial analysis using our Core Product/Core Customer methodology, we deliver strategic roadmaps with specific implementation steps, timeline, and success metrics.
Full-service engagements when companies lack internal resources to develop and execute turnaround plans. We work alongside management teams to implement strategic changes, build systems, and restore operational effectiveness.
Direct leadership roles when companies need experienced turnaround executives. We serve as interim CEO, CFO, or Chief Restructuring Officer, providing hands-on management during critical transition periods.
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