Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) has extended its Travel, Hospitality and Leisure sector expertise by appointing Chicago-based Sooho Choi as Managing Director within the firm’s Corporate Performance Improvement (CPI) practice. Mr. Choi’s hire demonstrates A&M’s commitment to helping the industry drive change and maximize value against a challenging, volatile backdrop.

Choi advises clients on strategies and implementation for achieving growth, enhancing the customer experience and capitalizing on commercial optimization. As a recognized hospitality and leisure industry expert, Mr. Choi’s notable engagements include:

• The modernization and digital transformation program for one of the largest, global quick serve restaurant chains.
• The delivery of a $5+ billion a year e-Commerce platform for a major travel company. 
• The comprehensive growth transformation program for one of the world’s largest heavy equipment dealers that included targeted multi-year growth opportunities of $5 billion.
• The financial standardization and offshoring program for a global airline that achieved ~$10 million of annualized savings.
• The outsourcing of execution services that generated an annual IT savings run rate of $50 million for a hotel chain.

Choi’s hire represents the next strategic phase of CPI’s expanding transformation offering, across multiple industries, and demonstrates the firm’s global network of boots-on-the-ground approach. Alongside his mandate to build out CPI’s travel, hospitality and leisure team, Mr. Choi will work with multi-disciplinary A&M leaders connected to this industry sector, including Ed Bingnold, Hunt Holsomback, Marvin Rust and Nikola Reid.

Mike Davidson, a Managing Director and Co-leader of A&M’s CPI practice, said, “Evolving changes in demand, rising costs, ongoing digital disruption and increasingly complex financing environments will continue to present challenges alongside opportunities for industry players. Sooho’s in-depth sector knowledge and ability to solve complex operational problems aligns with our clients’ needs and our culture. His expertise advances our transformation offering for travel, hospitality and leisure clients and augments our sector bench strength firm wide.”

Prior to joining A&M, Choi was an Executive Vice President at Publicis Sapient. In that role, he served as global lead for the dining and travel sectors and was responsible for digital transformation programs. Previously, he served as a Managing Director at Accenture holding senior management consulting roles in addition to leadership responsibilities across Southeast Asia.