Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) announced the appointment of Mike Oakley as a Managing Director in the Private Equity Performance Improvement (PEPI) practice with a specialization in Aerospace, Defense, Aviation and Space (ADAS). Based in Miami, Oakley’s joining reflects the growth of the firm’s Miami office, underlines A&M’s commitment to the ADAS sector and bolsters its buy and sell-side M&A transactions bench strength for private equity (PE) and corporate clients.
Oakley focuses on engagements spanning the M&A transaction life cycle. He advises and supports clients in strategic assessments and rationale, transaction structuring, valuation, due diligence, sale/purchase agreements, negotiations and large-scale integration and separation programs.
James Marceau, a Managing Director in PEPI and a leader of A&M’s Aerospace, Defense, Aviation & Space group, highlighted Oakley’s extensive external and internal transformation expertise, “Mike knows how to conceptualize and implement real world applications of mission-critical technology. He understands the challenges and opportunities that operations, carve-outs and post-merger integrations present to original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and Primes. His insights will advance our ability to help clients maximize value and drive change.”
Prior to joining A&M, Oakley spent ten years at L3Harris Technologies as a strategy and business development executive, where he executed over $20 billion of buy, sell-side and venture capital transactions. Before that he served as Vice President, Strategy and Planning for RailAmerica, Inc., a holding company of 45 short-line railroad operations across North America. Oakley was part of the private equity backed leadership team that led the turnaround, IPO and eventual sale of RailAmerica. Previously, Oakley served as a KPMG Managing Director in strategy and held multiple M&A transaction advisory roles on global transactions of $50+ billion for some of the world’s premier corporations.
Luigi “Lou” Peluso, a Managing Director in PEPI, said, “Mike’s significant advisory and management achievements align with A&M’s operational heritage and results-driven mindset. His focus is helping clients solve complex real-world problems. His deep ADAS sector expertise combined with his 360-degree M&A knowledge gives clients an added advantage for identifying current and future opportunities.”
Oakley commented, “Technology and innovation is moving at an unprecedented pace in the ADAS industry. Acquiring strategic capabilities through M&A and equity investments can significantly contribute to achieving strategic objectives and accelerating growth. Our deep experience and integrated M&A delivery platform enables us to seamlessly plug-in to a M&A process and deal team where we can deliver the most value to clients..”
Oakley earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Loyola University of Chicago. He completed post-graduate programs at Babson College in business strategy