Chief Restructuring Officer

Direct restructuring leadership when financial pressure requires more than advisory support.

Overview

A Chief Restructuring Officer provides dedicated financial and restructuring leadership when the demands of a distressed situation exceed management's available capacity or require greater financial control, coordination, and accountability.

Fortis serves as CRO for privately held businesses generally under $20 million in annual revenue in both out-of-court restructurings and Chapter 11 or Subchapter V proceedings. The role is defined around the needs of the engagement and may include responsibility for liquidity management, financial reporting, restructuring administration, stakeholder coordination, viability analysis, and execution.

Fortis approaches the CRO mandate without a predetermined outcome. The objective is to establish control, determine what the business and capital structure can realistically support, preserve value where viable, and execute the appropriate restructuring, sale, transition, wind-down, or liquidation strategy.

We establish decision-grade clarity around:

Liquidity & Cash Flow Control
Restructuring Administration & Execution
Management, Counsel & Stakeholder Coordination
Chapter 11 & Subchapter V Support
Asset Monetization & Liquidation Execution

Key Areas of Expertise

Financial control, restructuring coordination, and disciplined execution for privately held businesses in distress.

Liquidity & Financial Control

13-Week Cash Flow & Cash Collateral

Budget-to-Actual Variance Management

Cash Controls & Payment Prioritization

Financial Reporting & Reconciliation

Restructuring Administration

Restructuring Workstream Coordination

Critical Milestone & Decision Management

Management Reporting & Accountability

Sale, Transition & Wind-Down Execution

Stakeholder & Court Coordination

Counsel, Lender & Creditor Coordination

Chapter 11 & Subchapter V Support

Trustee & Stakeholder Reporting

Financial Analysis & Testimony

Viability & Recovery

Operating & Contribution Margin Analysis

Business & Location Viability

Capital Stack & Debt Analysis

Asset Monetization & Liquidation Planning

Results

Approach

The Fortis CRO Framework

The CRO mandate begins by establishing financial control and clear responsibility for the restructuring process. From there, Fortis evaluates what the business and capital structure can support, then coordinates execution with management, counsel, lenders, and other stakeholders.

Phase I — Establish Control

Restructuring begins with reliable financial information and defined accountability.

We establish a decision-grade view of liquidity, immediate obligations, financial reporting, lender exposure, stakeholder requirements, and the decisions that cannot be deferred. This includes 13-week cash flow forecasting, cash collateral analysis where applicable, and a reporting cadence management and counsel can rely on.

Control begins with three questions:

How much liquidity is actually available?
What obligations and decisions require immediate attention?
What financial information can management, counsel, and stakeholders rely upon?

Without reliable control, restructuring becomes reactive.

Phase II — Determine the Path

The CRO must distinguish between what is desirable and what the business can realistically support.

We assess the operating business, liquidity runway, capital structure, stakeholder leverage, and recovery alternatives to determine the path the circumstances support.

Potential paths may include:

Operating restructuring or lender workout
Recapitalization or debt restructuring
Chapter 11 or Subchapter V
Business or asset sale
Operating contraction or transition
Controlled wind-down or liquidation

Fortis approaches this assessment without a predetermined outcome. The objective is to identify the path that best preserves enterprise value and stakeholder recovery under the circumstances.

Phase III — Drive Execution

Once the path is determined, responsibility shifts from analysis to implementation.

Fortis coordinates the financial and restructuring workstreams required to implement the strategy while maintaining liquidity control, monitoring performance and milestones, and supporting communication among management, counsel, lenders, and other stakeholders.

Execution may include:

Cash flow and cash collateral management
Creditor and lender coordination
Operational restructuring
Court and stakeholder reporting
Business or asset sale execution
Asset monetization and liquidation

Because Fortis operates across both restructuring and liquidation, the strategy can adapt as the facts and economics require.

Diagnose → Stabilize → Determine Path → Execute

Subchapter V CRO Leadership

Restructuring leadership built for smaller businesses.

Subchapter V provides qualifying small businesses with a streamlined Chapter 11 restructuring framework. The financial and operational demands of the process, however, can still be substantial.

A smaller privately held company may simultaneously be managing compressed liquidity, secured lenders, SBA debt, tax obligations, trade creditors, cash collateral requirements, court deadlines, reporting obligations, and the continuing demands of running a business.

What it often lacks is an internal restructuring team.

Fortis operates in that gap.

We provide hands-on CRO leadership for smaller privately held businesses that need experienced financial control and restructuring accountability but may not fit the staffing or cost structure of a large restructuring firm.

The CRO works alongside debtor's counsel, management, lenders, creditors, and the Subchapter V trustee while taking responsibility for defined financial, operational, administrative, and restructuring workstreams.

Counsel directs legal strategy. The Subchapter V trustee performs the statutory role established by the Bankruptcy Code. Fortis provides the financial and restructuring execution necessary to help move the case toward a supportable outcome.

Restructure When Viable. Monetize When Necessary.

One of the most important decisions in any distressed situation is whether continued operations are preserving value or consuming it.

Fortis brings both restructuring experience and direct liquidation capability to the CRO role.

Some businesses can be stabilized and reorganized. Some must become smaller. Some need to sell assets or locations to preserve a viable core. Some should transition ownership. And some produce greater recovery through an orderly wind-down or liquidation.

Fortis understands both sides of that decision.

Liquidation is not simply a downside scenario in our analysis. We understand the execution required to convert inventory and other assets into cash, manage operating expenses through a wind-down, preserve recoveries, and coordinate the final disposition of remaining assets.

Within Chapter 11 or Subchapter V, that capability can support a controlled sale or liquidation strategy within the debtor-in-possession framework when reorganization is no longer the best economic outcome.

The appropriate legal structure is determined with bankruptcy counsel. Fortis provides the financial, operational, and recovery execution necessary to support the strategy.

Restructuring experience matters when continued operations preserve value.

Liquidation experience matters when monetization produces the better outcome.

A CRO should understand both.