A chief restructuring officer (CRO) is a senior officer of a company given broad powers to renegotiate all aspects of a company's finances to deal with an impending

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

or to restructure a company following a bankruptcy filing. The use of CROs, who usually have an expertise in the field of business in which the company operates, has been increasing in popularity since the 1990s. CROs are sometimes seen as an alternative to using a

trustee in bankruptcy A trustee in bankruptcy is an entity, often an individual, in charge of administering a bankruptcy estate. Canada In Canada, a licensed insolvency trustee (LIT) is an individual or a corporation licensed by the official superintendent to hold ...

in a reorganization bankruptcy, because the trustees may not be knowledgeable in field of business conducted by the company. Further CROs give the company management and

creditor A creditor or lender is a party (e.g., person, organization, company, or government) that has a claim on the services of a second party. It is a person or institution to whom money is owed. The first party, in general, has provided some property ...

s more of say in the running of a company than a trustee is required to do so. CRO's have sometimes been compared to "turn around" consultants although the CRO differs from a turn around consultant in that the CRO is an official of the company and has executive power. While CROs officially report to the company and its board of directors, they are considered to have greatly strengthened the hand of creditors since the CRO can make executive decisions following a direct meeting with the creditors. On occasional instances, the CRO can oust the chief executive officer (CEO) or president of the company, as happened in 2012 when

Gregory F. Rayburn Gregory F. Rayburn (born 1958) is an American businessman. He formerly served as Chairman and CEO of Hostess Brands. Career After receiving an undergraduate and master of arts degree in Accounting from the University of Alabama in 1982, he became ...

replaced

Hostess Brands Hostess Brands is an American-based bakery company formed in 2013. It owns several bakeries in the United States that produce snack cakes under the Hostess and Dolly Madison brand names and its Canadian subsidiary, Voortman Cookies Limited, pro ...

CEO Brian Driscoll as CEO a month after being appointed CRO.

References

{{Corporate titles Corporate governance Management occupations * Legal professions United States bankruptcy law Insolvency