Alvarez & Marsal Expands Presence in Central and Eastern Europe with Opening of Poland Office

Alvarez & Marsal, a leading independent global professional services firm specializing in performance improvement, turnaround management and business advisory services, has expanded its presence in Central and Eastern Europe with the opening of a Warsaw, Poland office. Thomas Kolaja, founder of Warsaw-based Kolaja & Partners, a premiere interim management and restructuring firm dedicated to serving Central and Eastern Europe, has joined Alvarez & Marsal as a managing director and head of A&M’s restructuring practice in Poland.
The announcement signals A&M’s growing commitment to the region with Warsaw serving as an integral connection between the firm’s teams in Moscow and Germany.
“Poland’s emergence as a center for global and regional business underscores the importance of our ongoing efforts to build a strong A&M presence in Central and Eastern Europe,” said Peter Briggs, a managing director and head of Alvarez & Marsal’s turnaround and performance improvement practices in Germany, Russia / CIS and Central and Eastern Europe. “Tom’s proven track record combined with A&M’s global reach will be a powerful combination for clients of our firm and will enable Tom to leverage A&M’s established market leadership in restructuring through a vastly expanded global network of resources.”
“A&M’s operational and restructuring expertise coupled with my experience in Poland and the Central and Eastern European region generally, will be significant as we work with companies with an interest in the region – both new investors and incumbents – and help them to become competitive on a global scale,” said Mr. Kolaja.
Mr. Kolaja specializes in corporate restructuring and interim management developing and structuring operational and financial solutions to maximize values in corporate turnarounds. With two decades of experience in restructuring, business strategy and operational improvement, he has worked with private equity funds, banks and multinationals across a range of industries, including manufacturing, chemical, pharmaceuticals and energy.
Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Kolaja served as an investor, manager and advisor for companies across Central and Eastern Europe including in Serbia, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine and the Czech Republic. As founder and partner of Kolaja & Partners, Mr. Kolaja served in a number of notable interim management roles including as chief operating officer of Frantschach Swiecie S.A. and as vice president of operations of Carlsberg Okocim S.A. Previously, as a member of both the emerging markets and the chemicals teams at Goldman Sachs, he was responsible for the development of transactions in Poland and the Czech Republic. Earlier in his career, he developed strategies for the Central European markets advising industrial companies on how to increase their competitiveness as well as leading the restructuring of a major Polish bank with McKinsey & Company.
Mr. Kolaja is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American School of Warsaw, and a member of the Polish Business Roundtable and YPO. He has also served on the supervisory board of TRACE (Transparent Agents and Contracting Entities), an anti-corruption non-profit organization based in the U.S. serving blue-chip global corporations.
Mr. Kolaja earned bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and Russian from Ohio State University, a master’s degree in engineering from the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University and a master’s degree in business administration with a focus on manufacturing from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Mr. Kolaja was a Fulbright fellow at the University of Warsaw and is fluent in English, Polish and German and has a working knowledge of Czech and Russian.