When Do You Need a Chief Restructuring Officer?

There are times when corporations face financial distress or need to undergo significant transformation. During these periods, it can be useful to appoint a senior executive whose remit is to ensure the company navigates these processes effectively. This is where a chief restructuring officer (CRO) comes into play.

CROs provide essential specialized leadership experience and vital objectivity when companies are experiencing declining performance, rising debt, or organizational instability. In many cases, these professionals will have niche expertise related to stabilizing companies and implementing effective turnaround strategies.

We’ve created this article to dive a little deeper into what a CRO is, what their duties typically are, and when businesses tend to appoint them, alongside examining the impact they can have on restructuring outcomes. Importantly, as these services are global, rather than being limited to a specific local market, we’ve taken an international perspective for these insights.

What Is a Chief Restructuring Officer?

A chief restructuring officer is a senior-level executive who is appointed by a corporation to manage restructuring efforts, usually focused on financial and operational recovery goals.

It’s important to recognize that this CRO role is quite distinct from that of other C-suite executive positions. Primarily, the CRO is usually a highly specialized and time-limited role. Unlike chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief financial officers (CFOs), the CRO is usually hired on a temporary or project-focused basis.

Additionally, a CEO is responsible for the overriding vision and strategic drive of the company, while a CFO handles the day-to-day financial planning and reporting for the business. These are executives whose remit is to influence the company’s regular trajectory, whereas the CRO is more of an interventional figure. They are appointed during exceptional circumstances or at times in which urgent change is required.

Once the CRO—potentially alongside corporate restructure consultant​s— has applied their expertise and the organization has been returned to a stable state or restructuring has been executed, they’ll hand control back to the long-term corporate leadership and exit the role.

Chief Restructuring Officer Duties

There are various areas that CROs typically have responsibility over. These include:

• Financial oversight – This is among the CRO’s main tasks. They’ll manage the corporation’s liquidity in a way that helps ensure essential operations are able to continue. Typically, this involves overseeing cash flow, establishing what the company’s financial needs and challenges are, and often renegotiating debt terms with creditors.
• Operational changes – When businesses are struggling, key changes to operations need to be made. CROs will spearhead assessments into the current efficiency elements, identify areas of lapsed productivity, where processes can be streamlined, and what costs can be safely cut. In some instances, this may involve restructuring the workforce.
• Strategic planning – A CRO’s role isn’t just about ensuring the immediate survival of the corporation. They will also be tasked with implementing turnaround strategies that take the company through recovery and on the road to long-term success. Approaches they might take to this can include divesting divisions that aren’t turning a profit, strategizing market repositioning, or exploring realistic new growth areas.
• Stakeholder communication – Restructuring is usually a time of significant—and often disruptive—change. Part of a CRO’s responsibilities is to ensure that stakeholder communication measures that provide clarity and reassurance are in place throughout this time. This includes coordinating with creditors, investors, regulatory bodies, and sometimes the wider public.

When Do Companies Need a Chief Restructuring Officer?

Not all companies or circumstances require a CRO. Indeed, there are some industries in which they are most common, such as finance, retail, aviation, and manufacturing. In general, though, a CRO is typically appointed for a limited period of time when circumstances arise that require their expertise. The common triggers for this include the following.

Financial decline

A CRO may be appointed when a company is experiencing severe financial decline, and often when on the cusp of insolvency measures. In these situations, the corporation tends to bring on a CRO to effectively manage the in-depth negotiations with creditors and develop impactful financial strategies that influence survival.

Complex restructuring

Companies may choose to implement large-scale transformation initiatives, perhaps involving significant debt restructuring or overhauling operational processes. The complexity of these situations may require dedicated executive leadership with experience in restructuring to shape and drive the required strategies efficiently.

Crisis situations

At times of crisis, companies may find that their current executive leadership figures are too close to the business to have the sufficient objectivity required to make tough strategic decisions. As a result, a CRO may be appointed to provide more independent leadership perspectives and a sense of neutrality among teams, giving them a distance that supports informed, impartial, and pragmatic choices. 

Preparation for mergers, acquisitions, or divestitures

Mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures can be highly complex processes, particularly in respect of large corporations. Therefore, a CRO may be appointed to take responsibility for the preparation for such transitions. This may include strategizing financial adjustments that improve the company’s position, optimizing operations to support transfer processes, and manage stakeholder expectations throughout.

Benefits of Appointing a Chief Restructuring Officer

There are various potential advantages corporations can experience by appointing a CRO, including:

Benefit	Explanation
Provides independence	CROs have the distance that allows them not to be influenced by internal politics or entrenched company culture. As a result, they use objective leadership perspectives to make swift and balanced decisions.
Restores credibility	When a corporation appoints a CRO, this sends a distinct message to creditors and external stakeholders that the business is taking restructuring seriously. As a result, the restored credibility can influence debt terms and financial support.
Enhances execution speed	Restructuring is often urgently required to mitigate insolvency. A CRO’s expertise and experience allow them to apply methodologies that quickly and effectively drive the required changes. This is particularly relevant for those exploring what is change management.
Offers specialist expertise	It is not common for corporations to have experts in restructuring on staff. CROs have the specialist skill sets that regular managers or executives lack, helping corporations implement turnarounds and overcome crises.

Challenges and Limitations of the CRO Role

Alongside the benefits a CRO can bring, the appointment is not without its challenges, including:

Challenge	Explanation
High costs	CROs are not already embedded in the organization and are highly specialized professionals. As a result, they tend to command high fees for their services. This can be particularly challenging at times of insolvency risk and for smaller corporations, and may be exacerbated by other types of restructuring charge.
Potential conflicts	It is not uncommon for current executive leadership to feel threatened by CROs, as they can feel that their authority is being undermined. Overcoming this tension requires careful conflict management practices.
Resistance to change	CROs often decide that it is necessary to impose significant or disruptive changes. Employees and managers can be resistant to these, especially with regard to workforce restructuring.
Balancing recovery and growth	In most cases, CROs are appointed to manage immediate recovery. As a result, they may be primarily focused on measures that achieve immediate financial stability. In some instances, lack of effective planning here can cause an imbalance between short-term recovery and long-term growth.

Case Studies and Real-World Examples

There are many examples of companies that have successfully appointed CROs. One such case is automotive supplier, Benteler. The company brought in a CRO in 2020 to help financially stabilize the group and drive restructuring to improve competitiveness. By 2023, the CRO was announced as leaving Benteler as planned, having achieved not only recovery but also key transformation milestones, such as gaining new credit lines, leveraging market potential in new growth areas, and increasing company efficiency.

There are also situations in which restructuring efforts fail, despite appointment of a CRO. In 2019, Select Fashion appointed restructuring leadership to navigate processes when it was on the cusp of its first administration. However, financial weakness, economic downturns, and a reduction of store count couldn’t be overcome, leading to its liquidation.

FAQs

What is a chief restructuring officer?

A CRO is a senior executive appointed to manage restructuring efforts or significant change in order to recover from severe financial and operational challenges.

What does a chief restructuring officer do?

They manage strategies related to debt, operational streamlining, and turnaround. They’ll also be the key communication point for stakeholders.

When should a company hire a CRO?

They are typically hired at times when businesses experience severe financial decline, potential insolvency, complex restructuring, and mergers, acquisitions, or divestitures.

How long does a chief restructuring officer stay in a company?

CROs are usually appointed on a temporary, project-specific basis. As a result, they may stay with a company for a few months or up to a few years.

What industries use CROs most often?

Manufacturing, retail, aviation, and finance are among the most common sectors that require CROs.

References

Weber, H. (2023, May 16). BENTELER Group accelerates growth after successful restructuring; CRO Michael Baur to leave the company as planned. Benteler. https://www.benteler.com/en/press-media/latest-news/benteler-group-accelerates-growth-after-successful-restructuring-cro-michael-baur-to-leave-the-company-as-planned/#:~:text=Salzburg%2C%20May%2016%2C%202023.,e-mobility%20and%20lightweight%20construction. 

Center for Retail Research. (2025). Who’s Gone Bust in Retail? Center for Retail Research. https://www.retailresearch.org/whos-gone-bust-retail.html#:~:text=Winfields%20Outdoors%2C%20a%20camping%20and,purchased%20by%20Brewers%20Decorator%20Centre.