Bill Fox

Managing Director

Bill is a Managing Director of CMD Global Partners. Bill is based in Chicago and focused on the packaging and broader industrial sector. Bill was formerly COO of the Restructuring and Liability Management Group at Lazard, advising clients on complex mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and corporate finance transactions across a wide range of industries.

While Bill has predominantly lead transactions as an advisor, he has spent time in both private equity and corporate positions, including as the CFO of a leading corrugated packaging operator in the Midwest. As CFO, Bill successfully led the acquisition of multiple corrugated convertors and related packaging players.

Representative restructuring transactions include: 24 Hour Fitness on its Chapter 11, the ad hoc group of DISH Network DBS/spectrum note cross-holders, the convertible noteholders in the Chapter 11 of Intelsat SA, FirstEnergy Solutions on its Chapter 11, Dynegy on the Chapter 11 of its subsidiary Illinois Power Holdings, J.Crew on its comprehensive liability management transaction (2017), and the first lien lenders in the Chapter 11 of Walter Energy.

Representative merger & acquisition transactions include: Welch Packaging’s acquisitions of Pierce Box & Paper, Heritage Packaging, KnoxBox and Excel Display & Packaging, as well as FirstEnergy Solutions on the Section 363 sale of its retail energy business and Warrior Met Coal on its Section 363 stalking horse bid for certain assets of Walter Energy, among others.

Bill graduated from DePaul University with a Bachelor of Science in Finance with honors.

Alex Chenesseau

Managing Director

Alex is a Managing Director of CMD Global Partners. Alex is based in New York and focused on the Technology, Interactive Media and Consumer sectors. Alex was formerly a Managing Director at Evercore in New York, responsible for advising North American and European clients on cross-border transactions in Asia. Prior to Evercore, Alex spent the first decade of his career at Lazard in Paris, Beijing and New York, including in the Technology, Media and Telecom group where he served as Vice President.

Alex has successfully advised clients in complex mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate finance transactions across multiple geographies. Alex’s relationships span a wide range of industries, and he brings a global outlook when advising clients on strategic matters. He also serves as a Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations and was recognized by the Asia Society in New York as an Asia 21 Young Leader.

Alex graduated with a Master’s degree in Finance from Sciences Po Paris and completed the Program for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School.

John Adams

Co-Founder & Managing Director

John is a Founding Partner of CMD Global Partners.  Like each of the other Founding Partners of the firm, John previously was a Managing Director at XMS Capital Partners. Prior to his time at XMS, John spent 14 years at Lazard where he ran the Chicago Office / Midwest Investment Banking business, Global Private Equity and the Global Automotive group. He has extensive experience in China beginning in 2006 with the opening of Lazard’s Beijing office. Earlier, during 1986-1999, he was with Morgan Stanley in New York, Chicago and London where he ran the firm’s European M&A Business Development effort. Recently, he represented Icahn Enterprises in the $5.4 billion merger of Federal Mogul and Tenneco.  John has over 30+ years of experience in investment banking working across a number of industries in M&A, public and private financing, as well as restructuring (has completed 15 successful restructuring assignments).

John holds a B.S. from Truman State University (Summa Cum Laude) and an MBA from Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania (Director’s List). He is a US citizen with EU residency.

John Balfe

Managing Director

John is a Managing Director at CMD Global Partners and leads the firm’s Aerospace & Defense practice. Prior to the formation of CMD Global, John served as a Senior Advisor and Head of the Aerospace & Defense Practice at XMS Capital Partners. Prior to XMS, John founded and led Lazard Frères Anglo-American defense and aerospace practice.  Through the late 1990s, John headed  the investment banking departments at Troika Dialog and UFG in Russia. He began his investment banking career managing the Asia and financial products investment banking practice of the New York office of Robert Fleming, a leading UK investment bank focused on emerging markets.

Within the defense sector, John has advised leading defense players including General Dynamics,Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, DRS, General Atomics, Goodrich, Herley, Logistics Management Institute, Thales, and Triple Canopy. Outside of defense, he has advised Clondalkin, Collagen, DuPont, GL Ohrstrom and Co., Norsk Hydro, Philip Morris, Popkin Software, and Toshiba.   He has also advised the Office of the Secretary of Defense and other government agencies on economics and national security for over a decade.

John received his A.M. from Princeton University and his A.B. with high honors from the University of California, Berkeley. He has a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) security clearance.

Conor Barry

Co-Founder & Managing Director

Conor is a Managing Director and co-founder of CMD Global Partners. Conor has spent the entirety of his 20+year career in capital markets. Conor runs the European practice of CMD from Dublin where his main focus is on enabling clients to complete Trans-Atlantic transactions through superior execution and support. In addition, Conor has enormous experience dealing with entrepreneur or family-owned entities that are looking to transition to a new phase of growth via some form of PE or growth equity funding. Conor has a particular emphasis on the business services, healthcare and packaging sectors.

Conor began his career in the Equity Capital Markets division at Deutsche Bank in London, where he worked with Pan-European Hedge Funds and Institutions from 2001-2005. After Deutsche Bank and before joining the investment banking world with XMS Capital Partners, Conor was a co-founder of a private equity business in Ireland having raised and invested €350m of equity predominantly in property related transactions.

Conor holds a BSc degree in Finance from University College Cork and an MBS degree in Strategic Management from The Smurfit Graduate School of Business in Dublin.