Colin Adams Joins Areté Partners to Lead New York Office

Experienced restructuring executive and independent director brings decades of operating leadership as the firm grows its New York presence

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, September 10, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Areté Partners today announced that Colin Adams has joined the firm as a Senior Managing Director and will lead its New York office and be a member of the firm’s Executive Committee.

Adams has run companies in crisis, not just advised them. He has served as a C-suite leader in roles including chief restructuring officer, interim chief executive officer, and interim chief operating officer, successfully stabilizing businesses across several industries, and has sat on more than 20 boards as an independent director and fiduciary. His work spans technology, life sciences, retail, energy, media, healthcare, specialty finance, and industrials.

Adams joins Areté from a boutique crisis advisory firm, where he was a Partner and Chief Operating Officer. He previously spent seven years as a Senior Managing Director at M3 Partners and nearly a decade at Morgan Stanley, where he built and led a special situations direct investment business. He began his career as a corporate lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis, where he became a partner in 2007.

“Colin’s experience is rivaled by few. He has sat in nearly every seat from lender, equity investor, board fiduciary, to interim C-suite executive,” said Shawn Hassel, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Areté Partners. “He knows what the key constituencies need to see, what keeps a board up at night, and what it actually takes to run the company while you fix it. Clients get to a decision faster because of it.”
Adams said the move reflects where he sees the market heading.

“The market is rewarding substance over process,” Adams said. “Sponsors, private credit lenders, and institutional capital want someone who will get inside the business and change how it performs, not just manage a timeline. Crisis leadership and acute change management is where value gets built, and it is what Areté is built to do.”

In New York, Adams will focus on deepening the firm’s relationships across capital providers, law firms, investment banks, and transaction advisors. Areté expects to grow the New York team over the next year.

“If you want to be relevant, you have to be relevant in New York. This is where capital gets formed,” Adams said. “The goal is to make New York an epicenter of activity for everything Areté does, and to keep growing so that when there is a need, we can serve it.”

“New York is a priority for us, and Colin is the person to lead it,” Hassel said. “We are building a senior team that seeks out responsibility and authority, backed by people with real energy behind them. That is what the middle market has been asking for.”

Adams holds an A.B. in Economics and History from Duke University and a J.D. with a Certificate in Business Law from the UCLA School of Law. He is a member of the New York State Bar and holds FINRA Series 79 and 24 licenses. He is a co-founder of Reserve Aid, which has raised more than $20 million for military families.

About Areté
Areté is a leadership and fiduciary operating firm that steps into moments of change to bring clarity, alignment, and momentum to complex organizations. The firm works directly with boards, owners, and executives, bringing experienced judgment, independent perspective, and hands-on leadership when it matters most. Areté’s role is not to recommend. It is to lead. With offices in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, and Park City, Utah, the firm partners with clients nationwide. Learn more at aretepartners.com.
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Read Colin Adams’ full bio here.

Randi Siegel
Areté Partners
rsiegel@aretepartners.com
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