Press Releases

Three Seasoned Professionals Expand FTI's Transaction Advisory Services and Communications & Media Offerings

Annapolis, MD - September 1, 2005
FTI Consulting, Inc. (NYSE: FCN), a premier provider of problem-solving consulting and technology services to major corporations, financial institutions and law firms, today announced the appointments of three senior executives to its corporate finance/restructuring practice. Jerome N. Gold and David W. Smalstig have joined the company as senior managing directors within the Transaction Advisory Services group. Christopher T. Nicholls has joined as senior managing director within the Communications & Media industry team.

Commenting on the new appointments, Dominic DiNapoli, FTI's chief operating officer said, “Today's companies operate in a complex, competitive environment. FTI's successful track record in helping organizations resolve critical strategic, operational, financial and capital issues depends on the experience and extraordinary talent of professionals like Jerry, David and Chris. We look forward to their contributions to our business, clients and shareholders.”

New Appointments

Bringing a wealth of media industry experience, Jerome N. Gold joins as senior managing director within FTI's Transaction Advisory Services group, residing in the Los Angeles office. In his new role, Mr. Gold will advise clients on financial, operational and commercial issues relating to acquisition and divestiture transactions, with an emphasis on the media industry. He joins the company after serving as chief financial officer at Platinum Equity LLC, a private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyouts and operating acquired portfolio companies. At Platinum Equity, Mr. Gold supervised the financing of acquisitions and was responsible for maintaining relationships with limited partners, banks and other financial institutions. He was also responsible for refinancing the firm's acquisitions with both bank and high yield debt, and instituting appropriate budget and forecasting models for portfolio companies.

Prior to Platinum Equity, Mr. Gold was managing director at Gold International LLC, a consulting firm specializing in media, entertainment and communications. Prior to that, he was executive vice president and chief financial officer at Warner Music Group, the music division of AOL Time Warner, for nine years. Earlier in his career, Mr. Gold spent over 20 years at Ernst & Young where as partner, he managed the global media and entertainment practice. Mr. Gold has a BBA from Baruch College and is a certified public accountant.

With a career spanning 20 years, David W. Smalstig joins as senior managing director within FTI's Transaction Advisory Services group, residing in the Chicago office. Mr. Smalstig will advise clients on complex issues that arise during transactions such as acquisitions and divestitures. He joins FTI after four years with PricewaterhouseCoopers where he was a director within the transaction services group. While there, Mr. Smalstig developed a significant private equity client base in the Chicago market. He assisted domestic and international clients with transaction-related concerns including due diligence, structurings, public offerings, purchase agreements, negotiations, closing adjustments, carve-outs, turnarounds, restructurings, cost savings and change management. He completed due diligence on over 200 deals with revenues ranging from $100,000 to over $4 billion. Mr. Smalstig has presented on numerous topics at industry conferences including “Bullet Proof Due Diligence”, “Emerging Transactional Trends” and “Changes in Accounting Rules Impacting Today's Transactions”.

Prior to PricewaterhouseCoopers, Mr. Smalstig was senior manager in the mergers and acquisitions group at Ernst & Young. Prior to that, he was the divisional chief of staff for Central U.S. and Latin America at URS/Dames & Moore where he was responsible for several acquisitions in the transportation sector. He has a BSBA from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and completed graduate studies from the Manchester School of Business. He is also a certified public accountant.

Christopher T. Nicholls joins as senior managing director within FTI's Communications & Media industry team, residing in the New York office. Mr. Nicholls will advise clients in the local, long distance, wireless, cable and media sectors. He has nearly 20 years of leveraged finance, portfolio management and restructuring experience, as well as deep telecom and cable industry expertise. Mr. Nicholls joins FTI after eight years in GE Capital's Media Communications Group, where, as a senior vice president, he led its telecom risk management team. In that role, he managed a $1.5 billion portfolio of distressed and semi-distressed telecom and cable exposure. He was also responsible for over $2.5 billion of telecom debt investments, led creditor committees in restructurings of balance sheets totaling over $10 billion, and was a principal in at least eight M&A transactions. Among his distinguished cases was the 100% recovery for senior lenders in the Allegiance Telecom bankruptcy, where the senior debt traded below 30% prior to the bankruptcy. In addition to managing distressed credits, Mr. Nicholls was instrumental in GE Communication Group's efforts to set up a par and distressed secondary market bank debt investment effort.

Prior to his time at GE, Mr. Nicholls was with Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, primarily in fixed income capital markets and industrial investment banking. He holds a BA in Economics from Boston University.

About FTI Consulting
FTI is a premier provider of problem-solving consulting and technology services to major corporations, financial institutions and law firms when confronting critical issues that shape their future and the future of their clients, such as financial and operational improvement, major litigation, mergers and acquisitions and regulatory issues. Strategically located in 24 of the major US cities, London and Melbourne, FTI's total workforce of more than 1,100 employees includes numerous PhDs, MBAs, CPAs, CIRAs and CFEs, who are committed to delivering the highest level of service to clients.