ABOUT US
Stormwall Advisors is an independent strategic advisory firm serving influential leaders of corporations, governments, and other important organizations facing their most difficult and complex strategic and financial challenges.
We provide discrete and objective mission-critical strategic advice and analysis, including advising on corporate strategic transformation (e.g., M&A, restructuring, capital raising, in-house venture), complex strategic analysis (e.g., navigating shifting geopolitical, macroeconomic, and competitive landscapes), and policy framing for heads of state and senior government officials (e.g., monetary, trade, infrastructure, and food & energy security).
‘stôrmwôl \ (noun)
Definition: A large, localized, persistent, and often abrupt lowering of cloud that develops beneath the surrounding base of a supercell formed when a low pressure cold front slams into a high pressure warm front. These opposing pressure systems create a volatile atmosphere, ripe for thunderstorms.
WHAT WE DO
- Mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures
- Financial restructurings and turnarounds
- Capital raising / capital strategy / balance sheet management
- Valuations and fairness opinions
- Negotiations / negotiation strategy
- Independent oversight and coordination of advisory teams
- Navigating the shifting geo-political / geo-economic environment
- Competitive landscape mapping
- Business transformation / repositioning
- Inflation and macroeconomic management
- Corporate venture and in-house innovation
- Labor policy / industrial actions
- Monetary policy
- Trade policy
- Industrial policy
- Food & energy security
- Diplomacy & international relations
clients we serve
- Chief Executive Officers
- Boards of Directors
- Owners or significant stakeholders (individuals or firms)
- Founders/entrepreneurs
- Heads of State
- Senior ministers of State
- Sovereign wealth funds and investment funds
- Family offices/fiduciaries/trustees
MICHAEL WILKERSON
Founder of Stormwall Advisors
Mr. Wilkerson serves as a trusted senior advisor to clients in times of growth, transition, or turmoil. With three decades of experience as a strategic and financial advisor, private equity principal, public company CEO, emerging markets investor, and chairman or director of several corporate boards, Mr. Wilkerson brings to bear a breadth of expertise ranging from general strategy, mergers & acquisitions, capital raising, capital deployment and balance sheet management, financial restructurings and turnarounds, business repositioning, negotiation strategy, valuations, and inflation navigation. Mr. Wilkerson has experience in several industries and across multiple geographies including North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Mr. Wilkerson has advised some of the world’s largest public and private companies facing complex strategic decisions. Notable clients have included Ally Financial (f/k/a GMAC Financial), Banco Santander, Bear Stearns, Callaway Golf, Capmark Financial, Groupe Danone, Dollar General, Fannie Mae, General Signal, Gillette, InBev, Kao, Limited Brands, London Stock Exchange, L’Oréal, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Nike, NYSE Euronext, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Richemont, Signet Group, and Whirlpool/Maytag, among others.
Mr. Wilkerson served as Chief Executive Officer of publicly listed Fairfax Africa Holdings Corporation and as the Executive Vice Chairman of its successor company, Helios Fairfax Partners, the world’s largest Africa focused private investment firm. Prior to his role with Fairfax Africa, Mr. Wilkerson was Managing Partner of AgriGroupe Limited, a private investment firm which he co-founded with a core investment thesis: Food and Energy Security for the African Century.
Previously, Mr. Wilkerson served as Global Co-Head of the Consumer, Food & Retail Group and as a Managing Director in the Financial Institutions Group at Lazard, one of the world’s preeminent financial advisory and asset management firms. Mr. Wilkerson was also a Managing Director at Citigroup, where he led the Financial Institutions M&A effort in New York.
Mr. Wilkerson is the author of two books: Why America Matters: The Case for a New Exceptionalism (2022) and Stormwall: Observations on America in Peril (2020). He is a frequent contributor to prominent media outlets on topics including economics, finance, markets, and foreign affairs. Mr. Wilkerson is chairman of the board of charity: water, a renowned nonprofit organization leading the way to solve the global water crisis. Learn more at charitywater.org.
Mr. Wilkerson was a corporate term member at the Council on Foreign Relations and was named as one of the “40 under 40” in investment banking and private equity by Dealmaker magazine. A former rugby player, Mr. Wilkerson now focuses his athletic endeavors on improving at CrossFit and golf.
Mr. Wilkerson holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MA in International Relations from Yale University, and a BS summa cum laude from Oral Roberts University.
MICHAEL WILKERSON
Founder of Stormwall Advisors
Mr. Wilkerson serves as a trusted senior advisor to clients in times of growth, transition, or turmoil. With three decades of experience as a strategic and financial advisor, private equity principal, public company CEO, emerging markets investor, and chairman or director of several corporate boards, Mr. Wilkerson brings to bear a breadth of expertise ranging from general strategy, mergers & acquisitions, capital raising, capital deployment and balance sheet management, financial restructurings and turnarounds, business repositioning, negotiation strategy, valuations, and inflation navigation. Mr. Wilkerson has experience in several industries and across multiple geographies including North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Mr. Wilkerson has advised some of the world’s largest public and private companies facing complex strategic decisions. Notable clients have included Ally Financial (f/k/a GMAC Financial), Banco Santander, Bear Stearns, Callaway Golf, Capmark Financial, Groupe Danone, Dollar General, Fannie Mae, General Signal, Gillette, InBev, Kao, Limited Brands, London Stock Exchange, L’Oréal, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Nike, NYSE Euronext, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Richemont, Signet Group, and Whirlpool/Maytag, among others.
Mr. Wilkerson served as Chief Executive Officer of publicly listed Fairfax Africa Holdings Corporation and as the Executive Vice Chairman of its successor company, Helios Fairfax Partners, the world’s largest Africa focused private investment firm. Prior to his role with Fairfax Africa, Mr. Wilkerson was Managing Partner of AgriGroupe Limited, a private investment firm which he co-founded with a core investment thesis: Food and Energy Security for the African Century.
Previously, Mr. Wilkerson served as Global Co-Head of the Consumer, Food & Retail Group and as a Managing Director in the Financial Institutions Group at Lazard, one of the world’s preeminent financial advisory and asset management firms. Mr. Wilkerson was also a Managing Director at Citigroup, where he led the Financial Institutions M&A effort in New York.
Mr. Wilkerson is the author of two books: Why America Matters: The Case for a New Exceptionalism (2022) and Stormwall: Observations on America in Peril (2020). He is a frequent contributor to prominent media outlets on topics including economics, finance, markets, and foreign affairs. Mr. Wilkerson is chairman of the board of charity: water, a renowned nonprofit organization leading the way to solve the global water crisis. Learn more at charitywater.org.
Mr. Wilkerson was a corporate term member at the Council on Foreign Relations and was named as one of the “40 under 40” in investment banking and private equity by Dealmaker magazine. A former rugby player, Mr. Wilkerson now focuses his athletic endeavors on improving at CrossFit and golf.
Mr. Wilkerson holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MA in International Relations from Yale University, and a BS summa cum laude from Oral Roberts University.
OUR VALUES
Clients rely on us to provide independent, objective, and confidential advice. Success is long-term, client-centric relationships built on trust and discretion.
We don’t shy away from challenges, we embrace them. We stand with our clients at the most important—and often most difficult—strategic inflection points they will face.
We are not beholden to corporate, government, or special interests or ideologies. Unlike the corporate and investment banks, or global strategy consulting firms, we are not conflicted by competing engagements, pressure to provide debt or other financing arrangements, or other hidden agendas. Our independence frees us to uphold our other values.
We check our egos at the door. Individuals win when the team wins. The team wins when it works as one unit to ensure the client’s success. When the client enters the spotlight, we happily recede to the shadows.
Ours is a finely-honed craft combining proprietary research, rigorous analysis, sound judgment, and domain expertise. Yet we never forget that discernment is more valuable than data; wisdom—and seeing through the fog to the true nature of things—matters more than facts and figures.
We don’t settle. We grow individually and as a team through a process of continual learning and innovation. As colleagues, we honor, equip, and set up for success those for whom we work, and we are intentional about training and developing those who work for us.
We believe in transparency with our clients and with each other. We value truth and candor, even when the topic is unpleasant. We act with the highest standards of professional responsibility and personal honor in our engagements. We therefore treat client information with the utmost in confidentiality.
We impact nations, economies, and institutions by providing mission-critical strategic advice to influential leaders and their organizations. We are realistic optimists who look for the best in situations and people. We are creative and imaginative. We breathe life and hope into difficult circumstances. We help create a way where there is no way.
CLIENT RESOURCES
Media and Commentary
CONTACT US
For inquiries or general information, write or call us, or simply fill out the response form here.
Phone Numbers:
North America: +1 (866) 777-1911
Europe: +41 22 551 00 40
E-mail:
hello@stormwalladvisors.
