Hilco Global appointed Neil Aaronson and Henry Foster, who are both Hilco operating company leaders, co-presidents of the holding company. Aaronson is the CEO of Hilco Real Estate and Foster is the CEO of Hilco Capital. In their new roles as co-presidents, the two will report directly to Jeffrey Hecktman, founder and CEO of Hilco Global.
“This is an important step in assigning critical global management duties to a new generation of leadership who will help us continue growing and expanding our financial services platform in new and exciting ways,” Hecktman said.
Hecktman noted that both Aaronson and Foster will continue to serve in their current respective roles as CEO of Hilco Real Estate and Hilco Capital while adding co-president responsibilities to their existing duties.
“Both Neil and Henry are representative of the depth of exceptional talent and management leadership that Hilco has attracted and empowered to lead each of our 20-plus Hilco operating units over the past 37 years,” Hecktman said.
John Chen, who has been serving as president and chief operating officer of Hilco Global for the past seven years, will continue with his current responsibilities as COO and will become a vice chair at the holding company.
“John will focus on managing our growing operational needs, as we have expanded our holistic solutions focused platform and grown to over 800 people worldwide,” Hecktman said.
The company indicated that Aaronson will focus on Hilco businesses currently operating in, or to be operated in, the U.S., Mexico and South America, while Foster will focus on Hilco businesses operating in, or to be operated in, Europe, Canada and Australia.
As co-presidents, Aaronson and Foster will be responsible for driving growth of the Hilco Global operating platform by serving as a strategic business partner to the 20-plus Hilco operating companies, pursuing and executing company-wide strategic initiatives, and driving collaborative cross platform business integration. The two will also become members of the company’s investment committee.
Aaronson has been involved in large-scale acquisitions, dispositions, investments and general deal-making across a range of real estate and corporate holdings. With experience in all aspects of retail, restaurant, industrial, hospitality and office real estate, he has been instrumental in the completion of more than $4 billion in transactions during his career.
Aaronson joined Hilco Global in 2007 as an executive vice president at the holding company. His responsibilities included major transaction structuring and oversight. In 2008, Aaronson assumed a leadership role as CEO of Hilco Real Estate. Prior to joining Hilco, he served as senior vice president of business development for publicly-traded Cendant Corporation, where he oversaw mergers, acquisitions and investments for the company’s hotel and timeshare businesses. He previously held the position of vice president for Cendant’s strategic development group, spearheading acquisitions across the platform of Cendant Companies. Earlier, he served as an associate investment banker with ING Barings, where he handled the analysis and negotiations of acquisitions, divestitures and financings for several public and private companies.
Foster serves as CEO of Hilco Capital, operating across the Hilco Capital businesses in the UK, Europe, Australia and Canada. He joined Hilco in 2007 and held several positions with increasing responsibilities prior to being appointed to lead Hilco Capital.
As CEO, Foster, alongside the Hilco Capital team, has grown the company’s financial investment and advisory businesses across the UK and Canada while expanding into Europe and. more recently. Australia. In addition, the business has extended into several sectors outside of retail, including manufacturing and engineering. More recently, Foster oversaw the development of the Hilco Capital lending business, which has to date provided total facilities of approximately £300 million ($3765.60 million) over the last four years. Prior to his tenure at Hilco, Foster worked as a chartered accountant with a professional services firm, advising lenders, corporates and other stakeholders on turnaround situations.
