Industry Veteran Wes Champion Named Chief Executive Officer of Kaufman Hall

SKOKIE, Ill. – February 6, 2018 – Kaufman Hall, a leading provider of strategic and financial consulting services, and enterprise performance management and decision support software, today announced the appointment of R. Wesley (Wes) Champion as Chief Executive Officer of the company as of April 2, 2018. Champion will succeed Therese (Terri) Wareham, who has served as CEO since January 2012 and will continue as Managing Director, returning to full-time client work. Kaufman Hall was founded in 1985 by Ken Kaufman, Mark Hall, and Terri Wareham.

Champion joined Kaufman Hall in July 2017 as Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer. He previously held numerous executive positions in professional services and consulting. Prior to joining Kaufman Hall, he was Senior Vice President with Premier, Inc., leading Premier Performance Partners’ data-driven performance improvement practice. Champion also co-led Premier’s Performance Services operating segment, and was one of an 11-member executive team that successfully took Premier public in 2013.

“I am humbled, honored, and excited to have the opportunity to lead Kaufman Hall as CEO,” said Champion. “Kaufman Hall is unique in many ways, notably in the high caliber of people we have been fortunate to attract and retain as well as our technology innovation culture. It is my goal to build on what Ken, Terri, the Managing Directors, software leadership, and others have created—a company that is committed to delivering unrivaled strategic financial performance solutions.”

Under Wareham’s leadership as CEO, Kaufman Hall has enjoyed strong growth, expanded its markets and client base, and acquired four companies to further its software and data capabilities. “I'm very proud of Kaufman Hall’s ability to help our clients compete in an extremely dynamic environment,” said Wareham. “Helping our clients deal with complex strategic challenges has always been my passion, and I am pleased to continue applying that passion through my direct work with our clients.”

Ken Kaufman, Managing Director and Chair of Kaufman Hall, commented, “I am extraordinarily grateful for Terri’s dedication, leadership, and accomplishments in her role as CEO and throughout the history of Kaufman Hall. I am confident that Wes is the right person to build on Kaufman Hall’s tradition as an industry leader.”

“We are very grateful for Terri’s critical contribution and equally pleased to have Wes leading Kaufman Hall as CEO as the industries we serve continue to transform, and new opportunities for the company present themselves,” said Tim Sullivan, Managing Director of Madison Dearborn Partners. “We look forward to Wes continuing to accelerate Kaufman Hall’s strong growth trajectory.” Kaufman Hall is a portfolio company of Madison Dearborn Partners.

Champion and Wareham will work closely over the next several months to transition responsibilities, ensuring continuation of the key principles and values that have driven Kaufman Hall’s historic growth: to be a trusted advisor to its clients and to bring best practices in strategy, software, and data to achieve performance excellence.

About Kaufman Hall

Kaufman Hall provides management consulting and software to help organizations realize sustained success amid changing market conditions. Since 1985, Kaufman Hall has been a trusted advisor to boards and executive management teams, helping them incorporate proven methods into their strategic planning and financial management processes, and quantify the financial impact of their plans and strategic decisions to consistently achieve their goals.

Kaufman Hall services use a rigorous, disciplined, and structured approach that is based on the principles of corporate finance. The breadth and integration of Kaufman Hall advisory services are unparalleled, encompassing strategy; financial and capital planning; cost transformation; treasury and capital markets management; and mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, and joint ventures.

Kaufman Hall’s Axiom Software provides sophisticated, flexible performance management solutions that empower finance professionals to analyze results, model the future, and optimize organizational decision making. Solutions for long-range planning, budgeting and forecasting, reporting and analytics, consolidations, capital planning, and profitability and cost management are delivered on a single, integrated software platform. Kaufman Hall’s Peak Software empowers healthcare organizations with clinical benchmarks, data, and analytics to provide a higher quality of care for optimized performance and improved patient outcomes.