Business Turnaround · Operational Excellence · Governance

I turn around businesses that cannot afford to fail.

For three decades I have led the recovery of high-value projects and underperforming companies across the UK and the Gulf — stabilising the present, protecting value, and rebuilding operations for lasting profitability. Six Sigma discipline and strategic risk management are how I make recovery hold.

Fellow, Institute of Strategic Risk Management (F.ISRM) Six Sigma Master Black Belt Published Author UK · Saudi Arabia · Gulf

Recovery is not a slogan. It is a method — applied with discipline, under pressure.

Most businesses in difficulty don't lack effort; they lack a clear, evidence-based plan and the steady leadership to execute it when stakes are highest. That is the work I do.

I move quickly to understand the real position, stabilise cash and continuity, and rebuild the operation so it can compete again — then embed the governance and controls that stop the same problems returning.

What I Do

Four disciplines, one outcome: a business that recovers and holds.

Engagements are shaped around the situation — from full turnaround mandates to targeted operational and governance work for boards and principals.

01

Business Turnaround & Recovery

Stabilising distressed and underperforming businesses and high-value projects, protecting value for stakeholders, and engineering a credible, executable path back to profitability.

02

Operational Excellence

Six Sigma Master Black Belt-led redesign of processes that removes cost, variation and waste while lifting quality, throughput and margin — improvement that shows up in the numbers.

03

Governance, Risk & Assurance

Board-grade enterprise risk and GRC frameworks that make a recovery durable, satisfy stakeholders and regulators, and protect the business against the next shock.

04

Conflict & Crisis Resolution

Steady, experienced leadership through volatile situations — stakeholder disputes, breakdowns and high-stakes negotiations resolved constructively and turned into a platform for growth.

The Approach

A disciplined path from crisis to confidence.

The same structured method underpins every mandate, scaled to the size and urgency of the situation.

01

Diagnose

A rapid, evidence-based assessment of the real position — financial, operational and commercial — beneath the noise.

02

Stabilise

Protect cash, value and continuity. Stop the immediate losses and restore confidence among stakeholders.

03

Rebuild

Redesign the operation to remove waste and cost, lift performance, and unlock new and recurring revenue.

04

Embed

Put the governance, risk controls and capability in place so the recovery holds long after the mandate ends.

Track Record

Senior mandates where the outcome mattered.

Three decades of high-stakes leadership across sectors and jurisdictions, focused on protecting value and restoring performance.

30+
Years in senior international leadership
£[   ]m
Value protected across turnaround mandates
[   ]%
Operational cost reduction delivered via Six Sigma
Infrastructure Financial Services Defence Transport Technology Manufacturing & Cement Automotive & Retail United Kingdom Saudi Arabia Qatar Kuwait
In Their Words

Trusted at board level.

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Robert J. Burrus
About

Robert J. Burrus

Robert is a business strategist and turnaround leader with a career built on recovering organisations that others had written off. He pairs a background in mechanical engineering with advanced enterprise risk management, and is one of a small number of practitioners to hold Six Sigma Master Black Belt alongside Fellowship of the Institute of Strategic Risk Management.

He has held high-stakes senior operating roles across infrastructure, financial services, defence and transport technology, and has worked extensively across the UK, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. His method combines Six Sigma rigour with proactive risk management to reduce exposure, protect value and unlock new revenue — turning fragile situations into durable, profitable ones.

A recognised authority on enterprise risk for directors, Robert is also an experienced mediator, known for steadying volatile situations and rebuilding the trust on which recovery depends.

Six Sigma Master Black Belt certified Institute of Strategic Risk Management
Thought Leadership

Enterprise Risk Management for Directors

Robert's book sets out, in practical terms, how boards and directors can make risk management a driver of performance rather than a compliance burden — drawn directly from front-line turnaround experience.

Read the book
Enterprise Risk Management for Directors
Robert J. Burrus
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