Luke Ericson

AlixAlumnus Luke Ericson Is Hitting All the Right Notes as Gibson’s COO

Former AlixPartners Director Luke Ericson, now the Chief Operating Officer at Gibson, is in the midst of a career as dynamic as the music industry titan he now helps lead. His current role at Gibson is the culmination of years spent driving change, adapting, and learning. Navigating a bi-city work schedule and life as the father of a newborn, Luke credits his time at AlixPartners for a foundational ethos he holds true to today.

The Australian native worked as a consultant in Sydney before taking the leap to the United States, where he was drawn to AlixPartners as the preeminent firm in turnaround and restructuring consulting. “That's what I was interested in—working with companies to get them out of trouble,” he says. “AlixPartners was doing the ‘when it really matters work’,” a term that once didn’t mean anything to Luke, but that he’s since carried through his career.

Luke’s time with AlixPartners shaped his understanding of consulting’s unique value for career development: the opportunity to work hands-on with smart people across numerous industries and companies. “The benefit of consulting is you get lots of repetitions, and the pace of learning is so much faster than in a traditional corporate role,” he explains. Luke valued the ability to collaborate closely with management teams during those signature AlixPartners engagements.

After a seven-year tenure at AlixPartners, Luke joined the global investment firm KKR as an operating partner. “Private equity gave me the opportunity to work with management teams more directly and see first-hand the challenges for executives of managing competing priorities while driving significant change.  I also got the chance to sit in the executive seat in a couple of interim management roles and learned a ton” he says.

“When you’re at a private equity firm, you have a lot of skin in the game—your performance is really measured on the bottom-line results of the portfolio companies, not just the quality of your ideas or recommendations” Luke notes. 

In May 2022, Luke was asked to step in as interim COO at Gibson, a portfolio company of KKR. By the end of the year, what began as a short-term assignment turned into an offer he couldn’t refuse: to take the job permanently. “I was enjoying my work, and I think I was working effectively with the team—we were getting good results,” he recalls. 

Working at Gibson brings unique rewards. “It’s fun working for a company where people are passionate about the brand. It creates an incredible culture,” he shares. Luke thrives on the real-time decision-making his role demands, where strategies are quickly turned into action. “The opportunity to drive decisions and see incremental change build into sustained success is what makes this role so rewarding,” he says.

Luke was even inspired to take guitar lessons—though he modestly describes himself as “remedial.” With two to three lessons a week, he jokes, “I must be my guitar teacher’s best student—not for talent, but lesson spend.” 

Balancing work and life with a new baby have been another adjustment. Splitting time between Nashville and New York, Luke credits his team for his ability to focus on his family when he needs to. “If you don't feel like you can step away, leave things to the team, that’s a problem,” he says. “I work with a team I trust, who are good at what they do, so that makes it easy.” 

Despite moving on from AlixPartners, Luke remains closely connected through former colleagues and his wife, who he met at AlixPartners and who still works at the firm,. “You form deep friendships working in challenging, high-stakes situations,” he says. These bonds, forged over late-night dinners and high-pressure projects, continue to be a source of support and camaraderie. 

These enduring relationships reflect the collaborative spirit and resilience that have been a hallmark of Luke’s career as he’s embraced dynamic environments. “AlixPartners really helped me understand that I want to focus my career on ‘when it really matters’ work,” he says. “It’s very rewarding.”