Frank Holder
Strategy, Insight, Professionalism
For over 25 years, Frank Holder has directed corporate investigations (including large-scale internal fraud and public corruption investigations) and security consulting assignments in Latin America and the United States. Holder’s excellent ability for strategic insight and advanced level of professionalism make him highly sought after by his clients. Outside of his work in security consulting, Dr. Holder is also a frequently published author of books and articles dealing with his areas of expertise including business integrity, narcotic trafficking, and operational risk.
Frank Holder's Experience
Frank Holder is the Founder and CEO of Holder Partners. Prior to that, Mr. Holder served as Chief Operating Officer of a global engineering consulting and financial services firm with offices in 28 countries, where he had overall responsibility for operations, corporate development, and strategy. The firm more than doubled revenue while maintaining industry-leading margins during his tenure. Before that, he was a partner and Head of the Global Segment for a well-known international professional services firm, with responsibilities for all international offices and several service lines firmwide.
Mr. Holder was previously Chairman of Latin America and a member of the Executive Committee of a publicly traded market leader in the specialty consulting space after they acquired his firm, Holder International, in 2007. Before founding Holder International, he was the president of the Consulting Services Group of a publicly trade investigations, intelligence, technology and restructuring firm, responsible for operations in more than 35 countries. He was a part of the transaction that sold the company for approximately $2BB in cash in 2005, representing a material premium over its trading price. He joined the firm in 1998 as a part of the acquisition of his company, Holder Associates.
As a practitioner with over 25 years of experience, he has directed corporate investigations and security consulting assignments in Latin America and the United States. The investigative matters include large-scale internal fraud and public corruption investigations, product protection, litigation support, due diligence, and hostile takeovers. As a security expert, he has designed the security for international airports, seaports, and complex multi- jurisdictional distribution networks. He has also testified as an expert witness in substantive matters in the US and abroad.
In 2005, he founded Holder International, which was acquired by FTI Consulting in 2007. Previously, he served as president of Kroll Inc.’s Consulting Services Group, responsible for operations in more than 35 countries and was head of Kroll’s Latin American and Caribbean region. Before joining Kroll, Dr. Holder was president of Holder Associates in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a risk mitigation and business intelligence firm.
Mr. Holder began his career with the U.S. Air Force as a political-military analyst for the U.S. embassy in Argentina and as a special agent for the Office of Special Investigations at Langley Air Force Base, with responsibilities including fraud investigations, counterintelligence, and force protection. He won the Airman’s Medal for valor for his actions in the aftermath of the AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires.
Frank is an accomplished public speaker with numerous presentations throughout the world topics such as money laundering, risk management, anti-corruption, security, and operational risk. He has written articles on similar topics for U.S. and Latin American newspapers and professional journals. He has taught courses and seminars at Georgetown, Thunderbird, Universidad Católica, Universidad del Salvador, UM and FIU. He was on the Advisory Board of the RAND Corporation for 15 years.
Frank Holder’s Accomplishments and Recognition
He is the author of two books: Narcotics Trafficking: A Constructed Typology of the Deviant Market of Illicit Drug (1997) and Integrity in Business: Developing Ethical Behavior Across Cultures and Jurisdiction (2013). He has taught courses in political science and law on the inter-American system at Universidad del Salvador, Buenos Aires, and has spoken and published widely on risk management, national security, operational risk and money laundering.
Since 2007, Frank has developed and Published the Latin American Security Index to help clients mitigate potential risk related to security issues. He has led a panel of leading experts to discuss Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) compliance and risk factors in Latin America.
In 2014, Frank Holder appeared in media as an expert in security for the 2014 World Cup Brazil, and in March he was quoted by Forbes Magazine on the "Dangers of Doing Business in Mexico" with little signs of improvement.
He is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese.