After parting ways on Tuesday May 12th with Ahron Cohen, CEO and president, the Arizona Coyotes announced on Monday the appointment of Xavier A. Gutierrez who will take his place permanently.
In addition being named CEO, Gutierrez will work alongside John Chayka as alternate governor of the franchise as well. As per the club announcement, Gutierrez becomes the first Latino to assume this role in National Hockey League history.
In a statement following the announcement from Alex Meruelo, the team’s owner and chairman, he said on Monday of Gutierrez’ appointment, “I am very proud to name Xavier as the first Latino team president and CEO in NHL history. This is a historic day for the Coyotes and the entire NHL. I have known Xavier for over a decade, and he is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of business and investment experience. We share the same approach to business and his intellect, leadership skills, and strategic mindset made him the clear choice to be our new CEO. He is a leader with tremendous vision and integrity, and I have the utmost confidence that he can help the Coyotes become a world class organization on and off the ice.”
Gutierrez joins the Arizona Coyotes while serving as shareholder with CBC. While he begins a new role, Gutierrez will continue to serve on the board of directors for Commercial Bank of California. As per the Coyotes tree release, CBC is a privately held, full-service commercial bank based in the regions of Los Angeles/Orange County. Not only that, but with a collection of over $1 billion in assets, they are the largest Latino-owned bank in the state of California.
Speaking of his hiring on Monday, Arizona’s new president in a statement, “I am extremely grateful to Mr. Meruelo for this opportunity to lead the Coyotes which he loves so dearly and honoured to become the first Latino team President and CEO in NHL history. This is a very special and proud day for me, my wife Jericca, our son Xavi, and our entire extended family. Mr. Meruelo and I share the same vision to make the Coyotes a world class organization that is innovative in our efforts to connect with and grow our fan base, continue to be a leader in our community, and develop great relationships with our business partners. We want to build a financially stable and prosperous organization for the long term, and our ultimate goal is to bring a Stanley Cup to our great fans in Arizona. I’m very excited to get started.”
Prior to joining the NHL, Mr. Gutierrez saw many accomplishments which he has compiled through the last twenty years. While his spot at the CBC tells a story, he is well known as a business executive, an investor as well as a dealmaker. During this time, the work he did spanned different focuses which is well shown on his resume. That long list includes investment management, corporate strategy & operations and several others. Given the position he’ll remain in, Mr. Gutierrez works in finance and business development, a similar angle he’ll now assume out in Glendale.
Most recently, Mr. Gutierrez was Managing Director at Clearlake Capital Group. As such, while upholding this role, Mr. Gutierrez directed time towards investments, operations, strategic development. Not only that, but through his investment role, he also did work in investor client servicing & outreach. As cited by the Coyotes press release, the Clearlake Capital firm had several locations which saw Mr. Gutierrez in Santa Monica, California.
Being based in the west side of Los Angeles, Mr. Gutierrez was an active member of Clearlake Capital, regularly seated on the firm’s Executive Committee. With much experience in investments, he was also a contributor to the firm’s Investment Committee.
As per the company’s description, Clearlake Capital is a leading private investment firm which was initially founded back in 2006. With input from the Arizona Coyotes, they have managed over $17 Billion of institutional capital since opening their doors. As if that wasn’t enough, it’s also worth noting that their senior investment principals have led or co-led over 200 investments. Among that list of contributions, you can find the firm’s work having helped in industrials, technology as well as consumer companies.
Before Meruelo joined the Coyotes, he founded and guided a company known as Meruelo Group. Intersecting the two, Mr. Gutierrez, before his hiring on Monday, worked at the group as the firm’s Chief Investment Officer. During his time there, Mr. Gutierrez was the firm’s director of investments and acquisitions. With a large role to lead and fulfill, Mr. Gutierrez spanned a number of duties from deal origination to underwriting to execution, and capital sourcing. Now taking on a new leadership role, that is a trait that stands out in his resume.
With that wealth of experience, mainly in management of different sorts, Mr. Gutierrez often assisted with strategy, something he did with all companies he worked for. Having lend a hand to 40-plus, those spanned a variety of different industries. As per the Arizona Coyotes, that line of work includes Banking & Financial Services, Hospitality & Gaming, Media, Infrastructure and more. Other fields Mr. Gutierrez worked in includes Restaurant & Food Services, Public Equity, Private Equity and Real Estate.
That’s where his focus was before getting the offer to start his work at Meruelo Group. During that tenure, he fulfilled two roles with Phoenix Realty Group and Principal & Managing Director. As per the Arizona Coyotes, Phoenix Realty Group is a national real estate private equity firm managing approximately $1 billion in institutional capital. That comes from the partnerships they’ve had, helping lead public pension funds, banks and insurance companies.
Seeing as Mr. Gutierrez has an extensive background when it comes to his work, he saw time previously with Latham & Watkins as well as Lehman Brothers investment bank. With more of a relevance to the sporting side, Mr. Gutierrez worked as a financial analyst with the National Football League in New York City.
At this time, the National Hockey League is getting ready to return to play with the 24-team format now set by the league and Arizona set to take on the Predators. While a date has not yet been determined, the league is aiming to return by mid-summer.
As shared by the Coyotes on Twitter, Mr. Gutierrez will be joining Roc And Manuch on FOX Sports 910 at 3:15pmMT.