John Frehse

John Frehse is a Senior Managing Director at Ankura, based in the New York office. He has more than 20 years of experience focused on labor and operations strategy.

John has developed and implemented strategies for more than 100 companies, and he delivers to corporate leaders innovative labor solutions that incorporate solutions to employee needs. His work has spanned a wide range of industries, including food and beverage, automotive, chemical, electronics, pharmaceuticals, power, call centers, banking/insurance, distribution, telecommunications, mining, government and healthcare.

John’s professional philosophy is that people are the most valuable resource of every company. His experience has proven that in order to create long-term success, a thoughtful and methodical approach to labor must be created.

Before joining Ankura, John was a founding partner of Core Practice LLC, an international labor strategies firm. Prior to that, he was head of Global Strategic Services Sales for Blue Pumpkin Software, now known as Verint. His clients included the manufacturer of automobile driveline and drivetrain components and systems, a multinational food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, and a Canadian telecommunications and media company.

John sits on the board of The Workforce Institute and is a thought leader for its think tank. He is also a member of the advisory board for HR.com’s Workforce Management practice, where he educates management teams on union negotiation strategies and employee engagement methodologies.

His professional experience includes:

Labor strategy development for an American specialty storage and organization products retail chain, a consistent Fortune 100 “Best Companies to Work For,” on warehouse and distribution operations.
Restructuring of a Canadian telecommunications and media company’s contact center operations, which reduced turnover by more than half in the first year and captured over $10 million in labor savings in the first year.
Labor and advisory work for several multinational food manufacturing and processing conglomerates.
Labor strategy development for various mining operations globally.
Cost reduction and performance improvement for one of the largest American department store retail chain’s contact center operations.