Adelsonsnip/rosenfeld/dt1st/mark2nd

Scott Adelson

Managing Director

Houlihan, Lokey, Howard & Zukin

If you want to talk to Scott Adelson, take a number time is an extremely valuable commodity for the mergers-and-acquisitions specialist.

What is his schedule like? “Hellacious,” he said. “It consists of a substantial amount of reshuffling calendars on an hour by hour basis.”

An average week for Adelson means thousands of miles in a car, plus a long-distance plane trip.

Last week he was in London, with a quick side trip to Brussels; next week, he’ll be in Australia, with a quick jump to New Zealand. Not to mention recent trips to Mexico, Thailand, Korea and Hong Kong.

While Adelson works a stressful, time-consuming job, family remains his top priority. “I try to be home in time to tuck my kids in bed,” he said. “I think having a balanced life makes you a better person.”

For Adelson, “balanced” means getting up at 5 a.m., working out with a personal trainer, and having breakfast with his family. His wife left her job as chief operating officer at a large company to raise their two young children, ages 4 and 18 months.

He gets to work around 8 a.m., and spends the day driving between meetings, or flying to another city to check out a prospective acquisition for a client. “I do everything in the world to get back as fast as I can,” he said, “whether that means going to Atlanta for a day, or to England for 48 hours.”

He is usually home by 8 p.m. or earlier, and spends some time with his family before retreating to his home office at 10 p.m. and getting on the phone for international calls. Weekends are usually spent reading reports and making calls.

“When you’re first starting as a professional, the idea of faraway lands is very exciting,” he said. “But you quickly realize you’d rather be sleeping in your own bed than anywhere else on the planet.”

Jill Rosenfeld