Contact:
Kristin Aguilera, Deputy Director
Museum of American Finance
212-908-4695
kaguilera@moaf.org
New York, NY – Felix Rohatyn has been selected to receive the Museum of American Finance’s 2012 John C. Whitehead Award for Distinguished Public Service and Financial Leadership. The award is presented annually to a person who has demonstrated a high order of achievement and leadership in the field of finance, and also served with notable distinction in the public sector. It is named after John C. Whitehead, former Deputy Secretary of State and Co-Chair of Goldman Sachs who has headed numerous public service organizations.
Mr. Rohatyn currently serves as Special Advisor to Chairman and CEO Kenneth M. Jacobs at Lazard Frères & Co LLC in New York. Immediately prior to assuming that role in 2010, he headed his own firm, FGR Associates LLC (formerly known as Rohatyn Associates LLC), providing financial advice to corporations. Mr. Rohatyn served as US Ambassador to France from September 1997 to December 2000. Previous to this appointment, he was at Lazard for 49 years.
From 1975 to 1993, Ambassador Rohatyn was chairman of the Municipal Assistance Corporation of the City of New York, where he managed the negotiations that enabled New York City to resolve its financial crisis during the 1970s. He also served as a member of the board of governors of the New York Stock Exchange from 1968 to 1972.
Ambassador Rohatyn has served on numerous corporate boards in the US and Europe; he currently serves on the boards of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Publicis Groupe S.A. He is also a trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, an honorary trustee of Middlebury College and a former vice chairman of Carnegie Hall. In addition, Ambassador Rohatyn is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The Museum of American Finance will present this award to Mr. Rohatyn at its annual gala on Monday, January 9, 2012. For information on this event, please contact Director of Development Jeanne Baker Driscoll at 212-908-4694 or jdriscoll@moaf.org.
About the Museum of American Finance
The Museum of American Finance, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, is the nation’s only public museum dedicated to finance, entrepreneurship and the open market system. With its extensive collection of financial documents and objects, its seminars and educational programming, its publication and oral history program, the Museum portrays the breadth and richness of American financial history, achievement and practices. The Museum is located at 48 Wall Street, on the corner of William Street, and is open Tues–Sat, 10 am – 4 pm.