LONDON and NEW YORK, June 3 /PRNewswire/ -- The Rothschild Group announces a new management structure in North America designed to help take the Group forward over the next decade and building on the success achieved to date. With immediate effect, Jim Lawrence has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Rothschild North America ("RNA"), the Group's US and Canadian Financial Advisory and Asset Management businesses. David de Rothschild will continue as Executive Chairman of RNA. Jim will also become Co-Head of Global Investment Banking, alongside Nigel Higgins and Olivier Pecoux, who are both based in Europe.

Jim Lawrence, who has a deep understanding of the advisory business as one of the founding partners and former Chairman of the successful LEK Partnership, joins Rothschild from Unilever where he most recently held the position of Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer; prior to that he was Vice Chairman at General Mills. He has a long track history of working in multinational businesses, having also spent time in the US and in Europe in senior executive positions with Northwest Airlines, PepsiCo, Bain & Company and The Boston Consulting Group over the course of his career.

Rothschild also announced that Christopher Lawrence has been appointed Deputy Chairman of Global Investment Banking to focus his considerable skills on developing, nurturing and widening Rothschild's client base in North America. David Resnick has been appointed Chairman of Global Financing Advisory and in this role he will help further integrate and develop Rothschild's successful Debt Advisory, Restructuring and Equity Advisory businesses around the world, all of which have grown substantially in recent years.

Announcing the appointment, David de Rothschild, Chairman of the Rothschild Group, said, "We see tremendous opportunities in North America to build upon the success we have quietly achieved over recent years and we think Jim's experience is ideal to help us realise those opportunities to the fullest. We are committed to growing our footprint in North America and these changes will facilitate the development of our Investment Banking business and the consolidation and development of our major existing and new US and Canadian client relationships."

Nigel Higgins said, "Jim is a proven manager of big companies and leader of professional services firms. His appointment will strengthen our efforts to act as trusted, independent advisor at the most senior levels in North America. He will bring to Rothschild and to our clients great international experience - encompassing the US, Europe and Emerging Markets -  together with his track record as a business leader and in founding and growing a successful client advisory firm. Jim's arrival will build on the considerable strengths, particularly in M&A and Restructuring, that we already have in North America."

Jim Lawrence said, "Rothschild is an excellent firm with a strong reputation here in the US and around the world. The opportunity for us in North America is outstanding and I look forward to continuing to build the firm and to helping to achieve its potential."

SOURCE Rothschild