RSR Partners Appoints Charles Stonehill to Head its New York Office and Financial Services Practice

GREENWICH, Conn., Jan. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- RSR Partners, a leading executive recruiting firm specializing in senior level board and executive searches, has announced the appointment of Charles G.T. Stonehill as a managing director and head of the firm's Financial Services Practice. Mr. Stonehill, who has more than 30 years of experience in investment banking and capital markets, including key positions at Lazard Freres, Credit Suisse First Boston, and Morgan Stanley, will also head up RSR Partners' newly opened New York office.

"Charles Stonehill will add unique substance, experience, and knowledge to our existing financial group and will offer great benefit to our financial services clients," said Russell S. Reynolds, Jr., founder and chairman of RSR Partners, in making the announcement. "He has held important positions at several top firms in the financial services world, and is very highly regarded in the field. Because of his background and range of experience, his relationships are at exactly the right level for the type of leadership searches we perform."

Mr. Stonehill, a native of England with dual US and UK citizenship, began his career at J.P. Morgan & Co., in the oil and gas investment banking arena. Subsequently, he served as managing director and head of European equity and equity capital markets for Morgan Stanley & Co., before joining Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), where he completed a six-year tenure as head of investment banking for the Americas. He then became partner and global head of capital markets for Lazard Freres, where he was also a member of the executive committee.

Most recently, Mr. Stonehill was the chief financial officer of Better Place Inc., an American-Israeli electric car startup, where he was responsible for the company's global financial strategy and management, and oversaw the raising of almost a billion dollars in equity capital, the largest amount of pre-revenue financing for a private cleantech company. He left in 2011, when the company relocated its headquarters to Israel, and proceeded to found Green & Blue Advisors LLC, an advisory firm providing financial advice to a number of cleantech and other environment-minded companies. He joins RSR Partners as of early January 2012.

"I am very much looking forward to forging this new career path with RSR Partners, which will allow me to connect with the global world of finance I grew up in while tackling new challenges," Mr. Stonehill stated. "I have a very high regard for Russ and the culture of his firm, which clearly tries to address the strategic needs of its clients. Throughout my experience both in and outside of banking, I've come to appreciate the critical difference it makes to organizations to have the right people in the right positions."

In addition to his employment history, Mr. Stonehill currently serves as a non-executive director and chairman of the Audit Committee of Julius Baer Group Ltd., Zurich, Switzerland. He has also served as non-executive chairman of Panmure Gordon & Co. PLC, independent director of the London Metal Exchange and director of Gulfsands Petroleum PLC; and advisory board member of the Paris Stock Exchange, among other memberships and affiliations. He holds an M.A. in modern history from Oxford University.

RSR Partners is an executive, board, and leadership recruiting firm based in Greenwich, CT, with offices in New York, Chicago, Cleveland, and Los Angeles. The firm was launched in 1993 by Russell S. Reynolds, Jr., a veteran of more than 45 years in the business who grew his original venture, Russell Reynolds Associates, into a $100 million business before he retired from that firm and subsequently founded RSR Partners. RSR Partners has been on the leading edge of advising CEOs and boards on C-suite recruiting, succession planning, and talent assessment on a global scale. The firm's expert search consultants take great care to understand each client's culture, strategy, and vision in order to better identify and assess the right fit, and offer a proven track record in sectors including investment banking, financial services, consumer products, industrial, transportation, healthcare, technology, and human resources, among others.

SOURCE RSR Partners