During 55 years of investment banking and private equity activity, restructured over $400 billion of assets in the airline, apparel, auto parts, banking, beer, chemical, credit card, electric utility, food service, furniture, gypsum, homebuilding, insurance, marine transport, mortgage origination and servicing, oil and gas, railcar manufacturing and leasing, real estate, restaurants, shipyards, steel, textiles and trucking industries, serving as a Chairman or lead director of more than 100 companies operating in more than 20 different countries. Currently, Chairman of WL Ross & Co. LLC and an economic advisor to the Trump campaign.
Awards include the Order of the Rising Sun with Gold and Silver Star from Japan and a medal from Republic of Korea for helping turn around that economy. Served as Honorary Economic Ambassador of Republic of Korea to the Seoul APEC meeting. Served on the International Advisory Board for the Mayor of Seoul, the U.S. Russia Investment Fund and on the U.S. textile and apparel trade mission to China. Currently on the International Board of the British American Board and designated Entrepreneur of the Year by BAB and also by the American Ireland Fund. Named by Bloomberg Markets as one of the 50 most influential people in global finance. Formerly, Privatization advisor to Mayor Giuliani and Member of the Joint Legislative Commission on an Energy Policy for New York State. Currently, Executive Committee Member of the Partnership for New York City. Only person ever elected to both the Private Equity Hall of Fame and the Turnaround Management Hall of Fame. Currently Chairman of the Palm Beach Retirement System and Vice Chairman of its Utility Undergrounding Task Force. Former Member of the Yorktown Bicentennial Commission. Testified before Congressional Committees on trade matters and other commercial topics.
Editorials have been published in the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Detroit Free Press, The Youngstown Blade, The Palm Beach Daily News and other publications and on CNBC.com.
I have been a registered investment advisor and a Chartered Financial Analyst and have been approved as a major shareholder and board member of bank and insurance companies in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Bermuda, Japan and the Republic of Korea as well as by Lloyd’s of London.
Present nonprofit responsibilities include Chairman of the Japan Society, Trustee of the Brookings Institution and Chairman of its Economic Studies Council, The International Board of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Blenheim Foundation, the Magritte Museum in Brussels and Palm Beach Civic Association. Current Advisory Board Member of Yale University School of Management, former member of Harvard Business School Dean’s Advisory Board, the Yale University Council and former Trustee of Sarah Lawrence College. Formerly the Chairman of the Smithsonian Institute National Board, Chairman of the National Museum of American Art and trustee of the Whitney Museum and other art institutions. Awarded Bachelor of Arts degree by Yale and MBA with Distinction by Harvard.
