Lynn Forester de Rothschild

Lynn Forester de Rothschild
Born Lynn Forester
1954 (age 60–61)
New Jersey
Nationality British, American
Alma mater Pomona College, Columbia Law School
Occupation CEO, E.L. Rothschild

Lynn Forester, Lady de Rothschild (born Lynn Forester; July 2, 1954) is the chief executive officer of E.L. Rothschild, a holding company she owns with her third husband, Sir Evelyn Robert de Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild family.[1] The company manages investments in The Economist Group, owner of The Economist magazine, Congressional Quarterly and the Economist Intelligence Unit, Bronfman E.L. Rothschild LP, a leading independent wealth management firm in the United States, as well as real estate, agricultural and food interests.[2] By virtue of her marriage to a knight, she is known socially as Lady de Rothschild.

Life and career

Born in New Jersey, U.S.,[1] and raised in Oradell, New Jersey, she is the daughter of Annabelle (née Hewitt)[3] and John Kenneth Forester, president and owner of the General Aviation Company, now Meridian in Teterboro, N.J., she is a Phi Beta Kappa magna cum laude graduate of Pomona College and an honors graduate of Columbia Law School. She also studied international law at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. From 1980-1984, she was an associate at the Simpson Thacher & Bartlett law firm.

Lynn Forester de Rothschild has stated that her first business success came at the age of 16 when she bought US made blue jeans and brought them to sell in Israel during her vacation there and sold them for up to ten times what they had originally cost her.

After meeting telecommunications billionaire John Kluge while doing legal work for him as a law firm associate, she became Executive Vice President for Development at Metromedia Inc from 1984-1989. From 1989 to 2002, Lynn Forester de Rothschild owned and operated various telecommunication companies worldwide that revolutionized the broadband and wireless industries. From 1989 to 1995, Lady de Rothschild was the majority shareholder, Chairman and CEO, of TPI Communications International, Inc., one of the largest providers of paging, wireless data and cellular telephone service in Latin America, owned with Motorola. While under her management, TPI tripled its size and per-customer revenues, and cash flow grew to three times the U.S. average. In addition, she expanded operations from Puerto Rico into Latin America. TPI was sold in a private transaction for an undisclosed sum in the mid-90s.

In 1995, Lady de Rothschild founded FirstMark Communications Inc, in the United States, a broadband wireless company. In 1997, she sold her US interests in order to focus on international opportunities. In 1998, she founded FirstMark Communications of Europe, with the mission of building a pan-European broadband Internet company. Having secured licenses in Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Finland and built a 20,000 klm fiber network in 15 countries. The company was sold in June 2000 in a $1 billion financing, the largest private equity placement in the history of the European competitive telecommunications sector. In discussing her personal business success between 1989 and 2000, Forester has said: "I think a lot of it is that I was lucky...most of all I learned that it's better to be lucky than to be smart."

Lady de Rothschild serves on the Board of Directors of Estée Lauder Companies, The Economist Group, Bronfman E.L. Rothschild LP and Christies International. Previously, she served on the Boards of Directors of Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation and General Instruments, Inc.

Personal life

Forester's first marriage, to Alexander Hartley Platt, a doctor's son from New Jersey, took place at Brick Presbyterian Church on May 20, 1978.[4]

Her second husband was[5] Andrew Stein, a New York politician and son of a multi-millionaire businessman, Jerry Finkelstein. Stein is nine years older than Forester and was Manhattan Borough President at the time of their marriage. They wed on March 12, 1983,[6] and had two children, Ben and Jake. They were divorced in 1993.[7]

Lynn Forester de Rothschild was introduced to Sir Evelyn de Rothschild by Henry Kissinger at the 1998 Bilderberg Group conference in Scotland,[8] and they married on November 30, 2000 in London, England, after Rothschild (almost 23 years older than Forester) had left his wife and three children.[1] She is his third wife.[1] On the announcement of the marriage, the de Rothschild couple were invited to spend their honeymoon at the White House.[9] The couple splits their time between New York and London. In response to a reporter's question about her wealth, Forester said, “Is that said about me? I hope not. I mean, I’m just who I am. I don’t think being rich is that important. I think not being boring is really important.”

Politics

Lynn Forester de Rothschild was a major fund raiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 Presidential bid and has received attention for endorsing John McCain for President. On June 22, 2011, she hosted a fundraiser for Jon Huntsman, Jr.'s presidential campaign.[10]

From 1993–1995, she served on President Bill Clinton's National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council. From 1998-2000, Lynn Forester de Rothschild served on the US Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Committee.

Lynn Forester de Rothschild is actively involved in policy issues and social issues, including micro-finance and women's rights. the philanthropic sector. In 2006, she was appointed as a member of the UN Advisors Group on Inclusive Financial Services. She serves as Chairman of the Board for the American Patrons of the Tate Gallery, FAI (), and the International Advisory Board of Columbia University School of Law. In addition, she serves as a Trustee of the ERANDA Foundation (a Rothschild family foundation), the Outward Bound Trust, the Alfred Herrhausen Society of International Dialogue of Deutsche Bank and the Global Commercial Microfinance Consortium Advisory Board of Deutsche Bank. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (USA), Chatham House (UK), the Institute for Strategic Studies (UK), the International Advisory Council of Asia House (UK), the Foreign Policy Association (USA), and Co-Chair of the Henry Jackson Initiative's report 'Towards a More Inclusive Capitalism'.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Valynseele, Joseph; Henri-Claude Mars (2004). Le Sang des Rothschild. Paris: L’Intermédiaire des Chercheurs et Curieux. p. 87. ISBN 2-908003-22-8.
  2. ↑ Grove, Lloyd "World According to Lynn Forester de Rothschild" Condé Nast Portfolio.com (5 November 2007)
  3. ↑ Wooster Alumni Community - Annabelle Hewitt Forester '39. Woosteralumni.org (2009-02-15). Retrieved on 2013-08-24.
  4. ↑ "Lynn Forester Becomes Bride Of A.H. Platt". New York Times. 1978-05-21. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
  5. ↑ "Andrew J. Stein, Borough President, To Wed Lynn Forester Next Month". New York Times. 1983-01-16. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
  6. ↑ "Andrew J. Stein Marries Lawyer". New York Times. 1983-03-13. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
  7. ↑ Brozan, Nadine (1993-08-04). "Chronicle". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
  8. ↑ Gerard, Jasper. "Interview: Jasper Gerard meets Lynn de Rothschild", The Times, July 27, 2003. Accessed September 23, 2008.
  9. ↑ 'I Love My Country Over My Party'
  10. ↑ Zeleny, Jeff (2011-06-22). "Huntsman Finishes Opening Day with Big Money Haul". The New York Times.

External links