MIDDLEBURY, Vt.- Felix Rohatyn, financier and former United States ambassador to France, was named a trustee of Middlebury College at a meeting of the college’s board on May 7. A member of the Middlebury College class of 1949, Rohatyn will serve a three-year term beginning July1. This term will mark the second time Rohatyn has served on the board, where he was previously a member from 1969-1980.

In January 2002, the Center for International Affairs at Middlebury College was renamed the Rohatyn Center for International Affairs.

Rohatyn’s long career at the private investment bank Lazard Freres, where he masterminded the consolidations and mergers of such companies as ITT and Time Warner, earned him a reputation as a mergers and acquisitions authority. A civic-minded financier, Rohatyn was the ambassador to France from 1997 to 2000 and has served as a longtime advisor to the Democratic Party.

In April 2001, he founded Rohatyn Associates, a boutique investment bank. His current business affiliations include board of director positions at three companies based in France: energy and water conglomerate Suez Group; advertising giant Publicis Groupe; and LVMH, a luxury goods company, at whose American subsidiary he serves as chairman.

Rohatyn is considered an original and influential economic thinker in large part for his role in saving New York City from bankruptcy in the 1970s as chairman of the Municipal Assistance Corporation.

The recipient of a number of awards and honorary degrees, he also serves as a trustee of Carnegie Hall, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and NYC2012, an organization lobbying to bring the Olympics to New York City.

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