James Lawrence

James Lawrence was appointed to the MAC in February 2021 by Gov. Tim Walz to District C, (see other district information) which includes the communities of Bloomington and Richfield; portions of the City of Edina, including the southern half of the city between I-494 and Minnesota Highway 62, and the northeastern quadrant of the city (just west of Minnesota Highway 100); and southwest corner of the city of Minneapolis: west of Lyndale Avenue, south of 42nd Street (east of Lake Harriet), south of Lake Harriet, and neighborhoods on the west side of Lake Harriet and south of 39th Street West. The district also includes the unorganized territory around Fort Snelling. Portions of the City of Minneapolis along I-35W, generally north to I-94 and I-394 (including the eastern Bryn Mawr neighborhood) along Franklin Avenue, bounded by the Mississippi River on the east, and southwest portions of the city of Minneapolis, east of Lyndale Avenue, north of 42nd Street (east of Lake Harriet), north of Lake Harriet, and neighborhoods on the west side of Lake Harriet and north of 39th Street West (around Bde Maka Ska).

Mr. Lawrence is Chairman of Lake Harriet Capital LLC, a private investment firm. Previously, Mr. Lawrence served as chairman of Rothschild North America and earlier as Chief Executive Officer of Rothschild North America and as co-head of global investment banking at Rothschild from 2010 to 2015. 

Prior to Rothschild, Mr. Lawrence was Chief Financial Officer of the Anglo Dutch company, Unilever, and he served as Executive Director on the boards of Unilever NV and Unilever PLC.  He joined Unilever in 2007 after serving as the Vice Chairman and Chief Financial officer of General Mills for nine years.  Also, he had responsibility for General Mills’ international business.  Prior to General Mills Mr. Lawrence was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Northwest Airlines from 1996 to 1998, and before that Mr. Lawrence was a division president at PepsiCo, serving as CEO of Pepsi-Cola Asia, Middle East, Africa from 1992 to 1996. 

In 1983, he cofounded The LEK Partnership in London.  Before that he was partner of Bain and Company, having opened their London and Munich offices.  His first job after business school was working for The Boston Consulting Group. 

Mr. Lawrence is currently a Non-Executive director of Avnet Inc., Smurfit Kappa group and AerCap and until 2018, IAG (International Consolidated Airlines Group).  Since 1990, Mr. Lawrence has served on 17 public company boards, several private company boards and numerous non-profit boards. In his various roles, he has been advisor or principal in numerous mergers, activist campaigns, acquisitions, joint ventures and divestitures. 

Mr. Lawrence earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Yale University and an M.B.A. with distinction from Harvard Business School.

Commissioner Lawrence is a member of the Planning, Development and Environment Committee.