James A. Lawrence joined Unilever in September 2007 after serving since 1998 as the executive vice president and chief financial officer of General Mills where he was responsible for corporate financial activities and international operations.
Before arriving at General Mills Mr. Lawrence was executive vice president and chief financial officer for Northwest Airlines a position he held since 1996. Before joining Northwest he spent four years at Pepsi-Cola International where he served as president and CEO of its operations in Asia the Middle East and Africa. Prior to joining PepsiCo Inc. Mr. Lawrence was chairman and co-founder of LEK Partnership a highly successful corporate strategy and merger/acquisition consulting firm headquartered in London with 11 offices and more than 350 consultants in North America Europe and the Pacific Rim. Before launching his own firm Mr. Lawrence was a partner with Bain and Company establishing and heading offices in both London and Munich.
Mr. Lawrence earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Yale University and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. Mr. Lawrence is currently a director of The St. Paul Companies.
As a member of Avnet's Board of Directors Mr. Lawrence serves on the Audit Committee and the Finance Committee. |