Former NYC Schools Chancellor Harold Levy Joins Plainfield Asset Management

GREENWICH, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Plainfield Asset Management LLC announced that Harold O. Levy has joined Plainfield today as Managing Director - Special Counsel. Mr. Levy was Chancellor of the New York City Schools for three years during the Giuliani and Bloomberg administrations.

“Plainfield's success in turbulent markets positions its funds to do exceptionally well in the years ahead. Their experience and reputation for absolute integrity make me thrilled to be joining their team.”

Mr. Levy comes to Plainfield from Kaplan, Inc., where he was Executive Vice President and was responsible at various times for legal affairs (previously serving as General Counsel), corporate communications, government affairs, and human relations. He was a member of the Kaplan Higher Education Executive Team and started Kaplan University's online School of Education. A subsidiary of The Washington Post Company with approximately $2 billion in revenue and 20,000 employees, Kaplan is a leading provider of career and educational services.

As Chancellor of the New York City schools from 2000 to 2002, Mr. Levy led the nation’s largest school system, with 1.1 million students, 120,000 employees and a $13 billion budget. He forged close alliances with local colleges and started the much emulated Teaching Fellows Program. Under his leadership, math and reading scores rose substantially and 12,000 uncertified teachers were upgraded.

From 1985 to 2000, Mr. Levy worked at Citigroup, Inc. and its predecessors Salomon Brothers Inc and Philipp Brothers, Inc., as Associate General Counsel, Director of Global Compliance, and Senior Litigation Counsel. He was responsible, among other assignments, for key regulatory relationships, negotiating acquisitions, and settling class actions and derivative cases, including the Salomon Treasury Scandal and the Hunt Silver cases.

Mr. Levy is a member of the National Adjudicatory Council of the National Association of Securities Dealers and of the boards of several colleges and universities. He has served on the New York State Board of Regents, the New York Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa Exchange Board, and as Chair of the Drafting Committee, Securities Industry Voluntary Initiative for State and Local Political Contributions.

Mr. Levy received a B.S. in 1974 and a J.D. in 1979 from Cornell University and an M.A. in 1978 from Oxford University in the Honors School of Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He was a Telluride Scholar at Cornell and a Lincoln Exchange Scholar at Oxford. He has honorary doctorates from City University of New York (Baruch College) and from Bard and St. Francis colleges. He is a member of the New York State Bar.

Max Holmes, Plainfield's Founder and Chief Investment Officer, commented, “We are fortunate to have been able to attract Harold to our ranks. Since Plainfield manages money for university endowments, and since I have been on the faculty of NYU since 1993, we are always seeking to strengthen our insight into the education community. In addition, we are in a period of rising contact between hedge funds and government. Having known Harold since 1991, I can say he is uniquely suited to strengthening our relationships with both education and government.”

Mr. Levy added: "Plainfield's success in turbulent markets positions its funds to do exceptionally well in the years ahead. Their experience and reputation for absolute integrity make me thrilled to be joining their team.”

Based in Greenwich, Connecticut, Plainfield Asset Management is an investment advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Plainfield manages in excess of $3 billion of investment capital for institutions and high net worth individuals based in the United States and abroad. The firm was founded in February 2005.