Hi, Jennifer! When did you work at Rothschild & Co?
I joined the New York office in 2004, three years after graduating. I spent two years there before I moved on secondment to London, where I worked for a further six years in debt advisory and restructuring. After leaving Rothschild & Co, I returned to Los Angeles where I grew up and ended up in the start-up world, at one point launching my own healthy lifestyle company.
What do you do now?
I now live in Nashville, Tennessee. After another role at Asurion – a large corporation headquartered here – I shifted gears to work at global climate change NGO New Energy Nexus, where I head up their financial innovation vertical. I also serve on the board of several local environmental organisations, including advising the mayor’s office on their sustainability initiatives.
What made you decide to leave Rothschild & Co?
I reached a point where I wanted to try my hand working inside companies rather than advising them. That prompted the move back to the US into the start-up world. Around the same time, I had developed a strong mindfulness practice, begun teaching meditation, and became increasingly engaged in racial justice. It made me realise I could help build community and make a meaningful difference in Nashville in a way that felt more tangible than in LA. After working for a few years in operations strategy and business development at Asurion, the urgency of the climate crisis and its impact on under-resourced communities drove me to pursue a career in climate change, applying my finance skills to mobilise capital to solve the world’s greatest challenges.
What skills did you learn at Rothschild & Co that have helped you along the way?
My work today centres on financial innovation, so I still draw heavily on the finance background I developed at Rothschild & Co. In particular, my experience in the restructuring team was invaluable: working on non-standard capital structures, understanding businesses in depth, and analysing how business plans feed into capital structures.
That foundation continues to shape my work today. Rothschild & Co also taught me the importance of working with a broad range of stakeholders, from creditors and equity holders to employees and customers. My experience at Rothschild & Co laid the groundwork for me to apply widely applicable mindsets and skillsets to all my professional, community, and leadership endeavours. I am grateful for the confidence it gave me to realise that investment banking does not limit you to one path.
What are the top three things everyone should know about climate change?
First, money makes a real difference. How capital is deployed can have enormous impact, whether through philanthropy or investing, such as investing pensions and savings into climate-focused funds. Second, personal choices matter. How you power your home, how you travel, and how much meat you consume can all reduce your environmental footprint. Third, investing in climate-friendly companies can often create even greater impact than individual lifestyle changes alone, and can also generate market-rate returns – clean energy, after all, is the way we will power our future.
What are your fondest memories of working at Rothschild & Co?
We had a real sense of camaraderie in the team. One memory stands out from London: I was working late one evening, and the private dining room used for client dinners was across the hall from my desk. At around 9.30pm, two Managing Directors with whom I worked closely came over and gave me half a bottle of Rothschild wine that was left over from a client dinner. It was a small but very thoughtful gesture.
How do you find the Rothschild & Co Alumni Network helpful?
It’s always nice to see familiar names and faces, and to learn what people are up to now. It feels like a connection to an earlier chapter of my career that is quite different from the world I work in today.
What do you miss most about Rothschild & Co?
I learned an enormous amount, very quickly, within a highly structured team environment. My current world can be far more fast-moving and chaotic, so I sometimes miss that sense of structure and having a close team to exchange ideas with.
If you could go back to your time at Rothschild & Co, what advice would you give yourself?
I would say: “Don’t be afraid to use your voice more and share unconventional ideas.” That was something that came up in one of my performance reviews and is advice I still value today.