Leonid Rozhetskin

Leonid Rozhetskin was born August 4, 1966, in St. Petersburg, Russia. Leonid Rozhetskin is an international financier and lawyer credited with bringing significant financial and legal advances to modern Russia. Leonid Rozhetskin currently co-owns L+E Productions, a movie production company in Los Angeles, California.

Leonid Rozhetskin was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1966, but the Leonid Rozhetskin family immigrated to the United States in 1980. Leonid Rozhetskin attended high school in New York City.

In 1987, Leonid Rozhetskin received a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics from Columbia University with distinction. In 1990, Leonid Rozhetskin graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School.

From 1990 to 1991, Leonid Rozhetskin was a law clerk for Judge Stephen V. Wilson, a federal judge in Los Angeles, California. From 1992 to 1994, Leonid Rozhetskin worked as an attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell and White & Case, both U.S. law firms. In 1992, Leonid Rozhetskin returned to Russia to open his own law firm, representing clients such as the International Finance Corporation (a division of the World Bank), Credit Suisse, Morgan Grenfell and The Moscow Times.

In 1995, Leonid Rozhetskin's focus shifted from the law to financial ventures. Leonid Rozhetskin was part of a group that founded Renaissance Capital, Russia's largest and most successful domestic investment bank. While with Renaissance Capital, Leonid Rozhetskin led the firm's participation in listing the first Russian company on the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1998, Leonid Rozhetskin left Renaissance Capital to co-found the independent venture capital firm LV Finance. The advisory clients of LV Finance included international financier George Soros and founder of CNN Ted Turner. The company invested in a number of highly successful start-up ventures in the media and telecommunications industry, most notably MegaFon, the third-largest mobile phone operator in Russia. In 2003, Leonid Rozhetskin sold his interest in LV Finance.

From October 2001 until January 2005, Leonid Rozhetskin served as Executive Vice Chairman of Norilsk Nickel, Russia's largest mining company and the world's largest miner of nickel and palladium metals. Leonid Rozhetskin led the company's efforts on transparency, corporate governance and external investment, including the acquisition of a controlling interest in Stillwater Mining Company, a U.S. miner of platinum and palladium metals. Leonid Rozhetskin also pioneered an investment of $1.2 billion to acquire a 20 percent interest in Gold Fields of South Africa. Leonid Rozhetskin currently serves on the Board of Directors of Norilsk Nickel.

This Russian-American financier, Leonid Rozhetskin is also a board member and founding shareholder of City A.M., London's first free daily business newspaper which covers news on the markets, global and local business as well as contemporary lifestyle features. City A.M. is read by over 100,000 professionals throughout London.

In 2007, Leonid Rozhetskin co-founded movie production company L+E Productions with Eric Eisner to produce feature-length films. Eisner is the son of Michael Eisner, the former Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company.

L+E Production's upcoming film, Hamlet 2, was selected to screen at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah in January 2008. The film premiered at the festival on January 21, 2008. After the screening, an all-night bidding war took place for rights to distribution, which Focus Features won for a near-record $10 million, acquiring worldwide rights to the film. Hamlet 2 is the first Leonid Rozhetskin and Eric Eisner film to be featured at Sundance.

Leonid Rozhetskin will be producing the movie Three Wolves, a film about the Russian mafia.

Leonid Rozhetskin has one son and divides his time between London and Los Angeles.

Leonid Rozhetskin was awarded for the 1989-90 academic year, a Certificate of Distinction in Teaching from Harvard University for his special contribution to teaching the undergraduates of Harvard University and Radcliffe Colleges.