Financial Services >> Analyst Interviews >> September 23, 2003
ALEXANDER S. FRIEDMAN is an M&A investment banker at Lazard Freres & Co.
LLC, specializing in the media and technology sectors. Prior to Lazard,
Mr. Friedman ran Corporate Development for Medarex, Inc., a leading
publicly listed biotechnology company. Prior to joining Medarex, he was
the Founder and CEO of the OpenVenture Group, a venture-backed startup
investment management company that pioneered the development of public
fund of funds in the private equity asset class. He was also one of the
first employees at Wit Capital Group, now known as Soundview. Mr.
Friedman served as a White House Fellow in the Clinton Administration in
1998 and 1999, where he worked as an Assistant to the Secretary of
Defense and as an Assistant to the Director of the Secret Service. He is
a Trustee and Treasurer of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, a
member of the Advisory Boards of NetAID and the National Outdoor
Leadership School, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and was
the founder of the 21st Century Roundtable and Climb for the Cure. He is
also an active high-altitude mountaineer, and has participated in major
climbs in the US, Alaska, Kazakhstan, Peru and Patagonia. Mr. Friedman
received a JD and an MBA from Columbia University, where he was a Harlan
Fiske Stone Scholar, and a BA from Princeton University. Profile
TWST: Would you begin with an overview of what Lazard Freres & Co. LLCdoes in the private equity area?
Mr. Friedman: Lazard is a full service investment bank and the leading
private