John P. Abizaid joins Lazard as Senior Advisor

General Abizaid, former commander of U.S. Central Command, will be a Senior Advisor in the firm’s Financial Advisory business, focused primarily on the Middle East and Europe.

“John has had a distinguished career, most recently as U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and spent decades as a leader and strategist, commanding troops and serving as an advisor to U.S. Presidents,” said Kenneth M. Jacobs, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lazard. “We look forward to working with him and leveraging his unique experience for clients.”

“We welcome John to our esteemed and select group of Senior Advisors, who provide differentiated and content-rich insight to our clients,” said Peter R. Orszag, Chief Executive Officer of Financial Advisory, Lazard.

John P. Abizaid, a retired U.S. Army four-star General, most recently served as the United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and served as the senior advisor for the Secretary of Defense to the Ukrainian Minister of Defense from 2016 - 2018. He has also served as the Distinguished Chair (Emeritus) of the Combating Terrorism Center at the United States Military Academy at West Point and was the first Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He has worked with the Preventative Defense Project at Stanford University and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and served on the CIA’s External Advisory Board and on President Obama’s Intelligence Advisory Board. He is currently Principal Partner of JPA Partners, LLC, advising private business, government, and academic clients on leadership, national and international strategy, business, security, and military affairs.

General Abizaid retired from the United States Army in May 2007 as Commander of U.S. Central Command after thirty-four years of active service. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He led the Dover Inquiry Panel and co-chaired the 2014 National Defense Panel. He has served as a board member for USAA, Virtu Financial and RPM International. John is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, studied at the University of Jordan in Amman, holds a master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University, and was awarded Honorary Degrees from Dartmouth College and Norwich University.