James Woolery, who abruptly abandoned his leadership post at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in early 2015 to co-found the hedge fund Hudson Executive Capital, has moved on once again. Hudson announced Monday that Woolery, 47, is leaving the activist hedge fund, citing personal reasons for his departure.
The move is Woolery’s fourth in six years. In 2011 he left Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where he was an M&A partner, to co-head the North American M&A group at JPMorgan Chase & Co. He joined Cadwalader in 2013 with a generous three-year deal that guaranteed him at least $8 million annually, more than any other partner at the firm. He was made deputy chairman of the firm and co-leader of its M&A group. Then in January 2015, shortly before he was slated to become the firm’s chairman, he left to found Hudson Executive Capital with Douglas Braunstein, the former vice-chairman of JPMorgan Chase.
