James D. Robinson III

James D. Robinson III served as Chairman & CEO of the American Express Company for approximately 16 years. He held additional positions at the company prior to that. While at American Express, Robinson achieved the senior position at the company after his competitor for the position, Robert Morley, launched a thwarted hostile takeover of McGraw-Hill. Robinson went on to purchase Shearson Lehman, IDS, First Data Corporation, Trade Development Bank (Switzerland), and several others. He co-created Warner-Amex with Steve Ross. He played a prominent role in the RJR Nabisco leveraged buyout battle as chronicled in the book Barbarians at the Gate. Actor Fred Thompson played Robinson in the 1993 movie.

In 1991, Robinson received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member Henry Kravis.

Robinson has been a director of The Coca-Cola Company since 1975. He is a general partner and co-founder of RRE Ventures, a private information technology venture investment firm, along with his son, James D. Robinson IV, a venture capitalist, and a classmate of his son from Harvard Business School, Stuart J. Ellman. Robinson is also president of J.D. Robinson, Inc., a strategic consulting firm. He was previously a long-time Director and Chairman of Bristol-Myers Squibb, and of Violy, Byorum & Partners, which operated in South America.

Robinson attended Woodberry Forest School and is a 1957 graduate of Georgia Tech's School of Industrial Management where he was a member of the Chi Phi fraternity. He earned an MBA from Harvard in 1961.

James Dixon Robinson III (born 19 November 1935) is an American businessman best known for his position as the chief executive officer of American Express Co. from 1977 until his retirement in 1993.