"I'm so pleased that Jim is joining the MoneyGram team. He brings extensive experience taking companies public and leading them through financial and operational restructurings," said MoneyGram chairman and chief executive officer Pamela H. Patsley. "He brings strategic business leadership and a global perspective gained from his years of experience leading finance functions at some of the world's most successful and regulated brand-name companies such as Celanese, Coopers and Lybrand, Qwest and Royal Caribbean."

Shields brings to MoneyGram more than a decade of executive leadership experience in corporate finance. He was most recently senior vice president finance and treasurer for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Previously, he was vice president and treasurer of Celanese Corporation, a $6 billion chemical company with worldwide operations. Prior to that, Shields was vice president and chief financial officer for consumer markets at Qwest Communications International, where he was part of the new senior management team that restructured the company's balance sheets and restored company's financial, accounting and operational integrity.

Shields earned a Master of Business Administration from Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in North Carolina and a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

"I'm confident that Jim will make immediate and important contributions in helping the senior management team position MoneyGram for long-term future growth," said Patsley.