Carlyle CEO Kew Lee leaves

  • Push-out Score determined
  • After about five years in the position
  • Praise and thanks for Lee
  • Bill Conway taking over temporarily
  • Search for a successor
  • Lee said 96 words

(exechange) — New York & Washington, DC, August 8, 2022 — Kew Lee, chief executive of Carlyle, leaves — as “mutually agreed.” As announced by Carlyle Group Inc. in a news release published on Sunday, August 7, 2022, and in a regulatory filing published on Monday, August 8, 2022, Kewsong (Kew) Lee leaves his post as chief executive officer at the private-equity firm, after about five years in the role, effective immediately.

Carlyle will undertake a search for a successor.

Kew Lee’s duties as CEO will be taken over temporarily by William E. (Bill) Conway, a former Co-Chief Executive Officer at Carlyle Group Inc., as Interim Chief Executive Officer.

“The timing is right”

Kew Lee’s departure from the CEO post is explained as follows. Carlyle said: “With Chief Executive Officer Kewsong Lee’s five-year employment agreement coming to a close at the end of 2022, both the Company’s Board of Directors and Mr. Lee mutually agreed as part of their discussions that the timing is right to initiate a search for a new CEO to lead Carlyle forward in its next phase of growth.”

Precise information regarding Kew Lee’s future plans was not immediately available.

“Step down”

Carlyle said: “Mr. Lee will step down today as CEO and a member of the Board of Directors. He will be available as needed to assist in a transition during the months ahead.”

Carlyle further said: “On August 7, 2022, The Carlyle Group Inc. (the “Company”) announced that the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) and its Chief Executive Officer, Kewsong Lee, have mutually agreed that Mr. Lee will step down as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board, effective as of such date.”

Share price decline since November 2021

The announcement follows a decline in Carlyle Group Inc.’s share price of 32% since November 2021.

In the position of CEO since 2018

Kew Lee became CEO of the Company in 2018.

Lee will serve as a Senior Advisor through the end of the year in order to assist with the transition.

Lee served as the Chief Executive Officer of Carlyle and was elected to the Board of Directors effective January 1, 2018.

Lee joined Carlyle in 2013 as Deputy Chief Investment Officer for Corporate Private Equity and in 2016 he assumed the additional role of leading the Global Credit segment.

Prior to joining Carlyle, Lee was a partner and a member of the Executive Management Group at Warburg Pincus, where he spent 21 years.

He currently serves as the President of the Lincoln Center Theater, Chairman of the US Chamber of Commerce China Center and Vice Chair of the Partnership for New York City.

He also is a member of the Business Roundtable, serves on the board of FCLT Global, and is a Trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Lee earned his AB in applied mathematics in economics at Harvard College and his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Push-out Score determined

The Push-out Score™ determined by exechange gauges the pressure surrounding Kew Lee’s move on a scale of 0 to 10.

exechange reached out to Carlyle and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.

Read the full story in the exechange report 33.2022 ($).