Kewsong Lee

Kewsong Lee
이규성
Kewsong Lee
Born (1965-08-12) August 12, 1965
Albany, New York, U.S.
EducationHarvard University (AB 1986, MBA 1990)
TitleFounder and CEO, BellTower Partners[1]
Spouse
Zita Ezpeleta
​
(m. 1992)​
In this Korean name, the family name is Lee.
Korean name
Hangul
이규성
RRI Gyuseong
MRI Kyusŏng

Kewsong Lee (born August 12, 1965) is an American businessman and former chief executive officer of The Carlyle Group from 2018 to 2022.

Lee started his career in private equity at Warburg Pincus in 1992 before joining Carlyle in 2013. In 2018, Lee and Glenn Youngkin became co-chief executive officers, succeeding Bill Conway and David Rubenstein. After Youngkin left the firm in 2020, Lee became sole chief executive officer. Lee departed the company in 2022.

Early life and education

Lee was born in Albany, New York on August 12, 1965.[2][3][4] He is of Korean descent. His father, Hak Chong Lee,[a] was a professor at Yonsei University.[2][3][5]

Due to his father's role as a college professor and involvement in the United Nations, Lee would spend his early years in South Korea and Singapore.[2] He then attended boarding school at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut where he graduated in 1982.[2][4][6]

Lee attended Harvard College where he received an A.B. in Applied Mathematics in Economics, graduating in 1986.[2][3] He then received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1990.[2][3]

Career

Lee's first job after graduation from Harvard was at consulting firm, McKinsey & Company.[2][7] He spent two years there before leaving in 1988 to attend Harvard Business School.[2][7]

Lee did a summer internship at Goldman Sachs in 1989 but ultimately decided to return to McKinsey & Company in 1990 after graduating from Harvard Business School.[2][7]

In 1992, Lee joined private equity firm, Warburg Pincus.[2][7] He would spend 21 years at the firm where he became a Partner as well as a member of the Executive Management Group.[8][4] While at Warburg, Lee was involved in transactions that included companies such as Neiman Marcus, Aramark, TransDigm and MBIA.[4][9]

From 2009 to 2017, Lee was a lead director at Arch Capital Group as well as a board member for other firms such as Transdigm and Aramark.[8]

The Carlyle Group

In 2013, Lee joined The Carlyle Group as deputy chief investment officer for corporate private equity.[3][4][9] In 2015, Lee also assumed the role of leading the global credit unit.[10][11]

In 2018, Lee and Glenn Youngkin became co-chief executive officers, succeeding the founders who remained on the executive board.[12] As co-chief executive officers, Lee oversaw the firm's corporate private equity and global credit businesses, while Youngkin oversaw Carlyle's real estate, energy, infrastructure, and investment solutions businesses.[13][14]

In 2019, Lee and Youngkin oversaw the firm's transition from a publicly traded partnership into a corporation.[15]

In July 2020, Youngkin stepped down from his role at Carlyle, making Lee the sole chief executive officer of the firm. According to Bloomberg, though the partnership was intended as equals, Lee ran the company's largest businesses and took initiative while Youngkin's business lines stalled.[16][17][18]

As CEO, Lee reorganized the company and invested in new sectors like credit, real estate, and insurance to diversify the company away from its private equity roots.[11][19][20] Carlyle's ratio of credit assets to total assets increased from 17% in January 2018 to 38% in June 2022.[21] According to Reuters, under Lee's leadership, Carlyle made progress in core performance metrics, but still lagged rivals such as Blackstone and KKR.[21]

On August 8, 2022, Lee stepped down as CEO suddenly during contract negotiations with the board.[22] Sources linked the departure to multiple reasons. The founders wanted more control over the company than what Lee wanted.[19][20] The founders disagreed with some of Lee's organization and management decisions.[19][21][23] Bloomberg News said the poor performance of the company's stock price prompted the founders to act.[23]

Post-Carlyle Group

After leaving Carlyle, Lee founded BellTower Partners, a holding company. In 2024, BellTower closed a minority investment in Ascot Group Ltd, a global specialty insurance firm, with Lee becoming board chair.[24] BellTower bought a share of Patricof Co, a private equity firm catering to professional athlete investors.[25]

Personal life

Lee is married to Zita Ezpeleta and they have two children.[8] Lee and Ezpeleta met in Lowell House at Harvard College when they were undergraduates.[26] Ezpeleta is an attorney who previously practiced at Sidley Austin.

Notes

  1. ^ Also spelt Lee Hak-jong.

References

  1. ^ Siampani, Anna (September 18, 2024). "Ascot Group Welcomes New Chairman to Lead Strategic Growth". CEOWORLD magazine. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Meikle, Brad (April 23, 2001). "Warburg Pincus's Kewsong Lee Sticks it Out in Private Equity -". Buyouts. Archived from the original on November 12, 2021. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Korean Americans break 'bamboo ceilings' at top PEFs". The Korea Times. August 6, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e Dezember, Ryan (November 4, 2013). "Buyout Executive Jumps from Warburg Pincus to Carlyle". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  5. ^ Lee, Hak Chong (1967) "Organizational Impact of Computers," Management Services: A Magazine of Planning, Systems, and Controls: Vol. 4: No. 3, Article 6.
  6. ^ "Choate Rosemary Hall Bulletin | Spring '18 by Choate Rosemary Hall". May 22, 2018. Retrieved November 12, 2021 – via Issuu.
  7. ^ a b c d Kelly, Jason (June 4, 2018). "Meet Private Equity's Next Generation". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  8. ^ a b c "Kewsong Lee Joins CSIS Board of Trustees". csis.org. August 19, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Carlyle Group names Kewsong Lee deputy chief investment officer". Reuters. November 4, 2013. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  10. ^ Jarzemsky, Matt (September 12, 2016). "Carlyle Taps Pension Fund Executive to Run Credit Investing Operations". WSJ. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  11. ^ a b Gottfried, Miriam (April 25, 2021). "Carlyle CEO Kewsong Lee Plots Rebound for Private-Equity Pioneer". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on August 1, 2025. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  12. ^ Gottfried, Miriam (October 27, 2017). "Carlyle's Next Generation: A Deal Whiz and a Homegrown Quarterback". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on October 27, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  13. ^ Bray, Chad (October 26, 2017). "Private equity Carlyle Group names Kewsong Lee, Glenn Youngkin as new leaders". Australian Financial Review. Archived from the original on October 28, 2021. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  14. ^ Espinoza, Javier; Massoudi, Arash (October 25, 2017). "Carlyle names executives to succeed its co-founders". Financial Times. Archived from the original on March 10, 2025. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  15. ^ Gottfried, Miriam (July 31, 2019). "Carlyle to Abandon Partnership Structure and Dual-Class Shares". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  16. ^ Gara, Antoine; Fedor, Lauren (October 31, 2021). "Glenn Youngkin: the private equity multi-millionaire aiming to run Virginia". Financial Times. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
  17. ^ Perlberg, Heather; Maloney, Tom (August 4, 2021). "Youngkin Racked Up Bad Bets as Carlyle Boss Before Move to Politics". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on August 4, 2021. Retrieved August 1, 2025.
  18. ^ Perlberg, Heather (July 24, 2020). "Carlyle Co-CEO's Abrupt Exit Caps a Long, Awkward Power Struggle". Bloomberg News. Retrieved August 1, 2025 – via Business Source Complete.
  19. ^ a b c Farrell, Maureen; Eavis, Peter (August 29, 2022). "Revenge of the Founders: A Generational Struggle on Wall Street". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  20. ^ a b "Kewsong Lee, Carlyle's ejected dealmaker-in-chief". Financial Times. August 12, 2022. Archived from the original on August 15, 2022. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  21. ^ a b c Oguh, Chibuike; Chen, Angelique (August 12, 2022). "How Carlyle CEO Kewsong Lee's turnaround of the private equity firm was cut short". Reuters. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  22. ^ Gara, Antoine (August 8, 2022). "Carlyle's chief executive resigns after breakdown in contract talks". Financial Times. Archived from the original on August 8, 2022. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  23. ^ a b Perlberg, Heather; Lim, Dawn (August 10, 2022). "Why Carlyle's Billionaire Founders Had Enough of Their Chosen Successor". Bloomberg News. Retrieved August 1, 2025 – via Yahoo! News.
  24. ^ Gangcuangco, Terry (September 18, 2024). "Ex-Carlyle chief Lee to chair Ascot Group". www.insurancebusinessmag.com. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  25. ^ Belson, Ken (July 20, 2024). "From the Playing Field to Wall Street". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  26. ^ "Lowell Dining Hall Name Change Draws Little Notice From Students". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
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