Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Rare Black PE Executive Nominated for Defense Secretary

 

Yahoo Finance reported:

Apollo Global Management Inc. found that among 18,000 potential hires across the U.S., there were only about 95 Black professionals at the principal or director level.  Across all levels, the number was about 250.

That makes Defense Secretary nominee General Lloyd Austin a rare bird.  Austin is a partner with Pine Island Capital Management, a D.C. based private equity underwriter (PEU).

Pine Island imitated fellow D.C. based PEU The Carlyle Group by hiring a smattering of former politicians from both the Red and Blue teams.  Normally, one goes from Defense Secretary to a plum PEU position like Carlyle's Frank Carlucci.  

It's more rare for a Defense Secretary to come from the ranks of the greed and leverage boys.  It's even rarer for the Defense Chief and Secretary of State to come from the same PEU, Pine Island Capital.  What are the odds?

Update 12-26-21:  Tom's Dispatch lamented the litany of PEU generals like KKR's David Petraeus but missed Lloyd Austin's PEU pedigree.