Carlyle Co-CEO Youngkin to Step Down for Public Service

Reuters reported:

Carlyle Group Inc said on Tuesday that Glenn Youngkin will step down as co-chief executive to dedicate himself to public service, leaving Kewsong Lee as sole CEO of one of the world's biggest private equity firms.

Lee, who joined Carlyle seven years ago after spending 21 years at private equity firm Warburg Pincus, will become the firm's only CEO when Youngkin leaves at the end of September.

Recall Carlyle made its fortunes in part due to employing former public servants, James A. Baker, Frank Carlucci and George H. W. Bush.  It appears Youngkin wishes to reverse the trend and enter public service on behalf of the Red team.

"As the world continues to face so many challenges today, and as Carlyle is well-positioned, now is a natural point to focus my full-time efforts on community and public service efforts that I believe can make a meaningful impact," Youngkin said in a statement.

Youngkin and his wife Suzanne earlier this year launched VA Ready, a non-profit offering training for unemployed Virginians to help them find work amid the coronavirus pandemic. He has also been a donor mainly to Republican politicians.

If someone wanted to impact unemployment one of the most powerful levers would be as co-CEO of a private equity underwriter (PEU) with thousands of companies under their control.

In 2011 Carlyle Group co-founder William Conway offered $1 billion to groups tackling unemployment.  Did Conway's funds help start VA Ready?  Conway remains co-executive chairman alongside fellow founder David Rubenstein, who said this regarding Youngkin's change.

“He did an outstanding job as co-CEO, but I certainly understand the pull of the kind of public service activities to which Glenn is committed,” Rubenstein said in the statement. 

Former public servant Rubenstein recently told Andy Serwer that people will go back to work, however some will be laid off by their employer.  He also said Americans will become numb to widespread coronavirus deaths.

Maybe Glenn Youngkin's retirement from Carlyle is a truly heartfelt move, but that's hard to believe given Carlyle's 3-D chess manipulation of Uncle Sam's wallet.  It's more likely Glenn became Carlyle's first executive level layoff (while fully supported by Carlyle's billionaire founders).

How long before a publicly funded VA Ready is training employees for free for Carlyle's affiliates?   VA Ready could take public money as employees are let go from Carlyle companies and once again as employees are rehired within the firm's vast portfolio of businesses.  Carlyle could push off lots of people costs onto such a nonprofit.  

Glenn's wife could run the nonprofit while Youngkin is groomed for future public service in Washington, D.C.  It may be the new Carlyle way.  Someone has to keep the green flowing for the PEU boys after Jay Powell and Randall Quarles.  Youngkin could be key.

Update 7-24-20:  Bloomberg reports Youngkin may run for Virginia's Governor, presumably on the Republican ticket..  Youngkin had Carlyle's infrastructure deals which include Terminal One at New York's JFK airport and the Corpus Christi's Harbor Island deep water oil terminal, which Carlyle abruptly abandoned.  Candidate Youngkin should answer questions about Carlyle's shifting infrastructure winds.  Virginia once considered doing a ports deal with The Carlyle Group.  

 

Update 1-31-22:  PND reported "Conway originally had planned to donate $1 billion to create jobs for low-income people, but when he solicited ideas for how to go about it last fall, he received more than twenty-five hundred suggestions. Ultimately, he determined that the greater need was to help the poor qualify for jobs that already existed. "I concluded out of all this that it was extremely difficult to create jobs," Conway said. "The objective I get to is similar, but I never thought I'd actually get there this way."