By Chibuike Oguh
(Reuters) -Carlyle Group has hired Harvey Schwartz, a former Goldman Sachs executive, as its next chief executive officer, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday.
Schwartz’s appointment, which is expected to be announced on Monday, brings to an end Carlyle’s search for a new CEO following the departure of Kewsong Lee in August last year.
A Carlyle spokesperson declined to comment, while Schwartz couldn’t be reached for comment.
Schwartz, 59, left Goldman in 2018 after a 20-year career at the investment bank where he served in several leadership roles including as its chief financial officer. He was in contention to succeed Lloyd Blankfein as Goldman CEO before losing out to David Solomon.
Since his departure from Goldman, Schwartz was named group chairperson of British clearing and transaction bank The Bank of London in 2021. He sits on the board of online lender SoFi Technologies Inc.
Schwartz will be tasked with leading Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle, which has been seen as underperforming its rivals Blackstone Inc, Apollo Global Management Inc and KKR & Co Inc in recent years, particularly in growth of assets under management and stock performance.
Carlyle, whose founders – David Rubenstein, William Conway and Daniel D’Aniello – control about 26% of the firm, had declined to renew Lee’s five-year contract after his turnaround efforts fell short of expectations. The founders also felt Lee didn’t adequately consult them on major decisions. Conway has been serving as interim CEO since Lee’s departure.
Carlyle, which has $369 billion in assets under management, is set to report its fourth quarter earnings on Feb.7.
(Reporting by Chibuike Oguh and Lavanya Ahire in Bengaluru; editing by Diane Craft & Shri Navaratnam)
