Kewsong Lee stepped down as CEO of Carlyle Group on Sunday, the firm announced in a news release.
Mr. Lee and Carlyle “mutually agreed” that it was time to initiate a search for a new CEO, the release said. Mr. Lee, whose five-year contract ends at the close of this year, will be available as needed to assist in the transition to a new CEO, the news release said.
William Conway, co-founder, non-executive co-chairman of the board and former co-CEO, will take over the CEO position in the interim.
Carlyle has formed a search committee of the board to begin a search for Mr. Lee’s successor that will immediately select an executive search firm to identify and assess CEO candidates, the news release said.
Before being named co-CEO in October 2017 alongside Glenn A. Youngkin, Mr. Lee was deputy CIO of Carlyle’s corporate private equity segment, head of the global market strategies segment and member of the management committee.
Mr. Lee became sole CEO after Mr. Youngkin’s retirement on Sept. 30, 2020.
A timeline for the selection of a permanent CEO was not provided.
As of June 30, The Carlyle Group had $376 billion in assets under management.
Carlyle spokeswoman Christa Zipf could not be immediately reached for further information.
