Jay W. Sammons, Carlyle Group's global head of consumer, media and retail, left the company to start a new venture, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Mr. Sammons is poised to start his own firm, which will make investments in the consumer sector, the people said, requesting anonymity to discuss private plans.
Also, Francisco Partners hired Carlyle veteran Ashley Evans as a partner, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Ms. Evans was most recently a partner in Carlyle's technology, media and telecommunications group, and joined the firm in 2006.
The departures come among Kewsong Lee's announcement that he stepped down as CEO of Carlyle Group.
A Carlyle spokeswoman said Mr. Sammons left in July, and added that Sandra Horbach would replace him on an interim basis. Mr. Sammons, who was a partner at Carlyle, declined to comment.
Mr. Sammons, who's based in New York, joined Carlyle in 2006 and worked on the firm's investments in companies including Beats Electronics, Beautycounter, Vogue International, Supreme and Grupo Madero. He was also involved in Carlyle's bet on Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings LLC, which owned six Taylor Swift albums that the artist has begun to re-record.
Mr. Sammons was named head of the consumer, media and retail group in 2016 after Ms. Horbach was elevated to co-head of its U.S. buyout funds. He founded Carlyle's employee-resource group dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community about a decade ago, and last year received part of a $2 million payout for excelling at goals tied to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Ms. Evans is set to join San Francisco-based Francisco Partners next month, said the people, who requested anonymity because the appointment isn't yet public.
Francisco Partners declined to comment. A Carlyle spokeswoman confirmed Ms. Evans left in July and declined to comment further.
Francisco Partners, led by co-founder and CEO Dipanjan "DJ" Deb, in 2018 sold a minority stake to units of Goldman Sachs Group and Blackstone. Ms. Evans is slated to be the firm's third female partner, in addition to Megan Austin Karlen and Christine Wang.
As of June 30, The Carlyle Group had $376 billion in assets under management.
