Dan Akerson was named vice chairman of the board and a special adviser at Carlyle Group.
Mr. Akerson stepped down as CEO of General Motors Co. in January. He joined Carlyle on March 1 and will offer investment guidance to Carlyle's investment teams, management and the board, among other duties, the firm said Friday in a statement.
Mr. Akerson was head of global buyouts and co-head of U.S. buyouts at Carlyle before joining GM in 2009 as a government representative to the board after its rescue by the U.S. His relationship with Carlyle dates to the 1980s, when he was president and chief operating officer of MCI Communications Corp., the telecommunications company where William Conway was chief financial officer. Mr. Conway in 1987 founded Carlyle with Daniel D'Aniello and David Rubenstein.
Mr. Akerson became CEO of GM in 2010 and helped shepherd the automaker through its final years of government ownership, including overseeing its initial public offering. He stepped down in January to take care of his wife, who's battling cancer.
Carlyle oversees $189 billion in assets. The firm began as a group buying parts of aerospace and defense companies and grew to do leveraged buyouts of companies in telecommunications, transportation, consumer, retail, health care and energy. It also oversees real estate, credit and hedge funds.
