Carlyle Chairman Retires (IBM)

Private equity giant The Carlyle Group has announced that Lou Gerstner will retire as Chairman of Carlyle and will become a senior advisor to its buyout funds in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.  Carlyle hasn’t named a successor, but the effective date will be September 30, 2008.

Gerstner joined Carlyle as Chairman in 2003, after he had served as Chairman of IBM (NYSE: IBM) from 1993 to 2002.  Normally we would not cover issues such as this, particularly as Carlyle is private.  But Gerstner has long been considered as one of the workhorses and more commonly recognized individuals in corporate American leadership roles from the 1990’s into this decade.

Jon C. Ogg
August 19, 2008