Leadership Team

Kewsong Lee is the Chief Executive Officer of Carlyle and was elected to the Board of Directors effective January 1, 2018. Mr. Lee joined Carlyle in 2013 as Deputy Chief Investment Officer for Corporate Private Equity and in 2016 he assumed the additional role of leading the Global Credit segment. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Lee was a partner and a member of the Executive Management Group at Warburg Pincus, where he spent 21 years. He is currently the President of Lincoln Center Theater, Vice Chairman for the US Chamber of Commerce China Center and Vice Chair for the Partnership for New York City. He also is a member of the Business Roundtable, serves on the board of the US China Business Council and FCLT Global, and is a Trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Mr. Lee earned his AB in applied mathematics in economics at Harvard College and his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Ruulke Bagijn is Head of Carlyle’s Investment Solutions segment and a member of the AlpInvest Board. Ms. Bagijn is also Co-Head of AlpInvest Partners’ Primary Fund Investments team and a member of the Investment Committee. Ms. Bagijn is a member of the AlpInvest Investment Committee and the Carlyle Diversity & Inclusion Council. She is based in New York. Ms. Bagijn joined AlpInvest from AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets, where she was the Global Head of Real Assets Private Equity and a member of its Management Board. Prior to AXA Investment Managers, she was Co-Chief Investment Officer of Investment Management and Chief Investment Officer of Private Markets at PGGM, with direct responsibility for managing investments in infrastructure, hedge funds, structured credit, private equity, insurance-linked securities and private real estate. Ms. Bagijn previously held several senior roles at ABN AMRO. Ruulke received an MSc in economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam and is a CFA charterholder.

Curtis L. Buser is the Chief Financial Officer of Carlyle and has served in such capacity since December 2014. From May 2014 until December 2014, Mr. Buser served as Carlyle’s Interim Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Buser joined Carlyle in 2004 as a managing director and served as the firm’s Chief Accounting Officer until May 2014. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Buser was an audit partner with Ernst & Young, LLP. He began his career with Arthur Andersen in 1985 and was admitted to its partnership in 1997. Mr. Buser graduated from Georgetown University.

Mr. Clare is a member of our Board of Directors. Mr. Clare was elected to our Board of Directors effective January 1, 2018. Mr. Clare is the Chief Investment Officer of Corporate Private Equity, Chairman of the Americas and Chair of the US Buyout and Growth Investment Committees. From 2011 to 2021, Mr. Clare served as the Co-Head of the US Buyout team, managing Carlyle’s three largest private equity funds. He also served as Deputy Chief Investment Officer of the Company’s CPE segment from 2015 to 2018. From 1999 to 2001, Mr. Clare was based in Hong Kong and was a founding member of the Carlyle Asia Buyout team and continues to serve on the Carlyle Asia Buyout Investment Committee. In 2001 and 2002, Mr. Clare launched Carlyle’s initial investments in distressed debt, which led to the creation of Carlyle Strategic Partners. From 2004 to 2011, Mr. Clare served as the Global Head of the Aerospace, Defense & Government Services sector team. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Clare was with First City Capital Corporation, a private equity group that invested in buyouts, public equities, distressed bonds and restructurings. Prior to joining First City Capital, he was with the Merchant Banking Group of Prudential-Bache. Mr. Clare currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Nouryon, Standard Aero and Sedgwick Claims Management as well as several private U.S. buyout portfolio companies. Mr. Clare has previously served on the boards of Booz Allen Hamilton, CommScope, Inc., Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD), Sequa and Signode Industrial. Mr. Clare serves on the Board of Directors of Georgetown University. Mr. Clare is a magna cum laude graduate of Georgetown University and received his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Stacey Dion serves as a Managing Director and Head of Global Government Affairs. She is based in Washington, DC. Ms. Dion leads Carlyle’s global government relations and public policy functions, collaborating with Carlyle senior executives and investment professionals to shape Carlyle’s global legislative and regulatory activities. Ms. Dion joined Carlyle in 2017 as a Managing Director, focusing on U.S. government regulatory and legislative matters. Prior to joining Carlyle, Ms. Dion served as Vice President of Corporate Public Policy for The Boeing Company, where she was responsible for developing and implementing the government relations strategy and tactics on corporate issues including tax, benefits, financial services, corporate governance, energy, environment, workforce training and education. In her career in government, Ms. Dion was Policy Advisor and Counsel in the Office of the Republican Leader, where she served as lead Republican staff for negotiating and drafting the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 on behalf of the House Republican Leader Boehner. Prior to that, she served as Tax and Pension Policy Advisor in the Office of the Majority Leader and was responsible for drafting the Pension Protection Act of 2006 and managing the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005. From 2002 to 2003, Ms. Dion worked in the Employee Benefits Security Administration in the U.S. Department of Labor, where she developed final regulations, rulings and advisory opinions on ERISA. Ms. Dion began her career in a Washington, DC law firm. Ms. Dion earned her BA from Merrimack College and JD from The Catholic University of America.

Leigh Farris is a Partner and Global Head of Corporate Communications based in New York. Prior to joining Carlyle, Leigh served in several roles at Goldman Sachs including most recently Managing Director, Head of CEO Communications. She was also the Chief of Staff to the President and Co-Chief Operating Officer of Goldman Sachs. She joined Goldman Sachs in 2014 in the Executive Office overseeing communications for the firm's global impact investing platform, including the Goldman Sachs Foundation and Urban Investment Group. Before Goldman Sachs, Leigh served in communications leadership roles at GE and CBS News. Leigh earned a BJ from the University of Texas at Austin.

Christopher Finn is the Chief Operating Officer of Carlyle and has served in that capacity since March 2019. Prior to March 2019, Mr. Finn served as a Managing Director and Global Head of Operations. Previously, Mr. Finn was based in Carlyle’s London office and served as Chief Operating Officer of Carlyle’s Corporate Private Equity business segment since 2014 and of Carlyle’s Global Credit business segment since 2016. Mr. Finn joined Carlyle in 1996 as Managing Director, International. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Finn served as Executive Vice President of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government agency that provides financing to U.S. investors in the developing world. Mr. Finn is an honors graduate of Harvard College.

Kara Helander is a Managing Director and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer. She is based in Washington, DC. Prior to joining Carlyle, Ms. Helander was a Managing Director at BlackRock, where she led the firm’s global inclusion and diversity, and philanthropy initiatives. Harvard Business School profiled those efforts she directed in the case study, “BlackRock: Diversity as a Driver of Success”. More recently, Ms. Helander consulted with organizations to develop corporate social responsibility and diversity strategies. She founded the Science of Diversity and Inclusion (SODI), a coalition of top companies and behavioral scientists working to design and test new approaches to accelerate diversity and inclusivity in the workplace. Ms. Helander also led corporate social responsibility at Barclay’s Global Investors (BGI). Prior to BGI, she launched and led the Western Region for Catalyst in Silicon Valley. She serves on the Board of Directors of Leading Educators. Ms. Helander received her MBA from The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania and her BA from Vanderbilt University.

Mark Jenkins is a Managing Director and Head of Global Credit based in New York. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Jenkins was a Senior Managing Director at CPPIB and responsible for leading CPPIB’s Global Private Investment group with approximately CAD$56 billion of assets under management. He was Chair of the Credit Investment Committee, Chair of the Private Investments Committee and also managed the portfolio value creation group. While at CPPIB, Mr. Jenkins founded CPPIB Credit Investments, which is a multi-strategy platform making direct principal credit investments. He also led CPPIB’s acquisition and oversight of Antares Capital and the subsequent expansion in middle market lending. Prior to CPPIB, he was Managing Director, Co-Head of Leveraged Finance Origination and Execution for Barclays Capital in New York. Before Barclays, Mr. Jenkins worked for 11 years at Goldman Sachs & Co. in senior positions within the Fixed Income and Financing groups in New York. Mr. Jenkins earned a B.Comm degree from Queen’s University. He served on the boards of Wilton Re, Teine Energy, Antares Capital and Merchant Capital Solutions.

Norma R. Kuntz is Carlyle’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Global Private Equity. She is based in Washington, D.C. Since 2018, Ms. Kuntz has served as the head of Carlyle’s Global Fund Management function leading the business operations across the Private Equity, Real Assets and Credit segments for the firm. Prior to that, from 2011–2017, Ms. Kuntz was responsible for the business operations of Carlyle’s Emerging Markets funds, including funds investing in Asia, Japan, Africa and Latin America. She oversaw transaction structuring and execution, fund formation, financial reporting and investor relations for these platforms. Prior to joining Carlyle in 2011, Ms. Kuntz was Executive Vice President and Chief Valuation Officer at Allied Capital Corporation, where she was employed from 2002 to 2010. Prior to that, she was with Arthur Andersen LLP in the financial services and high technology practices. Ms. Kuntz graduated from Babson College.

Brian Lindley is a Managing Director and Head of Carlyle's Global Capital Markets group, managing teams based in New York and London. Carlyle's syndicated loan and bond offerings through portfolio companies are typically ~$30–40 billion per year, representing one of the pre-eminent private equity debt issuers globally. The Global Capital Markets group comprises a team of seasoned professionals who join deal teams. Their responsibility is to execute financings and capital raises to maximize the "Carlyle Edge" from the firms' scale and importance to banks, credit funds and public equity investors in the global capital markets. Prior to establishing the Global Capital Markets group, Mr. Lindley was a Partner in Carlyle's Europe Buyout group and the founding member and leader of Carlyle's European financing team for six years. Mr. Lindley was previously a Managing Director at sovereign wealth fund Dubai International Capital, where he was a private equity investment professional responsible for managing a work-out portfolio of large, European headquartered buyouts throughout the global recession. Prior to this, Mr. Lindley spent almost a decade in Leveraged Finance with RBS, located in New York and London. Mr. Lindley is a board member of Dealogic. He has previously served on the boards of Travelodge, Alliance Medical and Almatis. Mr. Lindley holds a first class degree in economics and industry from University of Leeds.

Heather Mitchell is a Partner, Managing Director and the firm’s global General Counsel for Investments. Ms. Mitchell is head of the firm’s EMEA region and a member of the executive Risk Management Committee. She is based in London. In October 2019, Ms. Mitchell was named to the 100 Most Influential Women in European Finance by Financial News. In June 2019, Ms. Mitchell was also named to the inaugural Chambers GC Influencers Global 100. This prestigious list highlights the top 100 most influential in-house lawyers globally, and Ms. Mitchell was singled out as an Industry Pioneer. In January 2018 she was named Individual General Counsel of the Year by Legal 500. Ms. Mitchell was named to the GC Powerlist for 2018 and 2019 whilst also being selected for The Hot 100 list in January 2019. In October 2018, Ms. Mitchell and her team were recognized as the Most Innovative In-House Legal team for Developing New Business and Service Delivery Models. They also won the prestigious award of ‘Setting a New Standard’ for In-House Legal Teams at FT’s Innovative Lawyer Awards. In April 2018, they also won In-House Team of the Year at the Legal Business Awards and were named to the GC Powerlist for 2018. Since joining Carlyle in 2002, Ms. Mitchell has served in the legal department in a number of roles. She was named General Counsel for Europe in 2005, before being appointed as Managing Director in 2011 and Partner in 2013. For her performance at Carlyle, Ms. Mitchell has received the Award of Outstanding Achievement. Prior to joining The Carlyle Group, Ms. Mitchell was an associate with the law firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP and she previously worked at Kaiser Group International, Inc. as Vice President, Corporate Counsel. Ms. Mitchell received her J.D. from the Cornell School of Law and her undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Binghamton. Ms. Mitchell currently sits as a board member of the Cornell Law School.

Bruce Rosenblum is a Managing Director and serves as the firm’s Chief Risk Officer. He is based in Washington, DC. From 2000 through 2008, Mr. Rosenblum was an investment professional in the U.S. Buyout group, focusing on the telecommunications and media sectors. In 2008, he joined Carlyle’s Executive Group, where he has been involved in various aspects of the firm’s operations, including corporate finance, strategic transactions and risk management. Prior to joining Carlyle in 2000, Mr. Rosenblum was a Partner and Executive Committee member at the law firm of Latham & Watkins, where he practiced for 18 years, specializing in mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. Before joining Latham, Mr. Rosenblum served as a law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger on the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Rosenblum is a graduate of Yale University and received his JD from Columbia Law School.

Megan Starr is the Global Head of Impact for The Carlyle Group. She is based in New York. In her role, Ms. Starr works to design and execute Carlyle’s cohesive, long-term impact strategy. She also oversees the dedicated ESG team, which leads the firm’s investment diligence and portfolio company engagement work on material ESG issues. Prior to joining Carlyle, Ms. Starr was within Goldman Sachs’ Investment Management Division, where she helped build the ESG and impact investing business. Previously, Ms. Starr served in roles at The JPB Foundation, a $3.8B private family foundation based in New York City. Ms. Starr received an M.B.A. and a Certificate in Public Management and Social Innovation from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where she was an Arbuckle Leadership Fellow, and an A.B. in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, where she graduated magna cum laude with highest honors in field of concentration.

Admiral James Stavridis is Vice Chair, Global Affairs and Managing Director, focused on advising Carlyle’s executive team and investment professionals on geopolitical and national security issues. Previously, Admiral Stavridis served five years as the 12th Dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. A retired four-star officer in the U.S. Navy, he led the NATO Alliance in global operations from 2009 to 2013 as the 16th Supreme Allied Commander with responsibility for Afghanistan, Libya, the Balkans, Syria, counter piracy and cyber security. He also served as Commander of U.S. Southern Command, with responsibility for all military operations in Latin America from 2006 to 2009. Admiral Stavridis holds more than 50 medals, including 28 from foreign nations. The Admiral served as Senior Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense, and was promoted directly from 1-star to 3-star Vice Admiral prior to his 4-star commands. Earlier in his military career he commanded the top ship in the Atlantic Fleet, winning the Battenberg Cup, as well as a squadron of destroyers and a carrier strike group all in combat. In 2016, he was formally vetted for Vice President by Hillary Clinton and subsequently invited to Trump Tower to discuss a cabinet position in the Trump Administration. Admiral Stavridis earned his PhD in international relations and his MA in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and he is an honors graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. Admiral Stavridis is the 14th Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Rockefeller Foundation. He is also a weekly columnist for Bloomberg Opinion, a contributing editor at TIME magazine, and Chief International Security and Diplomacy Analyst for NBC News. Admiral Stavridis is the author of ten books, including “Sea Power,” “Sailing True North,” and, most recently, the New York Times bestseller “2034: A Novel of the Next World War.”

Robert G. Stuckey is a Managing Director and Head of all of Carlyle’s U.S. Real Estate funds. He has held that position since joining the firm in 1998. He is based in Washington, DC. He is currently Chairman of CoreSite, a NYSE-traded REIT that owns data center properties. His awards include Top 100 New York’s Most Influential Real Estate Professionals. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Stuckey was Chief Investment Officer for CarrAmerica Realty Corporation. He established and led the investment effort that resulted in CarrAmerica’s growth from a local to a national company. Prior to joining CarrAmerica, Mr. Stuckey was Senior Vice President of ProLogis (formerly Security Capital Industrial Trust). While at ProLogis, he held senior roles focusing on acquisition and development investments. Mr. Stuckey has also served as Chief Financial Officer for Trammell Crow Company, NE, the Northeast region of Trammell Crow Company. In addition, he was a member of Trammell Crow Ventures, a merchant banking affiliate to Trammell Crow Company. Mr. Stuckey holds an MBA from Harvard University and was twice an academic All-American at University of Nebraska.

Macky Tall is Co-Chair of Carlyle’s Infrastructure Group, which includes efforts across transportation, renewables, energy, water & waste water and digital infrastructure. He is based in Washington, DC. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Tall served in a series of leadership positions at Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), one of the world’s largest infrastructure investors and the second largest pension fund in Canada. He also served on CDPQ’s Executive Committee and Investment-Risk Committee and served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ivanhoé Cambridge, CDPQ’s real estate subsidiary. Before joining CDPQ, he held several senior management positions with companies in the energy and finance sectors, namely Hydro-Québec, MEG International, Novergaz and Probyn & Company. Mr. Tall also sits on the Board of Directors of The Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montréal and is a member of the Infrastructure Advisory Board of Global Affairs Canada and the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund Investments Committee. In addition, he has served as co-chair of the Advisory Committee of the Global Infrastructure Facility of the World Bank. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration (Finance) from HEC Montréal and an MBA (Finance) from the University of Ottawa. He also completed an undergraduate degree in Economics at Université de Montréal.

Jason Thomas is a Managing Director and Head of Global Research at The Carlyle Group, focusing on economic and statistical analysis of Carlyle portfolio data, asset prices and broader trends in the global economy. He is based in Washington, DC. Mr. Thomas serves as Economic Adviser to the firm’s corporate Private Equity, Real Estate and Credit Investment Committees. His research helps to identify new investment opportunities, advance strategic initiatives and corporate development, and support Carlyle investors. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Thomas was Vice President, Research at the Private Equity Council. Prior to that, he served on the White House staff as Special Assistant to the President and Director for Policy Development at the National Economic Council. In this capacity, Mr. Thomas served as primary adviser to the President for public finance. Mr. Thomas received a BA from Claremont McKenna College and an MS and PhD in finance from George Washington University, where he studied as a Bank of America Foundation, Leo and Lillian Goodwin Foundation, and School of Business Fellow. Mr. Thomas has earned the chartered financial analyst designation and is a Financial Risk Manager certified by the Global Association of Risk Professionals.

Nathan Urquhart is a Managing Director and Global Head of Investor Relations. He is based in New York. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Urquhart was at Oz Management for 11 years, where he was most recently Executive Managing Director and Co-Head of Global Investor Relations. Prior to Oz, he spent four years at UBS in the Private Fund Group, raising capital for several buyouts, credit and infrastructure funds. Mr. Urquhart began his career at J.P. Morgan in corporate finance. He received a BS in business administration with Special Attainments in accounting from Washington and Lee University.

Reginald (Reggie) Van Lee is a Partner and Chief Transformation Officer of The Carlyle Group, focused on helping the firm develop new and innovative ways to enhance business processes. He is based in New York, NY. Prior to Carlyle, Mr. Van Lee served as an executive of Booz Allen Hamilton for 32 years where he oversaw the commercial solutions, federal health, global media and entertainment, computers and electronics, and telecommunications practice areas. He transformed the healthcare business into one of Booz Allen’s fastest growing and most profitable units, and helped catapult the firm’s re-entry into the commercial business, leveraging their federal-based strengths in cyber security and advanced analytics. Prior to Booz Allen, Mr. Van Lee served as a research engineer with Exxon’s production research company. Mr. Van Lee has and continues to serve on a number of boards, including the Washington Performing Arts, National CARES Mentoring Movement, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Studio Museum in Harlem, Executive Leadership Council, Evidence Dance Company and the WomensVCFund ll Advisory Board. He was named one of the top 25 consultants in the world by Consulting Magazine, selected as a Washington Minority Business Leader by the Washington Business Journal and named Black Engineer of the Year by Black Engineer magazine. He holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Civil Engineering from MIT and an MBA from Harvard University.