Carlyle Group names co-presidents

An offer from the Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle Group to fill a new senior post apparently convinced one of the top executives at J.P. Morgan, Michael J. Cavanagh, to step away from his spot as a top front-runner to lead the country’s largest bank after the retirement of current CEO James Dimon.

The Carlyle Group, a private-equity group, announced Wednesday that Cavanagh and Glenn A. Youngkin will become co-presidents and co-chief operating officers. Cavanagh is currently co-chief executive officer of the Corporate & Investment Bank at JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Youngkin is a 19-year Carlyle veteran and currently chief operating officer (COO) who will add the role of co-president.

Youngkin, based in D.C., and Cavanagh, based in New York, will begin their new roles in the summer. The role of president is a new position at Carlyle.
Cavanagh also will join Carlyle’s Executive Group, whose members are: Chairman Daniel A. D’Aniello, Co-CEOs William E. Conway, Jr. and David M. Rubenstein, COO Glenn A. Youngkin, CFO Adena T. Friedman and General Counsel Jeffrey W. Ferguson.

Commenting on the executive posts, David M. Rubenstein and William E. Conway, Jr. said in a statement,  “Coupling a highly successful senior financial services executive with a proven Carlyle leader possessing deep institutional knowledge will help ensure that Carlyle continues to innovate and grow for another quarter century. “

Cavanagh said, “This is a rare opportunity to join a premier global investment firm during a time of swift change for the industry. We accomplished an immense amount at JPMorgan, and I am grateful to my colleagues, especially Jamie Dimon, for their friendship, support and confidence. Carlyle is an established innovator and I look forward to partnering with Glenn and the rest of the Carlyle team to help take the firm to the next level of success.”

The company said that as co-presidents and COOs, Cavanagh and Youngkin will help develop and implement Carlyle’s strategic growth initiatives and manage the firm’s global operations on a day-to-day basis.

Cavanagh, 48, is a 25-year financial services industry veteran. He joined Bank One in 2000 and has held a number of senior management roles at Bank One and JPMorgan Chase & Co., where he has been a member of the firm’s Operating Committee since 2004. He and JPMorgan’s Dimon had worked together for about 20 years, and Cavanagh’s sudden departure raises questions about who will succeed Dimon, who has said that he would like to stay on for about five more years.

Youngkin, 47, joined Carlyle in 1995 and has held a series of increasingly senior leadership roles, culminating in COO in 2011. Before becoming COO, he was interim principal financial officer and global head of the industrial sector investment team. He also led Carlyle’s buyout activities in the United Kingdom. Prior to joining Carlyle, Youngkin was a management consultant with McKinsey & Co. and worked in the investment-banking group at CS First Boston.

The Carlyle Group, which trades under the ticker symbol of CG on the Nasdaq exchange, is a global alternative asset manager. It has about $189 billion of assets under management across 118 funds and 106 fund of funds vehicles as of December 31, 2013. Carlyle invests across four segments – corporate private equity, real assets, global market strategies and solutions – in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America. The firm employs more than 1,500 people in 34 offices across six continents.