John Redett, the 16-year Carlyle veteran who has been leading the global financial services group since 2016, has been named the firm’s new CFO and head of corporate strategy, effective October 1. Redett will succeed Curt Buser, who is retiring at the end of 2023 after a 19-year career with the firm.
This is another step in Carlyle’s succession planning process, which kicked off in 2018 when co-founders David Rubenstein and Bill Conway stepped down. The planning process hasn’t been perfectly smooth. The co-CEOs named in their place, Glenn Youngkin and Kewsong Lee, both left within a few years of their appointments.
Harvey Schwartz took the helm as the private equity firm’s CEO in February after a lengthy tenure at Goldman Sachs. Redett is Schwartz’s first appointment as Caryle’s CEO.
“He is an industry veteran with an impressive track record of successfully implementing growth strategies at financial services firms, and I am confident he is the right leader to work closely with me to further scale the firm and deliver for all our stakeholders,” Schwartz said in a statement, commenting on Redett.
According to Carlyle’s announcement, Redett’s promotion is part of a firm-wide focus on growth. Schwartz has publicly shared his view that he believes Carlyle is undervalued. “I’ve talked to LPs all around the world, and I think it’s just crystal clear that the brand is way more powerful in the valuation right now,” he said in a May earnings call. “And that’s why I say we just have to close that valuation gap.”
During the earnings call, Schwartz said that he sees opportunities in the global credit business, which has been growing quickly, as well as in private wealth and real estate. “When you go around the firm, there’s a lot of energy to grow these businesses,” he added.
In addition to Redett’s promotion, Carlyle announced that Buser will become a senior advisor at the firm starting on September 30. He will take on this role before retiring in order to ensure a smooth leadership transition. Buser has been Carlyle’s CFO since 2014. He joined the firm ten years earlier as a managing director and served as its chief accounting officer before assuming the CFO position. Before joining Carlyle, he was an audit partner at Ernst and Young.
“Curt has made an enormous contribution to Carlyle over nearly two decades, transforming our finance function,” Conway and Rubenstein said in a joint statement. “From overseeing financial management to improving reporting systems and playing a key role in the firm’s IPO, his leadership and wise counsel have driven Carlyle’s growth and success.”
Carlyle has also announced that Jim Burr will become Carlyle’s head of global financial services on October 1. He joined the firm in 2008 as a managing director of the group.
