Chief Executive Leadership Institute Honors David M. Rubenstein of the Carlyle Group

David M. Rubenstein, co-founder and co-executive chairman of the Carlyle Group, will accept the Legend in Leadership Award of Yale SOM’s Chief Executive Leadership Institute on March 13 at a ceremony at the CEO Caucus in Washington, D.C.

The award will be presented to Rubenstein by Stephen Schwarzman, founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Blackstone. Caucus organizer Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean for leadership studies at the Yale School of Management, commented, “No one in the American business community better represents the spirit of non-partisan, cross-sector institution building than David M. Rubenstein. After a career in law and public service, he co-founded the Carlyle Group as one of the pioneers of modern private equity, helping the launch and renewal of many key pillars of enterprise in turn. Carlyle, one of the world’s largest private equity firms—managing more than $195 billion in assets around the world—models an ideal leadership succession to a new generation.”

Though he is passing the baton of day-to-day management, Rubenstein will remain extremely active. He serves as chairman of the boards of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Council on Foreign Relations; a fellow of the Harvard Corporation; a trustee of the National Gallery of Art, the University of Chicago, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the Institute for Advanced Study; and president of the Economic Club of Washington. He is also vice chairman of the board of the Brookings Institution.

Rubenstein has also served as chairman of the board of trustees of Duke University and co–chairman of the board of the Brookings Institution. Much of his philanthropy is civic in nature, with large gifts to support the Washington Monument repairs; the Smithsonian’s National Zoo; the National Archives; and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which bears his name.

The Legend in Leadership Award was created 25 years ago to honor current and former CEOs who serve as living legends to inspire chief executives across industries, sectors, and nations. Past recipients include Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast; Marillyn Hewson of Lockheed Martin; Ron Shaich of Panera; Zhang Ruimin of Haier Group; Denise Morrison of Campbell Soup; Kenneth Frazier of Merck; Jim McNerney of Boeing; Ian Cook of Colgate-Palmolive; Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs; Klaus Kleinfeld of Alcoa; Gao Xiqing of China Investment Corporation, D. Scott Davis of UPS; Fu Chengyu of Sinopec; Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo; Jeff Immelt of GE; Jeff Bewkes of Time Warner; Frank Blake of Home Depot; Dave Cote of Honeywell; Ellen Kullman of DuPont; Alan Mulally of Ford; Andrew Liveris of Dow Chemical Company; Duncan Niederauer of the NYSE; Ken Chenault of American Express; David Stern of the NBA; Ratan Tata of the Tata Group; Mike Ullman of JCPenney; Infosys founder Nandan Nilekani; Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase; Robert Iger of Walt Disney; Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone; Roger Enrico of PepsiCo; John Pepper of Procter & Gamble; Don Keough of Coca-Cola Co.; McKinsey founder Marvin Bower; Jim Kelly of UPS; Vanguard founder Jack Bogle; Ivan Seidenberg of Verizon; Richard Teerlink of Harley-Davidson; Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson; financier Wilbur Ross; and Lou Gerstner of IBM.

The caucus theme is “The Lowdown on Showdowns: Piloting around Partisan Dives in Immigration, Infrastructure, and Industry.” Distinguished global corporate leaders from across industries will engage in lively, candid discussions at this invitation-only leaders’ conference hosted by the Yale School of Management.

Caucus participants include: Wilbur Ross, 39th U.S. Secretary of Commerce; Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone; David Abney of UPS; David M. Rubenstein of the Carlyle Group; Hank Greenberg of CV Starr; Matt Rose of BNSF Railway; Richard Adkerson of Freeport-McMoRan; Kevin Rudd, 26th prime minister of Australia; Ashton Carter, 25th U.S. Secretary of Defense; Congressman Elizabeth Esty; Congressman John Yarmuth; Tim Sloan of Wells Fargo; James Taiclet of American Tower; Bruce Grewcock of Kiewit; Nick Pinchuk of Snap-on; Benjamin Breier of Kindred Healthcare; Joel Myers of AccuWeather; Mike Kasbar of World Fuel Services; Blake Moret of Rockwell Automation; Ajita Rajendra of A. O. Smith; Marc Lautenbach of Pitney Bowes; Harold Yoh of Day & Zimmermann; Adam Aron of AMC Entertainment; James Keane of Steelcase; Stuart Miller of Lennar; Rich Lesser of Boston Consulting Group; Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform; Ralph Reed, founder of the Christian Coalition; and Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

Conference partners include Edelman, EY, Korn Ferry, PepsiCo, UPS, Central Asset Investments, and CNBC.

The Chief Executive Leadership Institute was founded in 1989 to provide original research on top leadership and lively, current educational forums through peer-driven learning for accomplished leaders across a range of sectors. For more information, visit celi.som.yale.edu.