Yale School of Management Chief Executive Leadership Institute to Honor Carlyle Group's Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. with Leadership Award at Yale CEO Summit

CONTACT: Tabitha Wilde, 203-432-6010, tabitha.wilde@yale.edu
Bonnie Blake, 203-915-4783, bonnie.blake@yale.edu

New Haven, Conn., May 30, 2008 – Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., chairman of The Carlyle Group, will accept the “Legend in Leadership Award” of the Yale School of Management Chief Executive Leadership Institute at a ceremony to be held June 5 at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Allen Room.

The award will be presented at the 57th gathering of the Yale CEO Summit of The Chief Executive Leadership Institute, the nation’s first CEO college.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. is chairman of The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, with more than $81.1 billion under management.

Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Gerstner was chairman of the board of IBM Corporation from April 1993 until his retirement in December 2002. He served as CEO of IBM from 1993 until March 2002. He is author of the bestselling account of IBM’s transformation Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? Before IBM, Mr. Gerstner served for four years as chairman and CEO of RJR Nabisco, Inc., which was preceded by an eleven-year career at American Express Company, where he was president of the parent company and chairman and CEO of its largest subsidiary, American Express Travel Related Services Company. Mr. Gerstner also served as a director of McKinsey & Co., which he joined in 1965.

Mr. Gerstner is a member of the advisory board of Sony Corporation and a director of the National Committee on United States-China Relations. He is vice chairman of the board of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and a trustee of the American Museum of Natural History. In past years, he served on the boards of Bristol-Myers Squibb, The New York Times Company, American Express, AT&T, Caterpillar, Jewel Companies, Melville Corporation, RJR Nabisco, and DaimlerChrysler Chairman’s Council.

A lifetime advocate of the importance of quality education, Mr. Gerstner created The Teaching Commission in 2003 to develop specific policy recommendations to deal with the teaching crisis America is facing. From 1996 to 2002, he co-chaired Achieve, an organization created by U.S. Governors and business leaders to drive high academic standards for public schools in the United States. At IBM, he established Reinventing Education as a strategic partnership with 21 states and school districts which utilize IBM technology and technical assistance to eliminate key barriers to school reform and improve student performance. He has received numerous awards in recognition of his efforts on behalf of public education, as well as his business accomplishments, including the designation of honorary Knight of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in June 2001.

Mr. Gerstner received a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, The Business Council, the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been awarded honorary doctorates from a number of U.S. universities.

Conference organizer, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean of the Yale School of Management, said, “Were it not for the heroic, nimble leadership of Lou Gerstner, there might well be no IBM today. Many analysts saw this firm about to follow the paths of once great titans of industry such as RCA, Westinghouse, Bethlehem Steel, and the original AT&T. Lou demonstrated a different type of turnaround leadership which was multidisciplinary, energetic, constructive, tough and persuasive without being abusive, mindful of short-term survival and long-term competitiveness. His nine-year term guided IBM back to its platform as a pillar of global strength, by revitalizing its internal culture and its external reputation.”

Reflecting on Mr. Gerstner’s contributions as chairman of the Carlyle Group, co-founder Daniel A. D’Aniello commented, “Lou’s lifetime of accomplishments and experience building businesses have been a great asset to Carlyle as we have grown over the past five years.”

Past winners of this award include: The Home Depot founder Bernard Marcus, Vanguard founder Jack Bogle, McKinsey founder Marvin Bower, financier Albert H. Gordon, PepsiCo’s Roger Enrico, Coca-Cola’s Don Keough, Jim Kelly of UPS, Richard Teerlink of Harley-Davidson, Staples founder Tom Stemberg, Charlotte Beers of J. Walter Thompson, Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson, Quincy Jones, Terry Semel of Yahoo!, Herbert V. Kohler, Jr. of Kohler Co., financier, entrepreneur, and regulator William Donaldson, Stephen Schwarzman of The Blackstone Group, and Richard Harrington of Thomson.

The CEO Summit will be held June 5 and 6 in The Allen Room of Jazz at Lincoln Center. While the discussions of the CEO Summit are off-the-record, the press is invited to attend the “Legend in Leadership Award” presentation to Gerstner on June 5, at Jazz at Lincoln Center, 33 West 60th Street (at Broadway), 11th floor, at 7:30 p.m.

The conference theme is “Global Market Patterns and Local Neighborhood Opportunities.” Distinguished global corporate leaders from across industries will engage in lively, candid discussions with regulators, financiers, entrepreneurs, and scholars at this invitation-only leaders’ conference hosted by the Yale School of Management.

Sonnenfeld explained the value of this semi-annual gathering: “The inevitable rise of the Indian and Chinese industries is one of the most historic and exciting business dramas with powerful lessons for firms of all sizes and sectors.”

Among the conference participants are such opinion leaders as U.S. Labor Secretary, The Hon. Elaine Chao; The Hon. Harold Ford, chairman, Democratic Leadership Council; Blackstone chairman Stephen Schwarzman; Colgate-Palmolive chairman Reuben Mark; Time Warner chairman and CEO Jeffrey Bewkes; Kris Gopalakrishnan, CEO, Infoysys; Staples founder Tom Stemberg; Jay Brown, CEO of MBIA; Richard Harrington, chairman of the Reuters Foundation and former president and CEO of Thomson Corp.; Gary Knell, CEO of Sesame Workshop; along with current and former CEOs, presidents, chairmen and other top leaders from such firms as: ICIC Bank; the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry; Temasek Management Services; China Palm Springs Holdings; Consulate General of India of New York; China Central Television; Safeco; Sears; Deloitte; The Kroger Company; Russell Reynolds Associates; UPS; J. Crew; DoubleClick; the U.S. Department of Commerce; Time Warner; Merck; Starbucks; and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

Conference sponsors include CNBC, UPS, Deloitte LLP, Russell Reynolds Associates, Thomson Reuters, and The NASDAQ OMX Group.

The Chief Executive Leadership Institute is part of the Yale School of Management. It was founded in 1989 to provide original research on leadership and lively, current educational forums through peer-driven learning for accomplished leaders across sectors. To learn more about the CELI, visit: http://www.celi.som.yale.edu.

For an interview with Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, or to register for the Legend in Leadership Award presentation ceremony, contact Tabitha Wilde, 203-432-6010; tabitha.wilde@yale.edu, or Bonnie Blake, 203-915-4783; bonnie.blake@yale.edu. The media registration deadline is Noon on Monday, June 2.