Talk:Kewsong Lee

Suggested revisions

Hello, I work for Rubenstein and on behalf of Kewsong Lee. As a conflicted party, I’ll be sharing suggestions on discussion pages instead of editing directly.

The current headshot is low-quality. I propose substituting a more recent high-quality photo. See a more recent image in the linked Business Insider article. [1]

Additionally, Lee and his wife’s philanthropic giving are not mentioned on the page, despite receiving media coverage. I suggest adding a philanthropy section to the page, potential inclusions and sources includes below.

Lee and his wife, Zita Ezpeleta, established a challenge fund to support ungraduated experience and the renewal of the Lowell House at Harvard, where the couple met. Lee is the chair of New York’s Lincoln Center Theater. He is also vicechair of the board of directors at Partnership for New York City. City & State [2] Bloomberg: [3] Harvard Alumni: [4] Nbaderrubenstein (talk) 21:06, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

 Note: Nbaderrubenstein, we can't use images taken off the internet unless we have evidence showing it has been released under one of the compatible copyright licenses. Please see this link if you would like to donate an image for use. ARandomName123 (talk)^{Ping me!} 01:30, 31 March 2024 (UTC)

Thank you @ARandomName123, understood. Will see if I can donate and image / find an image with a compatible copyright license. In the meantime, appreciate if you can review my other suggested edit about Mr. Lee's philanthropy. Nbaderrubenstein (talk) 13:36, 1 April 2024 (UTC)

 Not done for now: No photo has been provided, two months since last comment. Closing request template, feel free to reopen or start a new request when you have a photo. Happy Editing--IAmChaos 22:03, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

Suggested edits to The Carlyle Group section

Hello again, I work for Rubenstein and on behalf of Kewsong Lee. There is limited information on the page related to Mr. Lee’s tenure at Carlyle. Two suggested additions below.

For the section on the global credit unit, suggested change: “Carlyle’s credit assets under management doubled to $56 billion after Lee assumed control of the business.”

Wall Street Journal: <ref> https://www.wsj.com/articles/carlyle-ceo-kewsong-lee-plots-rebound-for-private-equity-pioneer-11619352001 (4/25/2021)

There is no information about Mr. Lee’s tenure as CEO. Suggested addition: While serving as CEO he is credited with simplifying Carlyle’s fund structure, organizing the firm into three distinct business units—private equity, credit and investment solutions. During his tenure, Carlyle also abandoned its partnership structure, converting into a corporation. Days before Lee stepped down as CEO, Carlyle announced that it reached a record $376 billion total assets under management.

Wall Street Journal: <ref> https://www.wsj.com/articles/carlyle-ceo-kewsong-lee-plots-rebound-for-private-equity-pioneer-11619352001 (4/25/2021) Reuters: <ref> https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/carlyles-second-quarter-earnings-rise-34-strong-asset-sales-2022-07-28/ (7/28/2021)

Thank you for considering! Nbaderrubenstein (talk) 14:52, 16 April 2024 (UTC)

 Partly done: The WSJ clearly attributes doubling of the credit assets under management and the fund simplification/reorganization to Lee, so I've incorporated that info. Carlyle's conversion to a corporation already appears in entry. Within the Reuters ref, the $376b AUM was attributed to several factors. Pegnawl (talk) 19:49, 9 June 2024 (UTC)

Thank you!

Think you mistakenly wrote that Carlyle's conversion to a corporation occurred in 2021, when it occurred in 2019. See the WSJ article sourced. Appreciate your assistance on this. Nbaderrubenstein (talk) 13:26, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

Korean Language and Photo

Hello again, I work for Rubenstein and on behalf of Kewsong Lee.

Mr. Lee’s page includes his name spelled in Korean three times. Mr. Lee was born in the U.S., and I recommend removing all three instances so that the page is more in line with Mr. Lee’s peers, who do not have non-English spellings of their names in their articles.

Additionally, the current photo in the article appears to be low-quality. I suggest that someone update the photo with a higher-quality image in the public domain.

Thank you Nbaderrubenstein (talk) 20:45, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

 Partly done: Photo from Commons added. I still find myself confused with regard to policies on naming conventions in other languages, so I will leave this open for another editor to address. Pegnawl (talk) 19:54, 9 June 2024 (UTC)

In my opinion, his Korean name should be kept since he has ties to the ROK given he lived in the country for his early years. P,TO 19104 (talk) (contribs) 01:42, 22 June 2024 (UTC)

Thank you for reviewing. I do want to point out that there is no citation on the page stating that Lee lived in Korea his early years. He was born and raised in the United States, and does not have a Korean passport or citizenship. Nbaderrubenstein (talk) 15:06, 28 June 2024 (UTC)

Early Life / Career sections

Hello again. I would like to suggest one edit to the early life section and one additional edits to the career section of the page.

Early life and education

Mr. Lee’s father’s name is spelled incorrectly. As you can see in his published works, his name is “Hak Chong Lee.”

https://www.amazon.com/Korean-Managerial-Dynamics-Hak-Chong/dp/0275931900

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1199&context=mgmtservices

Career section

Related to Lee’s departure from Carlyle, the Financial Times article cited on the page noted that the leadership change was more “about power rather than money.” Therefore, it would be more accurate to amend the section of the article to, “On August 8, 2022, Lee stepped down from his role as CEO due to disagreements with the firm’s founders over direction of the company.”

Thank you Nbaderrubenstein (talk) 17:51, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

Proposal 1:  Done But I provided the spelling formerly used as an alternate spelling because of its use by the Korea Times.

Proposal 2:  Not done I am not able to access the Financial Times due to a paywall but Reuters reported he stepped down over his contract so it seems likely to me that was the overriding reason.

P,TO 19104 (talk) (contribs) 01:42, 22 June 2024 (UTC)

Thank you for review, however, it is incorrect that he stepped down due to a dispute in negotiations regarding his contract renewal and I maintain that that section should be altered.

In the Reuters story cited, there is even a quote attributing the departure to "the empire striking back." The quote continues… "All the other private equity managers that we cover have had internal, homegrown talent lead their transition from the founders, and that is probably not an accident. It is a business where personalities matter."

The FT article I cited above writes, “Carlyle’s rejection was, in the end, about power rather than money. ‘He wanted complete autonomy,’ said one person close to the situation. ‘The founders gave it to him. Then, they took it away.’” Try this link to the article, it should allow you to read the full text. https://on.ft.com/3VXXnBV

You could also see that quote in this tweet:

https://x.com/evanepstein/status/1558928049676005377

Again, I argue that the dispute was more about the direction of the company than the contract and the section should be edited accordingly. Thank you. Nbaderrubenstein (talk) 15:07, 28 June 2024 (UTC)

Suggested revisions

Hello, I uploaded a new photo of Mr. Lee to the Wiki portal for inclusion on the page. Mr. Lee owns the rights to the photo. As I am a conflicted editor, is it possible for someone to add the photo to the page?

Separately, there are a few potential edits that I have flagged on the talk page that I would like to follow up on.

Firstly, it is inaccurate to write, “Lee stepped down from his role as CEO due to a dispute in negotiations regarding his contract renewal.” As reported in the Financial Times, “Carlyle’s rejection was, in the end, about power rather than money. ‘He wanted complete autonomy,’ said one person close to the situation. ‘The founders gave it to him. Then, they took it away.’” Try this link: https://on.ft.com/3VXXnBV

I want to reiterate that it was reported the dispute was more about the direction of the company than the contract, and the section should be edited accordingly.

Secondly, I still believe it is confusing that the page includes the Korean spelling of Mr. Lee’s name three times. Mr. Lee was born and raised in the U.S., and he does not have a Korean passport or citizenship. I recommend removing all three instances so that the page is in line with peers. There is no citation stating that Mr. Lee lived his early years in Korea as another editor suggested.

Thirdly, the page mistakenly says Carlyle’s conversion to a corporation occurred in 2021. The conversion occurred in 2019. See source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/carlyle-to-abandon-partnership-structure-and-dual-class-shares-11564569000

Lastly, as the page is currently lacking in concrete actions during Mr. Lee’s tenure as CEO of Carlyle, wanted to share the below information from a Financial Times story for potential inclusion.

“Early in his tenure, Lee focused on repositioning Carlyle’s then-struggling credit investment platform by naming new leadership, streamlining strategy and expanding through increased investment and acquisitions. Now, his priority is making similar changes to energy and infrastructure platforms…As part of the reorganisation, Carlyle will promote Macky Tall, chair of its infrastructure operations, to an expanded role that will have him define and put in place Carlyle’s integrated strategy.” Link here: https://on.ft.com/4dHsAzr

Thank you for your consideration. Nbaderrubenstein (talk) 14:13, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

I've updated the image. Leaving the rest for other editors. Rusalkii (talk) 22:17, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

Much appreciated, thank you! Nbaderrubenstein (talk) 18:41, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

Wanted to share new coverage from Bloomberg that provides further evidence/citation that Mr. Lee’s departure from Carlyle was driven by a power battle with the founders, not a dispute over his contract renewal. Thanks

“The year Carlyle doubled its credit assets, CEO Lee abruptly left the firm after a power battle with the founders.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-08-20/carlyle-s-credit-unit-aims-to-end-its-long-run-as-a-laggard Nbaderrubenstein (talk) 16:43, 20 August 2024 (UTC)

Sharing news coverage announcing Kewsong Lee’s appointment as Chairman of Ascot Group, and his firm’s investment in the insurance firm. The coverage also notes that Mr. Lee is the Founder and CEO of BellTower Partners.

I recommend updating his title in the introduction to reflect his role at BellTower Partners, as well as making a brief addition to the career section about BellTower Partners and the Ascot investment. Thank you.

https://ep.ft.com/permalink/emails/eyJlbWFpbCI6ImMxNTMwMzg2NjdmYzZjZTVhYzc3ZjE3ODgwN2UyNTQ3ZjdjNjU0ODUwOCIsICJ0cmFuc2FjdGlvbklkIjoiZWFjYTJiMzQtMWExNi00Y2YyLThiZjUtN2I4MDJkNzMyODRkIiwgImJhdGNoSWQiOiIyM2ZlY2QyMi0yZDYwLTQ2YjgtODU0YS0xZDI2YWIzZDkzZjUifQ==

https://ceoworld.biz/2024/09/18/ascot-group-welcomes-new-chairman-to-lead-strategic-growth/

https://www.reinsurancene.ws/kewsong-lee-named-chairman-of-ascots-board-of-directors/ Nbaderrubenstein (talk) 13:58, 20 September 2024 (UTC)

 Partly done: I've updated the date, but please provide examples of what you want the other sections to say - providing us with sources on their own isn't useful, and we need to know what you're wanting the article's text changing to. Encoded  Talk 💬 10:13, 27 October 2024 (UTC)

Thank you. Here are my suggested revisions and language.

1) For Mr. Lee’s title, it should be changed to “Founder and CEO of BellTower Partners” in the introduction and in the infobox.

2) In the “Career” section, recommend creating a new subsection titled “BellTower Partners.” And then under that it should note that “in 2023, Mr. Lee founded BellTower Partners, a private holding company that accesses and invests permanent capital to acquire significant and influential ownership positions in private businesses.”

3) Recommend editing this language “On August 8, 2022, Lee stepped down from his role as CEO due to a dispute in negotiations regarding his contract” to “On August 8, 2022, Lee stepped down from his role as CEO due to disagreements with the firm’s founders over direction of the company.”

4) Recommend adding language under the “Carlyle” subhead, “During his tenure, Lee focused on repositioning Carlyle’s credit investment, energy, and infrastructure platforms.”

5) Remove the Korean spellings of Mr. Lee’s name throughout. Nbaderrubenstein (talk) 14:45, 28 October 2024 (UTC)