News Release
This week Carlyle Co-CEOs Kewsong Lee and Glenn Youngkin shared the following message with our people around the world
Dear Global Colleagues –
We remain grateful for all that you are doing to navigate through these extraordinary times. Supporting our colleagues and our families over the last several months has brought challenges for all of us and we are proud of how we have responded as a community. Today, we are compelled to write to you in light of the racism and injustices we have witnessed recently.
At Carlyle, there is no place for racism or discrimination of any kind. Since the beginning of the pandemic, anti-Asian incidents have increased significantly in communities worldwide. And as we are all witnessing in real time over the past few days, grief and rage have erupted more visibly in the form of civil unrest throughout the United States in reaction to a number of incidents directed against African-Americans, including the senseless death of George Floyd and a number of other recent incidents that are unacceptable and horrific. Making matters worse are the dangerous forces of violence, destruction and hatred that have no place in our society.
We are all feeling sad, frustrated, angry, helpless, scared, confused…We are all trying to understand “Why?” And we are all empathizing with those individuals and families directly impacted, but also with our colleagues globally who have to go through their day-to-day lives in our world where these events are a reality.
What we see manifesting around us is very real. This is not who we are and we want you to know that we stand will all of you in such a difficult time.
Carlyle has grown and prospered by deliberately building a fabric of partnership with diversity of experiences and perspectives. We are global. We are multi-cultural. In keeping with our deep commitment to our core values, we will continue to invest even more resources towards Diversity and Inclusion, not only at our firm, but in support of certain organizations focused on driving change in our world. Last month Carlyle partnered with Ascend, and 10 other organizations that champion diverse communities, to support an action agenda to address the adverse impact of the pandemic. As part of our efforts, the firm and individuals of Carlyle have already donated over $10 mm towards causes in light of the pandemic. Today, we are announcing a special match to support organizations that are working on social justice and reform of the US criminal justice system. Carlyle will match donations up to $1000 to the organizations listed below and it will not count towards your annual matching gifts limit of $2000. You will receive details on how to make a donation by the end of the week.
We ask that we all do what we can to take action to make a positive difference. Take the time to check-in with your colleagues, listen with empathy, offer support, challenge yourself to expand your understanding of their experience, and find your own voice in regard to these unacceptable events and issues. Yes, we face enormous challenges, but if we choose to act with intention and aligned with our values, we can make positive change.
During these difficult times, please remember who we are. We are united against injustice. We are better than the negative events we are seeing around us as demonstrated in our values and what we stand for. Let’s stay true to who we are.
Kew and Glenn