NY CITY Kravis’ Vision An Interview with Henry R. Kravis, Co-Founder, Co-Chairman, Co-Chief Executive Offi cer, KKR & Co. EDITORS’ NOTE Henry Kravis co- could operate their business very well management business, which we started seven founded Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & with fewer people. today they are hes- years ago and today offers clients products and Co. in 1976. Along with his fi rst cousin itant to hire new workers. part of this return profi les to satisfy a broad range of fi xed- George Roberts, Kravis has co-led the hesitation is because there is a lot of income investment mandates. and we are act- fi rm for over 30 years and serves on regulatory and legislative uncertainty. ing on some interesting new opportunities in the Private Equity Investment and it is hard for companies to operate a infrastructure and oil and gas, areas that have Portfolio Management Committees. business if the goal posts keep moving. been a traditional strength of the fi rm He currently serves on the board of Many business leaders in the In New York City, many refer to the First Data Corporation, and is a di- private sector have expressed benefi ts of having a Mayor who comes from rector or trustee of several cultural those same concerns. Is there an the business side. For the Partnership for and educational institutions, includ- effective dialogue in Washington New York City, which you’ve been actively ing the Partnership for New York City, with business leaders as to these engaged in, how effective has that relation- Mount Sinai Hospital, Rockefeller Henry R. Kravis issues, or is that not taking place? ship been during these challenging times, University, and Claremont McKenna one of the key victims of the crisis and is the Partnership’s role moving in the College. Kravis is Founding Chairman of the New has been an intangible asset, commonly referred right direction? York City Investment Fund (NYCIF) and also serves to as “trust.” trust in the fi nancial and invest- the partnership has done a great job. what on the board of the Council on Foreign Relations. ment community. trust in the power of fi nancial had been missing in new york was that net- He earned a B.A. in Economics from Claremont markets to heal themselves. we are all looking work: all of us did our own thing. Jerry speyer McKenna College and an M.B.A. from the for solutions on how to restore this trust. in these and i changed the makeup of the partnership Columbia University Graduate School of Business. times, the dialogue between the private sector and focused on the larger companies; we also At Claremont McKenna College, he founded the and all stakeholders is more important than ever. got a very strong executive in Kathryn wylde, Kravis Leadership Institute and established the the reason is simple: if we want to fi nd a lasting (president and ceo, partnership for new york Kravis Prize in Leadership, which is awarded an- solution to today’s problems, we can only do this city) to run it for us, and we enforced a public/ nually to an international, nonprofi t organiza- together and with constructive dialogue. private partnership approach – a network that tion that demonstrates leadership, creativity, and When you refl ect on these 24 months, we could call on to get things done, whether it sustainability. for KKR specifi cally, how was the fi rm po- be in washington, albany, or in the city working sitioned during this time and where is the closely with the mayor. COMPANY BRIEF KKR is a leading global alter- strength of the fi rm now? so we haven’t had to just rely on wall street native asset manager with $54.7 billion in assets george (roberts) and i have a vision of for revenue. with the new york city investment under management as of June 30, 2010. With where we want to take the fi rm. today, we’re Fund, which today has around $120 million in over 600 people and 14 offi ces around the world, very much an integrated global investment fi rm. assets, we’ve been able to affect and support KKR manages assets through a variety of invest- we have just over 600 people at the fi rm, which new industries in new york. ment funds and accounts covering multiple asset is not a huge fi rm as far as people, but far more new york city comes up with some wonder- classes. KKR (www.kkr.com) is publicly traded on than before the downturn. while a lot of people ful ideas out of our teaching hospitals, whether it the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: KKR). had stopped hiring, we took advantage of the is mt. sinai, new york presbyterian, rockefeller downturn to strengthen our core private equity university, or memorial sloane-Kettering cancer When you look at the severity and speed of business and diversify into new areas that tie in center. however, a lot of these ideas are sold off the economic crisis, were you surprised at very well to our private equity business. and jobs are started outside the city. now we have how deep the crisis has been and where do we have focused our growth in a number of the opportunity to capture that science, create the you see us today in terms of stabilization? areas. we expanded our private equity franchise business in new york and keep it here. today’s very challenging economic environ- into high growth regions of the world. Five years For example, the east river science park ment is testing everyone. i am cautiously optimis- ago, we were not in asia. today, we are operat- is a very important part of what we’ve done. tic about the economy in the u.s. that said, there ing and investing in china, taiwan, singapore, partnering with mayor bloomberg and the city, are some reasons for concern: our economy is hong Kong, india, Japan, Korea and australia. alexandria (a fi rm that specializes in building bio- driven by the consumer, who lives on two things: in all these countries, we are focusing on growth science and technology centers), and the new the value of his house and having a job. For a opportunities by partnering with managements york city investment Fund, we created a public/ lot of reasons, that home value today is not go- of fast growing and leading businesses. private partnership to attract and capture that sci- ing up. in fact, for the last few years, housing during this time, we have also built up ence and create new businesses and jobs. another prices have gone down, and there is little hope our capital markets group, which supports program is the bioaccelerate nyc prize, which is that prices will turn up anytime soon. my other our private equity business and our portfolio a competition that awards new york city-based concern is what is going to drive job growth. companies offering strategic and executional researchers $250,000 to conduct late-stage proof- many companies went through a near-death ex- expertise in fi nancing transactions whether if of-concept research to improve human health. we perience in this country in 2008 and 2009. these it’s buying a company, refi nancing debt, or tak- hope both programs will catalyze the creation of companies overcame adversity and found they ing a company public. we expanded our asset a life science industry in the city.• 16 Leaders posted with permission. copyright © 2010 magazine, inc. voLume 33, number 4.