David Rubenstein co-founded The Carlyle Group in 1987, and it has since become a private equity behemoth with $369bn under management and 29 offices across five continents. A lawyer by training, Rubenstein is now Carlyle’s co-chair, but he wears many hats, as a philanthropist, author, and host of two shows on Bloomberg Television.

This year has seen a worsening landscape for private equity, with high inflation, rising debt costs, and a poor fundraising environment for much of the industry. Rubenstein has seen such economic conditions before: he worked in the White House during administration of President Jimmy Carter. His career also included a stint working alongside Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, whom Rubenstein hired at Carlyle in 1997.