David Rubenstein (2026)
Co-founder and Co-Chairman of the Board, Carlyle
“Don’t just give your money. Give your time. Your time can be your most valuable thing that you have.”
Summary
Professional sports ownership is one of the least examined corners of American business. Franchises now change hands for sums that would have been unimaginable a generation ago, and the wealthiest people in the country are competing to buy them. And yet, the people writing those checks are rarely doing so for purely financial reasons. Fortunately, figuring out the why and the how of team ownership is relatively straightforward; all you need to do is ask.
Since I last sat down with David Rubenstein, he has become the proud owner of the Baltimore Orioles. For his fifth visit to Leadership Matters, we discussed the challenges his new role has presented and how, in typical David Rubenstein fashion, he has sought to overcome them by interviewing people. David has assembled his conversations into a book, Inside the Owner's Box: Conversations on Power and Leadership in Sports. While owning the Orioles is a new endeavor for David, I think it is best understood as part and parcel of his tradition of patriotic philanthropy. In an age that measures contribution in capital, David makes a compelling case that the scarcer offering is time, and that the institutions worth building are the ones that give a community a reason to come together.
Mentions & Resources
Guest Bio
Mr. Rubenstein is Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of the Board. He was elected to our Board of Directors effective July 18, 2011. Previously, Mr. Rubenstein served as Co-Chief Executive Officer of Carlyle.
Mr. Rubenstein is a Baltimore native and is the Chairman, CEO, and principal owner of Major League Baseball’s Baltimore Orioles.
Prior to forming Carlyle in 1987, Mr. Rubenstein practiced law in Washington, D.C. with Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge LLP (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP). From 1977 to 1981, Mr. Rubenstein was Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy. From 1975 to 1976, he served as Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments. From 1973 to 1975, Mr. Rubenstein practiced law in New York with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.
Among other philanthropic endeavors, Mr. Rubenstein is Chairman of the Boards of the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Gallery of Art, the Economic Club of Washington, and the University of Chicago; a Trustee of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Brookings Institution, and the World Economic Forum; an Emeritus Trustee of Johns Hopkins Medicine; and a Director of Moderna, Inc. and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Mr. Rubenstein is a member of the American Philosophical Society, Business Council, Harvard Global Advisory Council, Madison Council of the Library of Congress, Board of Dean’s Advisors of the Business School at Harvard, Advisory Board of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University, and Board of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Community.
Mr. Rubenstein is a magna cum laude graduate of Duke University, where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa. Following Duke, Mr. Rubenstein graduated from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review.