Daniel F. Akerson is a Managing Director of The Carlyle Group and is Co-Head of the U.S. Buyout fund. He is also a director of
American ExpressAmerican Express Company , sometimes known as "AmEx", is a diversified global financial services company that is headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best known for its credit card, charge card, and...
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Akerson joined
MCI Inc.MCI may refer to:* 1101, as Roman numerals*mCi, millicurie, 1/1000 of a curie, a non-SI unit of radioactivity, 1 mCi = 3.7×107 decays per second or becquerels....
in 1983 and served as the CFO for several years. He left MCI in 1993 to become chairman and chief executive of
General InstrumentGeneral Instrument was an electronics manufacturer based in Horsham, PA specializing in semiconductors and cable television equipment. The company was active until 1997, when it split into which was later acquired by Vishay Intertechnology in 2001, CommScope and NextLevel Systems General...
, where he succeeded former and future
United States Secretary of DefenseThe United States Secretary of Defense is the head of the U.S. Department of Defense , concerned with the armed services and military matters. This position roughly corresponds to Minister of defense in other countries...
Donald RumsfeldDonald Henry Rumsfeld is a United States businessman, politician, the 13th Secretary of Defense under President Gerald Ford from 1975 to 1977, and the 21st Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006...
.
In 1996, Akerson was hired to be the chief executive of Nextel.
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Daniel F. Akerson is a Managing Director of The Carlyle Group and is Co-Head of the U.S. Buyout fund. He is also a director of
American ExpressAmerican Express Company , sometimes known as "AmEx", is a diversified global financial services company that is headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best known for its credit card, charge card, and...
.
Career
Akerson joined
MCI Inc.MCI may refer to:* 1101, as Roman numerals*mCi, millicurie, 1/1000 of a curie, a non-SI unit of radioactivity, 1 mCi = 3.7×107 decays per second or becquerels....
in 1983 and served as the CFO for several years. He left MCI in 1993 to become chairman and chief executive of
General InstrumentGeneral Instrument was an electronics manufacturer based in Horsham, PA specializing in semiconductors and cable television equipment. The company was active until 1997, when it split into which was later acquired by Vishay Intertechnology in 2001, CommScope and NextLevel Systems General...
, where he succeeded former and future
United States Secretary of DefenseThe United States Secretary of Defense is the head of the U.S. Department of Defense , concerned with the armed services and military matters. This position roughly corresponds to Minister of defense in other countries...
Donald RumsfeldDonald Henry Rumsfeld is a United States businessman, politician, the 13th Secretary of Defense under President Gerald Ford from 1975 to 1977, and the 21st Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006...
.
In 1996, Akerson was hired to be the chief executive of Nextel. During his tenure as CEO, Nextel's revenues grew from $171.7 million in the year before his arrival to more than $3.3 billion in 1998. Shortly after stepping down as CEO of Nextel in July 1999, Akerson was brought in by
Craig McCawCraig McCaw is the second of four sons of Marion and John Elroy McCaw. The Seattle-area businessman and entrepreneur achieved success as a pioneer in the cellular phone industry. He is the founder of McCaw Cellular and Clearwire Corporation.-Early life and cable TV beginnings:McCaw's father J...
to run Nextlink Communications, later rebranded as
XO CommunicationsXO Communications is a United States telecommunications firm and one of the largest Competitive Local Exchange Carrier in the country. It is owned by XO Holdings, Inc...
. XO entered bankruptcy in June 2002, and Akerson resigned as CEO in December 2002.
Akerson joined the Carlyle Group in 2003.
In July 2009, Akerson was named to the board of directors of
General MotorsGeneral Motors Company, often known as simply GM, is a United States based automaker with headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. GM was the world's 18th largest corporate entity and third largest automaker as ranked by 2008 revenues on the Fortune Global 500. Ranked by global unit sales for 2008, it...
as a representative of the U.S. Treasury, which owns a 61% stake in GM.
Education
Akerson holds a B.S. in Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and an M.Sc., in Economics from the London School of Economics.