Item 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
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Item 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Our Managing Partner
As is commonly the case with limited partnerships, our limited partnership agreement provides for the management of our business and affairs by a general partner rather than a board of directors. Our Managing Partner serves as our sole general partner. Our Managing Partner has a board of directors that is co-chaired by our founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts, who also serve as our Co-Chief Executive Officers and are authorized to appoint our other officers. Our Managing Partner does not have any economic interest in our partnership.
Directors and Executive Officers
The following table presents certain information concerning the board of directors and executive officers of our Managing Partner.
| Name | Age | Position with Managing Partner | ||
| Henry R. Kravis | 72 | Co-Chief Executive Officer, Co-Chairman and Director | ||
| George R. Roberts | 72 | Co-Chief Executive Officer, Co-Chairman and Director | ||
| David C. Drummond | 52 | Director | ||
| Joseph A. Grundfest | 64 | Director | ||
| John B. Hess | 61 | Director | ||
| Patricia F. Russo | 63 | Director | ||
| Thomas M. Schoewe | 63 | Director | ||
| Robert W. Scully | 66 | Director | ||
| Todd A. Fisher | 50 | Chief Administrative Officer | ||
| William J. Janetschek | 53 | Chief Financial Officer | ||
| David J. Sorkin | 56 | General Counsel and Secretary |
Henry R. Kravis co-founded KKR in 1976 and is Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of our Managing Partner. He is actively involved in managing the firm and serves on regional Private Equity Investment and Portfolio Management Committees. Mr. Kravis currently serves on the boards of First Data Corporation and ICONIQ Capital, LLC. He also serves as a director, chairman emeritus or trustee of several cultural, professional, and educational institutions, including The Business Council, Claremont McKenna College, Columbia Business School, Mount Sinai Hospital, Partnership for New York City, Partnership Fund for New York City, Rockefeller University, Sponsors for Educational Opportunity and Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management . He earned a B.A. from Claremont McKenna College in 1967 and an M.B.A. from the Columbia Business School in 1969. Mr. Kravis has more than four decades of experience financing, analyzing, and investing in public and private companies, as well as serving on the boards of a number of KKR portfolio companies . As our co-founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Kravis has an intimate knowledge of KKR's business, which allows him to provide insight into various aspects of our business and is of significant value to the board of directors. Mr. Kravis is a first cousin of Mr. Roberts.
George R. Roberts co-founded KKR in 1976 and is Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of our Managing Partner. He is actively involved in managing the firm and serves on regional Private Equity Investment and Portfolio Management Committees. Mr. Roberts serves as a director or trustee of several cultural and educational institutions, including Claremont McKenna College. He is also founder and chairman of the board of directors of REDF, a San Francisco nonprofit organization. He earned a B.A. from Claremont McKenna College in 1966 and a J.D. from the University of California (Hastings) Law School in 1969. Mr. Roberts has more than four decades of experience financing, analyzing, and investing in public and private companies, as well as serving on the boards of a number of KKR portfolio companies. As our co-founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Roberts has an intimate knowledge of KKR's business, which allows him to provide insight into various aspects of our business and is of significant value to the board of directors. Mr. Roberts is a first cousin of Mr. Kravis.
David C. Drummond has been a member of the board of directors of our Managing Partner since March 14, 2014. Mr. Drummond has served as the senior vice president, corporate development of Alphabet Inc. (and its predecessor Google Inc.) since January 2006, as its chief legal officer since December 2006, and as its secretary since 2002. Previously, he served as Google Inc.'s vice president, corporate development and general counsel since February 2002. Prior to joining Google Inc., from July 1999 to February 2002, Mr. Drummond served as chief financial officer of SmartForce, an educational software applications company. Prior to that, Mr. Drummond was a partner at the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Mr. Drummond holds a Juris Doctor degree from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Santa Clara University. Mr. Drummond provides significant value to the oversight and development of our business through his management and leadership roles at a publicly-traded global technology business and his insight into legal developments affecting global enterprises.
Joseph A. Grundfest has been a member of the board of directors of our Managing Partner since July 15, 2010. Mr. Grundfest has been a member of the faculty of Stanford Law School since 1990, where he is the William A. Franke Professor of Law and Business. He is also senior faculty of the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University; founder and director of Directors' College, a venue for the professional education of directors of publicly traded corporations; and co-founder of Financial Engines, Inc., a provider of services and advice to participants in employer-sponsored retirement plans, where he has served as a director since its inception in 1996. Mr. Grundfest was a Commissioner of the SEC from 1985 to 1990. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Yale University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School. Mr. Grundfest's knowledge and expertise in capital markets, corporate governance, and securities laws provides significant value to the oversight and development of our business.
John B. Hess has been a member of the board of directors of our Managing Partner since July 28, 2011. Mr. Hess has been the chief executive officer of Hess Corporation since 1995 and a director since 1978. He was also director of Dow Chemical Co. from 2006 to 2013. He serves on the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board Quadrennial Review Task Force and as a director on the Business Council, the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations and on the executive committee of the American Petroleum Institute. Mr. Hess is a member of the board of trustees at the New York Public Library, Mount Sinai Hospital, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Dean's Advisors at Harvard Business School, and chairs The Harvard Business School Campaign. Mr. Hess earned a B.A. from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Mr. Hess provides significant value to the oversight and development of our business through his management and leadership roles at a global energy business, and his involvement with major businesses and public policy organizations also provides valuable perspectives for our company.
Patricia F. Russo has been a member of the board of directors of our Managing Partner since April 15, 2011. Ms. Russo served as chief executive officer of Alcatel-Lucent from 2006 to 2008. Prior to the merger of Alcatel and Lucent in 2006, she served as chairman and chief executive officer of Lucent Technologies, Inc. from 2003 to 2006, and as president and chief executive officer from 2002 to 2003. Before rejoining Lucent in 2002, Ms. Russo was president and chief operating officer of Eastman Kodak Company from March 2001 to December 2001. Since November 2015, Ms. Russo has been the chairman of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, which was spun off from Hewlett-Packard Company, where Ms. Russo served as a director from 2011 to November 2011. She also serves a director of Alcoa Inc. since 2008, Merck & Co., Inc. since 2009 and General Motors Company since 2009. Prior to its merger with Merck in 2009, Ms. Russo served as a director of Schering-Plough since 1995. She graduated from Georgetown University with a bachelor's degree in political science and history, and obtained an Advanced Management Degree from Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program. Ms. Russo's management and leadership experience as chief executive officer of complex global companies as well as her experience with corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and sales and marketing brings important expertise to the oversight and development of our business. Ms. Russo also brings extensive experience in corporate governance as a member of boards and board committees of other public companies.
Thomas M. Schoewe has been a member of the board of directors of our Managing Partner since March 14, 2011. Mr. Schoewe was executive vice president and chief financial officer for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., a position he held from 2000 to 2010, and was employed by Walmart in a transitional capacity to January 2011. Prior to his employment at Walmart, Mr. Schoewe served as senior vice president and chief financial officer for Black and Decker Corp., a position he held from 1993 to 1999. Prior to that, he served for four years as Black and Decker's vice president of finance. He previously held the position of vice president of business planning and analysis. He joined Black and Decker in 1986 after serving at Chicago-based Beatrice Companies, where he was chief financial officer and controller of Beatrice Consumer Durables, Inc. He has served on the board of directors of Northrop Grumman Corporation and General Motors Company since 2011. From 2001 to May 2012, he served on the board of directors of PulteGroup Inc., which merged with Centex Corporation in 2009 and previously served on the Centex board. Mr. Schoewe graduated from Loyola University of Chicago with a bachelor's of business administration degree in finance. Mr. Schoewe's experience in financial reporting, accounting and control, and business planning and analysis brings important expertise to the oversight and development of our business.
Robert W. Scully has been a member of the board of directors of our Managing Partner since July 15, 2010. Mr. Scully was a member of the Office of the Chairman of Morgan Stanley from 2007 until his retirement in 2009, where he had previously been co-president, chairman of global capital markets and vice chairman of investment banking. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, he served as a managing director at Lehman Brothers and at Salomon Brothers. Mr. Scully has served as a director of Zoetis Inc. since June 2013 and Chubb Limited (formerly ACE Limited) since May 2014 and as a public governor of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, since November 2014. Previously, he was a director of Bank of America Corporation until May 2013 and has also served as a director of GMAC Financial Services and MSCI Inc. He holds an A.B. from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Mr. Scully's 35-year career in the financial services industry brings important expertise to the oversight of our business. In addition, his leadership experience with a global financial services company brings an industry perspective to our business development within and outside the U.S. as well as issues such as talent development, senior client relationship management, strategic initiatives, risk management and audit and financial reporting.
Todd A. Fisher joined KKR in 1993 and is Chief Administrative Officer of our Managing Partner. Mr. Fisher is responsible for overseeing the finance, legal, information technology, human resources, public affairs and office operations functions, coordinating with the various businesses and geographies of KKR and overseeing the firm's efforts in real estate investments. He is a member of KKR's Real Estate Investment and Portfolio Management Committees and also chairs the firm's Risk Committee. He served as a director of Maxeda B.V. until October 2015, as a director of Rockwood Holdings, Inc. until January 2013 and Northgate Information Solutions plc until 2012. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Fisher worked for Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York and for Drexel Burnham Lambert in Los Angeles. Mr. Fisher holds a B.A. from Brown University, an M.A. in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins University, and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of Brown University, the Board of Advisors for The Johns Hopkins University School for Advanced International Studies, the Advisory Board of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, the United States Holocaust Memorial Council and the Council on Foreign Relations.
William J. Janetschek joined KKR in 1997 and is Chief Financial Officer of our Managing Partner. He has also been the president and chief executive officer of KKR Financial Services LLC since June 2014 and a director since May 2014. Prior to joining KKR, he was a Tax Partner at Deloitte & Touche LLP. He holds a B.S. from St. John's University and an M.S., Taxation from Pace University. Mr. Janetschek is actively involved in the community, serving as a sponsor and member of a variety of non-profit organizations including Student Sponsor Partners and St. John's University.
David J. Sorkin joined KKR in 2007 and is General Counsel and Secretary of our Managing Partner. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Sorkin was with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP for 22 years. He served as a partner at the law firm and also served on the executive committee and was one of KKR's principal outside counsels. He received a B.A., summa cum laude, from Williams College and a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
Independence and Composition of the Board of Directors
Our Managing Partner's board of directors consists of eight directors, six of whom, Messrs. Drummond, Grundfest, Hess, Schoewe and Scully and Ms. Russo, are independent under NYSE rules relating to corporate governance matters and the independence standards described in our corporate governance guidelines. In addition. Dieter Rampl, who served as a director for a portion of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, was an independent director during such time. While we are exempt from NYSE rules relating to board independence, our Managing Partner intends to maintain a board of directors that consists of at least a majority of directors who are independent under NYSE rules relating to corporate governance matters. In addition, the board has considered transactions and relationships between KKR and the companies and organizations on whose boards or other similar governing bodies where our directors also serve or where our directors serve as executive officers.
Board Committees
Our Managing Partner's board of directors has four standing committees: an audit committee, a conflicts committee, a nominating and corporate governance committee and an executive committee that operate pursuant to written charters as described below. Because we are a limited partnership, our Managing Partner's board is not required by NYSE rules to establish a compensation committee or a nominating and corporate governance committee or to meet other substantive NYSE corporate governance requirements. While the board has established a nominating and governance committee, we rely on available exemptions concerning the committee's composition and mandate.
Audit Committee
The audit committee consists of Messrs. Grundfest (Chairman), Schoewe and Scully. The purpose of the audit committee is to provide assistance to the board of directors in fulfilling its responsibility with respect to its oversight of: (i) the quality and integrity of our financial statements, including investment valuations; (ii) our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements; (iii) our independent registered public accounting firm's qualifications, independence and performance; and (iv) the performance of our internal audit function. The members of the audit committee meet the independence standards and financial literacy requirements for service on an audit committee of a board of directors pursuant to the Exchange Act and NYSE rules applicable to audit committees. The Managing Partner's board of directors has determined that each of Messrs. Grundfest, Schoewe and Scully is an "audit committee financial expert" within the meaning of Item 407(d)(5) of Regulation S-K. The audit committee has a charter which is available at the Investor Center section of our internet website at www.kkr.com.
Conflicts Committee
The conflicts committee consists of Messrs. Drummond, Grundfest, Hess, Schoewe and Scully and Ms. Russo. The conflicts committee is responsible for reviewing specific matters that the board of directors believes may involve a conflict of interest and for enforcing our rights under any of the exchange agreement, the tax receivable agreement, the limited partnership agreement of any KKR Group Partnership or our limited partnership agreement, which we refer collectively to as the covered agreements, against KKR Holdings and certain of its subsidiaries and designees, a general partner or limited partner of KKR Holdings, or a person who holds a partnership or equity interest in the foregoing entities. The conflicts committee is also authorized to take any action pursuant to any authority or rights granted to such committee under any covered agreement or with respect to any amendment, supplement, modification or waiver to any such agreement that would purport to modify such authority or rights. In addition, the conflicts committee shall approve any amendment to any of the covered agreements that in the reasonable judgment of our Managing Partner's board of directors is or will result in a conflict of interest. The conflicts committee will determine if the resolution of any conflict of interest submitted to it is fair and reasonable to our partnership. Any matters approved by the conflicts committee will be conclusively deemed to be fair and reasonable to our partnership and not a breach of any duties that may be owed to our unitholders. In addition, the conflicts committee may review and approve any related person transactions, other than those that are approved pursuant to our related person policy, as described under "Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence—Statement of Policy Regarding Transactions with Related Persons," and may establish guidelines or rules to cover specific categories of transactions. The members of the conflicts committee meet the independence standards under our corporate governance guidelines as required for service on the conflicts committee in accordance with its charter.
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
The nominating and corporate governance committee consists of Messrs. Kravis, Roberts and Scully. The nominating and corporate governance committee is responsible for identifying and recommending candidates for appointment to the board of directors and for assisting and advising the board of directors with respect to matters relating to the general operation of the board and corporate governance matters. Mr. Scully meets the independence standards under the rules of the NYSE as required for service on the nominating and corporate governance committee in accordance with its charter.
Executive Committee
The executive committee consists of Messrs. Kravis and Roberts. The purpose of the executive committee is to act, when necessary, in place of our Managing Partner's full board of directors during periods in which the board is not in session. The executive committee is authorized and empowered to act as if it were the full board of directors in overseeing our business and affairs, except that it is not authorized or empowered to take actions that have been specifically delegated to other board committees or to take actions with respect to: (i) the declaration of distributions on our common units; (ii) a merger or consolidation of our partnership with or into another entity; (iii) a sale, lease or exchange of all or substantially all of our assets; (iv) a liquidation or dissolution of our partnership; (v) any action that must be submitted to a vote of our Managing Partner's members or our unitholders; or (vi) any action that may not be delegated to a board committee under our Managing Partner's limited liability company agreement or the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act.
Code of Business Conduct and Ethics
We have a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics which applies to our principal executive officers, principal financial officer and principal accounting officer and is available on our internet website at www.kkr.com under the "Investor Center" section. In accordance with, and to the extent required by the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, we intend to disclose any amendment to or waiver of the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics on behalf of an executive officer or director either on our internet website or in a Current Report on Form 8-K filing.
Corporate Governance Guidelines
Our Managing Partner's board of directors has a governance policy which addresses matters such as the board of directors' responsibilities and duties, the board of directors' composition and compensation and director independence. The governance guidelines are available on our internet website at www.kkr.com under the "Investor Center" section.
Communications to the Board of Directors
The non-management members of our Managing Partner's board of directors meet regularly. At each meeting of the non-management members, the non- management directors choose a director to lead the meeting. All interested parties, including any employee or unitholder, may send communications to the non-management members of our Managing Partner's board of directors by writing to: the General Counsel, KKR & Co. L.P., 9 West 57th Street, Suite 4200, New York, New York 10019.
Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance
Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act, requires the executive officers and directors of our general partner, and persons who beneficially own more than ten percent of a registered class of the Partnership's equity securities to file initial reports of ownership and reports of changes in ownership with the SEC and furnish the Partnership with copies of all Section 16(a) forms they file. To our knowledge, based solely on our review of the copies of such reports or written representations from such persons that they were not required to file a Form 5 to report previously unreported ownership or changes in ownership, we believe that, with respect to the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, such persons complied with all such filing requirements except that KKR Holdings had one late Form 4 filing relating to one transaction.
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