Peter Goodson is a pioneer in the private equity industry, having been an early partner at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), one of the world’s first and most successful management buyout firms. Over four decades, CD&R has transformed over 120 companies worth more than $180 billion, generating a cumulative IRR of 53%. Peter has served on more than 15 boards and frequently stepped in as a CEO change agent to lead turnarounds and drive operational performance. Before joining CD&R, Peter was a Managing Director at Kidder, Peabody, where, at the age of 26, he founded the M&A Group in 1972. He remains one of the foremost experts in seller-advantaged exits and has led close to 1,000 corporate acquisition assignments.

Now retired from active private equity ownership, Peter is a Distinguished Teaching Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, where he has received multiple awards for excellence in teaching. He also serves as a Fellow at Dartmouth’s Tuck Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship, INSEAD’s Global Private Equity Initiative, and the Emerging Markets Institute in Singapore. He teaches courses on M&A: Value Creation, Private Equity, and Turnarounds: Effective Leadership in Crisis, and has lectured at Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Wharton, and NYU Stern.

Peter continues to advise private equity firms in frontier and emerging markets, focusing on value creation and operational excellence. He chairs the Value Optimization Board and Remuneration Committee at Quadria Capital, Southeast Asia and India’s largest healthcare-focused PE fund, and has held advisory roles with Mekong Capital in Vietnam and Tata Capital Growth in India..