Sandi Peterson, CD&R Operating Partner, addressed approximately 300 private investment industry participants at Falk Marques Group’s Women’s Leadership Unbound Summit this June. The event focused on helping women in the private capital community gain insights from industry leaders as they strive to become leaders at their own firms. Interviewed by Diane Flynn, CEO of ReBoot Accel, Ms. Peterson discussed her own career and leadership journey, covering a range of topics, including differences between governing public and private companies, the importance of sponsorship in career progression, the growing need for empathetic leaders, and how she found the right environment for change at CD&R.

“The reinvention of your career is a great thing, and CD&R was the perfect place for me to go for two reasons,” said Ms. Peterson. “One is it enabled me to take advantage of the things that I've done over all of these decades of evaluating companies, turning them around, figuring out how to make investments in them, whether we should or shouldn't buy them, assessing leadership teams and markets.” She also added that CD&R’s partnership model between operating partners and financial partners makes it “feel like I'm adding a lot of value. My opinions are appreciated, but I'm also learning a ton from my colleagues.”

Ms. Peterson joined CD&R as an Operating Partner in 2019 after serving as the worldwide chairman of Johnson & Johnson, where she led the consumer and medical devices businesses and was responsible for the corporation’s global supply chain, as well as its technology strategy and operating infrastructure. She currently chairs CD&R portfolio companies Cynosure and M2GEN, as well as the American Academy in Berlin.

You can watch a clip of Ms. Peterson’s remarks here.

About Clayton, Dubilier & Rice
CD&R is a private investment firm with a strategy predicated on building stronger, more profitable businesses. Since inception, CD&R has managed the investment of more than $35 billion in 101 companies with an aggregate transaction value of more than $150 billion. The firm has offices in New York and London. For more information, please visit www.cdr-inc.com.