W illiam "Bill" Conway Jr. is a self-made American billionaire who is one of the three co-founders of The Carlyle Group, one of the world's largest and most powerful private equity and alternative investment management firms. After a career in banking, he co-founded Carlyle in 1987 with his partners, David Rubenstein and Daniel D'Aniello. He has served as the firm's co-CEO and chief investment officer for many years, and was the key architect of the firm's highly successful investment strategy.

Under his leadership, Carlyle has grown into a massive global powerhouse, with hundreds of billions of dollars in assets under management across a wide range of asset classes, including private equity, real estate, and credit. He has been a key figure in some of the firm's most successful and high-profile deals. He has since stepped back from an executive role and now serves as the non-executive co-chairman of the board. His billion-dollar fortune is derived from his large founding stake in the highly successful and publicly traded private equity firm he co-founded. He is also a major philanthropist and a signatory of the Giving Pledge.