KKR Appoints Diego Piacentini as Senior Advisor

September 20, 2019

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– KKR, a leading global investment firm with approximately $200 billion in assets under management, today announced the appointment of Diego Piacentini as a Senior Advisor, effective immediately. In his role, Mr. Piacentini will support KKR’s technology, media and telecom (TMT) investment activities globally, given his more than 30 years of experience in the sector.

Mr. Piacentini’s appointment follows a career spanning both the public and private sectors. He started his career holding a number of roles at Apple EMEA throughout his more than a decade at the company before joining Amazon in Seattle. Mr. Piacentini spent sixteen years at Amazon as Senior Vice President of the International Consumer Business with responsibility for all international retail operations. Reporting directly to founder Jeff Bezos, he oversaw the launch and growth of Amazon’s e-commerce operations in global markets including Europe, Japan, China and India. Most recently, Mr. Piacentini served in the Italian Government as Commissioner for Digital Transformation, reporting directly to the Prime Minister. In this role, he founded and scaled the Government’s Digital Transformation Team, delivering various initiatives to support the digitization of public services in Italy.

Mr. Piacentini is currently a member of the Executive Committee and a Board Director of Bocconi University in Italy, from which he graduated with a degree in Economics. He also is a mentor of Endeavor Global, a global entrepreneurship mentoring program, and is a board member of Endeavor Italy which he co-founded in 2016.

Joe Bae and Scott Nuttall, Co-Presidents and Co-Chief Operating Officers of KKR, said: “Diego has an outstanding track record of leadership in business and government and we’re thrilled that we will be able to benefit from his expertise, particularly as it relates to the technology sector where we are deeply invested and continue to expand our activities across the U.S., Europe and Asia. Diego’s experience, including scaling one of the largest international technology platforms globally, will be extremely valuable to our investment teams and our portfolio companies.”

Diego Piacentini said: “KKR has built an incredible reputation, for its relationships with founders and its ability to help leading companies expand globally. I am excited to work together with KKR, especially in the technology sector, its partners and its portfolio companies as the Firm continues to grow in this area and many others.”

KKR has a long record of supporting TMT companies, having invested over $26 billion of equity in TMT-related private equity and growth equity investments since 1983. KKR has announced multiple investments across the TMT sector in 2019 alone, including MYOB in Australia, OneStream and KnowBe4 in the U.S., Exact Software in the Netherlands; and heidelpay Group and Axel Springer in Germany.

About KKR

KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate and credit, with strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns for its fund investors by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value creation with KKR portfolio companies. KKR invests its own capital alongside the capital it manages for fund investors and provides financing solutions and investment opportunities through its capital markets business. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.