Dry Powder: The Private Equity Podcast

Employee Ownership at Scale with KKR’s Pete Stavros

In part two of our interview, Pete Stavros shares how KKR has scaled employee ownership to 85 companies and nearly 200,000 frontline workers—and why it can be a powerful performance lever when done right.

By Hugh MacArthur

First published on julho 01, 2026

Previously on Dry Powder, Pete Stavros, global co-head of private equity and partner at KKR, explained how his firm has developed one of the most operationally intense investment models in the industry. Today on the show, we explore a fascinating extension of KKR’s value-creation playbook: a broad-based employee ownership program that has reached 85 portfolio companies and nearly 200,000 frontline workers.

You can listen to this episode of Dry Powder and catch future episodes by subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you may listen.

“Just think of the benefit of not having workers stream out the door every year,” Pete says,
“what that means for customer satisfaction, quality, productivity.”

I ask Pete how the program got off the ground, what lessons the company learned the hard way, and why employee ownership can be such a powerful performance lever when done right.

“This is a free benefit,” he says, “and the company gets paid back, so to speak, on culture.”

We’ll also discuss where AI is delivering value across KKR’s portfolio, the growing role of private wealth capital, the patience required to win in overseas markets, and what Pete believes will ultimately define the leading private equity platforms of the next decade.

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