William E. Conway, Jr.

William E. "Bill" Conway Jr. (born August 27, 1949) is an American businessman and investor. He is the co-founder of The Carlyle Group.

Conway received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College in 1971 and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

He started his career by serving in a variety of positions in corporate finance, commercial lending, workout loans and general management for almost ten years with First National Bank of Chicago. From 1981 to 1986, Conway had worked in various financial positions at MCI Communications being named senior vice president and chief financial officer in 1984. In 1987, he co-founded Carlyle with David Rubenstein and Daniel D'Aniello.

He has served as the chairman of the boards of Nextel Communications and United Defense Industries. He has made charitable donations to the Catholic Church. As of March 2018, he is the 859th richest person in the world, and the 293rd richest in the United States. He is worth US$2.8 billion.

Conway's son, also named Bill Conway, ran in the 2020 Democratic primary election for Cook County State's Attorney against incumbent Kim Foxx. Conway donated $10.5 million of his personal fortune to his son's ultimately unsuccessful campaign.

He and his wife live in McLean, Virginia. He and his wife have one child, son William Elias Conway III.

The nursing school of the Catholic University of America, the Conway School of Nursing, is named after him and his wife.