Patrick McCarter Honored with IEMS Distinguished Alumni Award
McCarter was recognized for his leadership and accomplishments
Professor Emeritus William White (L) presents the 2025 IEMS Distinguished Alumni Award to Patrick McCarter (’98).Northwestern Engineering’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences (IEMS) honored Patrick McCarter (’98) with the 2025 IEMS Distinguished Alumni Award during a Nov. 14 ceremony on the Evanston campus. The event included remarks from William White, a Northwestern Life Trustee and professor emeritus at the McCormick School of Engineering.
McCarter is a managing director and head of global technology at The Carlyle Group Inc. Since joining the global investment firm in 2001, McCarter has led or played a key role in several investments. Previously, McCarter worked at Morgan Stanley in New York, focusing on financial institutions.
The honor recognizes McCarter's distinguished career and his enduring commitment to the department, most notably through the creation of the Patrick and Amy McCarter Fellows Fund. Designed to support high-level academic exchange, the McCarter Fellows Fund provides resources for visiting faculty and postdoctoral researchers. This support has proven critical in the department’s talent acquisition strategy, facilitating the recruitment of Julia Gaudio, who transitioned from a McCarter Postdoctoral Fellow to a tenure-track assistant professor at IEMS in 2023.
Furthermore, the fellowship has allowed IEMS to host renowned visiting scholars from around the world, including Frank Curtis (Lehigh University), Bernardo Pagnoncelli (SKEMA Business School), Javiera Barrera (Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez), and Ivilina Popova (Texas State University). These collaborations have enriched the department's intellectual life and expanded its global research network.
As a member of the McCormick Advisory Council, McCarter helps shape how Northwestern Engineering continues to excel in research, education, and practice. He also serves as a director on the boards of publicly traded CommScope and privately held Cohesity, Ampere Computing, and Saama Technologies.
McCarter earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Northwestern Engineering and a double major in economics from Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
The department has honored 28 distinguished alumni since 2002.