Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group said it named Matthew J. O’Connor a managing director on the power investing team. O’Connor joins Bob Mancini as co-head of the team, which is investing a managed account in conjunction with the Cogentrix Energy power group brought over from Goldman Sachs last year. Matt joins the firm in September and will work out of Carlyle’s Washington, DC, and New York offices.

O’Connor comes to Carlyle from GE where he held a variety of positions over the last fourteen years, including nearly seven years in leadership roles with GE Energy Financial Services until May of this year when he was named executive vice president, financing operations of GE Capital Aviation Services.

Bob Mancini said, “We are excited to welcome Matt to the team. His experience in the power markets, as well as global lending and strategy across the energy markets adds important leadership depth and experience to our capabilities as we expand Carlyle’s investment footprint in the power sector. We see remarkable opportunity in the electric power generation space in North America from both an M&A and development perspective and look forward to having Matt help lead the execution of our strategy.”

In 2012, Carlyle funds acquired Cogentrix, a team of 68 professionals headquartered in Charlotte, NC, who buy, manage and operate power generation assets, and also have a long history of successfully designing, developing and constructing power generation assets. As part of that transaction, Carlyle also purchased five coal and solar power projects in FL, VA, CO and CA, as well as a development pipeline of gas and renewable power projects.