McLarty works his Latin connections

Washington's Carlyle Group is renowned for hiring well-connected former government officials, so it wasn't such a surprise when Clinton administration veteran Mack McLarty joined the private equity firm last month as a senior adviser. The 57-year-old McLarty boasts the right credentials to help lead Carlyle's push into Latin America: After serving as president Bill Clinton's first chief of staff, from January 1993 until June 1994, he was a counselor to the president and in that role organized the 1994 Summit of the Americas in Miami to discuss ways to stabilize the Mexican peso. Next he acted as the president's special envoy to Latin America. Naturally, McLarty got to know many of the region's political and business leaders.

But he says a personal connection to Latin America makes his new job that much more alluring: His son Mark lives in São Paulo, Brazil. "Normally, we say, 'Like father, like son,'" McLarty tells Institutional Investor. "In this case, it's 'Like son, like father.'"

The father's first stop, however, will be Mexico City, where Carlyle last month hired two managing directors for its new Mexico Partners fund: Luis Téllez, former executive vice president of Desc, a diversified conglomerate with nearly $2 billion in sales; and Joaquin Avila, a former co-head of Latin America for Lehman Brothers.

Like other Carlyle advisers, such as former secretary of state James Baker, former British prime minister John Major and former SEC chairman Arthur Levitt, McLarty will work part time. He will remain president of international consulting firm Kissinger McLarty Associates and chairman of McLarty Cos., the family's transportation business in Little Rock, Arkansas. He and Clinton met as youngsters in Hope, Arkansas, and have been friends ever since.

"There's lots of work ahead of us in Mexico," says McLarty, who notes that "Brazil is becoming increasingly attractive" because of its economic stability and growth.

The country has already exerted a strong pull on 31-year-old Mark McLarty: He left home at 18 with his parents' blessing to work in the slums of São Paulo with a Baptist church group. He later earned a BA at Georgetown and an MBA at Wharton and returned to São Paulo, where he oversees McLarty Cos. investments in Brazil and Mexico.