# Philip Berney

> Philip Berney is chairman, an investment partner and a management committee member at Kelso & Company in New York. A former co-CEO, he joined the firm in 1999 after a career in high-yield finance. He is a director of Eagle Foods and Ferraro Foods and a Morehead-Cain Foundation trustee.

- **Role:** Chairman at Kelso & Company
- **Organizations:** Kelso & Company, Eagle Foods, Ferraro Foods, Morehead-Cain Foundation, Trinity School, New York City, Central Synagogue
- **Education:** B.S. in Business Administration, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- **Known for:** Morehead-Cain Scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill., Led Bear Stearns’ High Yield Capital Markets group., Served as Kelso co-CEO and now chairman.

## Career timeline

- **1986** — Graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill as a Morehead-Cain Scholar.
- **Before 1999** — Worked in high-yield finance at First Boston and spent eight years at Bear Stearns, becoming head of its High Yield Capital Markets group.
- **1999** — Joined Kelso & Company.
- **2017** — Identified as Kelso co-CEO and Logan’s Roadhouse board chairman in its CEO appointment announcement.
- **2020** — Featured as Jack Dinges’s Morehead-Cain mentor.
- **2023-2024** — Identified as Morehead-Cain Scholarship Fund Board chair in its year-in-review.
- **Current** — Kelso lists him as chairman, management committee member and investment partner.

## Achievements

- Morehead-Cain Scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill.
- Led Bear Stearns’ High Yield Capital Markets group.
- Served as Kelso co-CEO and now chairman.

## Latest updates

- **2026-01** — Listed as a panelist on “Survival of the Funded?” in the preliminary agenda for UNC’s January 13 Current Issues in Alternatives Research Symposium.
- **2026-10** — Research check: Kelso’s live team page lists Berney as chairman, an investment partner and management committee member; this is an observation date, not an appointment date.

## Links

- Website: https://kelso.com/team/phil-berney
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-berney-ab0128b2

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/philip-berney
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-09