David M.Leuschen

David Leuschen is the Co-Founder and Senior Managing Director of Riverstone Holdings, a private equity firm focusing on growth capital investments in the energy and power sectors. Prior to founding Riverstone, Mr. Leuschen was a Partner at Goldman Sachs and founder and head of the Goldman Sachs Global Energy and Power Group. Mr. Leuschen joined Goldman Sachs in 1977, became head of the Global Energy and Power Group in 1985, became a Partner of the firm in 1986 and remained with the firm until leaving to found Riverstone in 2000. Mr. Leuschen has extensive M&A, financing and investing experience in the energy and power industry. In 2013, David Leuschen was named to the Forbes list of Top 50 Dealmakers, along with Riverstone co-founder Pierre Lapeyre, for the second consecutive year.

Outside of his business endeavors, Mr. Leuschen, as a third generation Montana native, spends as much time as possible with his family on Switchback Ranch, his ranching business centered in the northern Rocky Mountains of Montana and Wyoming near the northeast corner of Yellowstone Park. On the ranch there are two primary businesses: one of the area’s top commercial beef businesses and an outfitting and dude ranching company that provides interested parties with the opportunity to hunt some of the country’s top big game animals and enjoy traditional dude ranching activities. David is also a dedicated philanthropist. In 1998 he founded the David M. Leuschen Charitable Foundation to support local ranching communities and open space preservation in Montana and Wyoming and is an active supporter of his alma mater, Dartmouth College. Over the years, David has dedicated both his time and knowledge to the arts, supporting music and public radio and serving as a contributor and funder to a number of films and documentaries.

Skiing has historically played an important role in David’s life, having learned the sport at an early age in his home state of Montana. The skiing programs were one of the major reasons David chose Dartmouth for his undergraduate work; more recently, Mr. Leuschen has become a co-owner of The Red Lodge International Summer Ski Race Camp, providing summer race instruction to high school, college, and national team level skiers high in the Beartooth mountains near Switchback Ranch. Additionally, he is one of the owners of Big Sky Investment Holdings, the major owner of real estate within the 4 mountain ski area complex of Big Sky, Moonlight Basin, Spanish Peaks, and the Yellowstone Club, comprising the largest combined skiing complex in North America. David is also part owner of Red Lodge Mountain Resort in Montana. Mr. Leuschen is a member of the executive committee and board of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation, which seeks to contribute to the fundraising success of the U.S. Olympic Team.

More recently, David has developed a passion for sailing and sailboat racing. Beginning with a used J30 in the 1980s, and progressing up through 5 other boats, he has raced in numerous sailing races throughout the US, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. Among others, Mr. Leuschen and his team have won Key West Race Week, Block Island Race Week, placed 2nd in the St. Barths Bucket Race, placed 2nd in the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta and, with his new 100’ Wally Cento race boat “Galateia”, recently won the 2017 Rolex Maxi Worlds in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, as well as the overall Wally Championship trophy for 2017. David is a believer that sailing and sailboat racing is a great sport for kids in their formative years, something that builds character and life-long relationships, and something that one can continue to pursue throughout one’s life. As a result, he is beginning to take a more active role in supporting sailing programs around the country both at the club and school levels.