Apollo faces union scrutiny over alleged use of firm resources for Rowan political work

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Apollo faces union scrutiny

Highlights

AFT and AAUP allege Marc Rowan used Apollo staff and resources for personal political work on higher education, potentially violating company code and LP duties.
Apollo's board received the union complaint on Tuesday evening and is reviewing claims Rowan used work email and staff for political advocacy tied to university governance.
Unions warn Apollo manages over $1 trillion, with pension funds allocating at least $29 billion, and say LPs may object to firm resources funding political influence campaigns.

Union allegations and board review

As reported by Financial Times, the American Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors say in a letter sent Tuesday to the chair of Apollo's audit committee that Rowan improperly used company email, staff time and other firm resources to advance personal political causes tied to higher education policy.

The unions argue that Rowan's actions may breach Apollo's code of conduct and its duties to limited partners. They say he is entitled to his personal views, but object to him pursuing those matters on company time and in ways they say work against educators and public employees.

In the letter, AFT president Randi Weingarten and AAUP president Todd Wolfson ask whether Apollo's board formally endorsed Rowan's campaign and gave him express permission to use firm resources. An Apollo spokesperson says the board received the email attachment at 6 p.m. on Tuesday and is reviewing it.

The unions say Freedom of Information Act requests and other sources show Rowan used Apollo staff and his work email account in what they describe as a campaign in the higher education sector. They cite use of his executive assistant to arrange meetings with university presidents during business hours and use of his then-chief of staff on a 2023 document for University of Pennsylvania administrators.

The letter also says Rowan, when using his Apollo email for political activity, appears not to clarify that he is acting in a personal capacity. It points to company ethics language stating that employees engaged in personal and civic affairs must make clear that their views and actions are their own, not the company's.

Higher education activism and investor implications

Rowan, an Apollo co-founder who becomes chief executive in 2021, is a prominent voice among Wall Street billionaires and conservative politicians pushing back against what they describe as liberal bias and antisemitism on U.S. college campuses. In 2023 he helps push for the resignation of former University of Pennsylvania president Elizabeth Magill, and he backs the Trump administration's Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, which ties federal funding to adoption of conservative admissions and teaching policies.

He also joins the executive board of the Board of Peace, an organization created by President Donald Trump, and a subgroup called the Gaza Executive Board focused on reconstruction after the Israel-Hamas war. According to people who received the messages, Rowan writes daily emails from his Apollo account to members of Penn's board of trustees for several weeks after the October 7, 2023 attack in Israel, questioning the school's governance.

The unions say limited partners may question whether they are effectively paying for time spent trying to influence higher education policy. Apollo manages more than $1 trillion and has long emphasized ties to municipal pension funds for firefighters and teachers, while the two unions say pension funds managing their members' money have collectively allocated at least $29 billion to Apollo funds.

The dispute adds to earlier challenges from the same unions over Apollo's historical links to Jeffrey Epstein. In February, they ask the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate the private markets group over what they describe as a lack of candor about those ties.

Our earlier article on Senator Elizabeth Warren’s push for stronger audit oversight focused on her call for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to prioritize investor protection in its next five-year strategy amid political pressure. She urged tougher standards and enforcement on issues such as auditor independence, private equity ownership of audit firms, complex data arrangements, and the use of AI, warning that persistent inspection deficiencies can undermine market integrity and confidence.

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