Investors

Stephen A. Schwarzman is Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Blackstone, one of the world’s leading investment firms with $951 billion Assets Under Management (as of September 30, 2022). Mr. Schwarzman has been involved in all phases of Blackstone’s development since its founding in 1985. The firm has established leading investing businesses across asset classes, including private equity, where it is a global leader in traditional buyout, growth equity, special situations and secondary investing; real estate, where it is currently the largest owner of commercial property in the world; hedge fund solutions, where it is the world’s largest discretionary hedge fund investor; and credit, where it is a global leader and major provider of credit for small, middle-market and other companies. Blackstone also has major businesses dedicated to infrastructure and life sciences investing, as well as delivering the firm’s investment management expertise and products to insurance companies.

Mr. Schwarzman is an active philanthropist with a history of supporting education, as well as culture and the arts, among other things. In 2020, he signed The Giving Pledge , committing to give the majority of his wealth to philanthropic causes. In both business and philanthropy, Mr. Schwarzman has dedicated himself to tackling big problems with transformative solutions. In June 2019, he donated £150 million to the University of Oxford to help redefine the study of the humanities for the 21st century. His gift – the largest single donation to Oxford since the renaissance – will create a new Centre for the Humanities which unites all humanities faculties under one roof for the first time in Oxford’s history, and will offer new performing arts and exhibition venues as well as a new Institute for Ethics in AI. In October 2018, he announced a foundational $350 million gift to establish the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing , an interdisciplinary hub which will reorient MIT to address the opportunities and challenges presented by the rise of artificial intelligence, including critical ethical and policy considerations to ensure that the technologies are employed for the common good. In 2015, Mr. Schwarzman donated $150 million to Yale University to establish the Schwarzman Center, a first-of-its-kind campus center in Yale’s historic “Commons” building, and also gave a founding gift of $40 million to the Inner-City Scholarship Fund, which provides tuition assistance to underprivileged children attending Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of New York. In 2013, he founded an international scholarship program, “ Schwarzman Scholars ,” at Tsinghua University in Beijing to educate future leaders about China. At over $575 million, the program is modeled on the Rhodes Scholarship and is the single largest philanthropic effort in China’s history coming largely from international donors. Mr. Schwarzman is Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees of Schwarzman Scholars. In 2007, Mr. Schwarzman donated $100 million to the New York Public Library on whose board he serves.

In 2019, Schwarzman published his first book What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence , a New York Times Best Seller which draws from his experiences in business, philanthropy and public service.

Mr. Schwarzman is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations, The Business Council, The Business Roundtable, and The International Business Council of the World Economic Forum. He is a former co-chair of the Partnership for New York City and serves on the boards of The Asia Society and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, as well as on The Advisory Board of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University, Beijing. He is a Trustee of The Frick Collection in New York City and Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 2007, Mr. Schwarzman was included in TIME’s “100 Most Influential People.” In 2016, he topped Forbes Magazine’s list of the most influential people in finance and in 2018 was ranked in the Top 50 on Forbes’ list of the “World’s Most Powerful People.” The Republic of France has awarded Mr. Schwarzman both the Légion d’Honneur and the Ordre des Arts et des Letters at the Commandeur level. Mr. Schwarzman is one of the only Americans to receive both awards recognizing significant contributions to France. He was also awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle, Mexico’s highest honor for foreigners, for his work on behalf of the U.S. in support of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement in 2018.

Mr. Schwarzman holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He has served as an adjunct professor at the Yale School of Management and on the Harvard Business School Board of Dean’s Advisors.

Follow Mr. Schwarzman on LinkedIn .

Jonathan (“Jon”) Gray is President and Chief Operating Officer of Blackstone, and is a member of Blackstone’s Board of Directors. He sits on its Management Committee and most of its investment committees. Mr. Gray previously served as the firm’s Global Head of Real Estate, which he helped to build into the largest real estate platform in the world. He joined Blackstone in 1992.

Mr. Gray currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Hilton Worldwide. He also serves on the board of Harlem Village Academies. Mr. Gray and his wife, Mindy, established the Basser Center for BRCA at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine focused on the prevention and treatment of BRCA related cancers. They also established NYC Kids RISE in partnership with the City of New York to accelerate college savings for low income children.

Mr. Gray received a BS in Economics from the Wharton School, as well as a BA in English from the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania.

Joseph Baratta is the Global Head of Private Equity and a member of Blackstone’s Board of Directors. He is also a member of the firm’s Management Committee, and serves on many of the firm’s investment committees.

Mr. Baratta joined Blackstone in 1998 and in 2001 he moved to London to help establish Blackstone’s corporate private equity business in Europe. Since 2012, Mr. Baratta has served as the firm’s Global Head of Private Equity and is located in New York.

Mr. Baratta has served on the boards of many past Blackstone portfolio companies and currently serves as a member or observer on the boards of First Eagle Investment Management, Refinitiv, SESAC and Merlin Entertainments Group. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Georgetown University; is a trustee of the Tate Foundation; serves on the board of Year Up, an organization focused on youth employment; and serves on the Board of Trustees of Trinity School in New York City.

Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Baratta was with Tinicum Incorporated and McCown De Leeuw & Company. Mr. Baratta also worked at Morgan Stanley in its mergers and acquisitions department. Mr. Baratta graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University.

Kelly A. Ayotte is a member of our board of directors. Ms. Ayotte was elected to the board of directors effective May 13, 2019. Ms. Ayotte represented New Hampshire in the United States Senate from 2011 to 2016, where she chaired the Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and the Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation Operations. Ms. Ayotte also served on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Budget, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and Aging Committees. Ms. Ayotte served as the “Sherpa” for Justice Neil Gorsuch, leading the effort to secure his confirmation to the United States Supreme Court. From 2004 to 2009, Ms. Ayotte served as New Hampshire’s first female Attorney General having been appointed to that position by Republican Governor Craig Benson and reappointed twice by Democratic Governor John Lynch. Prior to that, she served as the Deputy Attorney General, Chief of the Homicide Prosecution Unit and as Legal Counsel to Governor Craig Benson. Ms. Ayotte began her career as a law clerk to the New Hampshire Supreme Court and as an associate at the Mclane Middleton law firm. Ms. Ayotte serves on the board of directors of Caterpillar Inc. and its nomination, governance and public policy committee, the board of directors of News Corporation and its nomination and governance committee and the board of directors of Boston Properties, Inc. and as chair of its compensation committee and a member of its nomination and governance committee. Ms. Ayotte also serves on the board of directors of Blink Health LLC and BAE Systems Inc., where she chairs the compensation committee, and previously she served on the board of directors of Bloom Energy Corporation and chaired its nomination and governance committee. Ms. Ayotte also serves on the advisory boards of Microsoft, Chubb Insurance and Cirtronics. Ms. Ayotte is a Senior Advisor to Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions. Ms. Ayotte also serves on the non-profit boards of the One Campaign, International Republican Institute, the McCain Institute, Winning for Women, NH Veteran’s Count and NH Swim with a Mission. Ms. Ayotte is also a member of the Board of Advisors for the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.