Martin Brand is Head of Blackstone Capital Partners. He also serves as a member of several of the firm’s investment committees. Mr. Brand was involved in a number of Blackstone’s private equity investments including Refinitiv, IntraFi, Bumble, Liftoff, Blue Yonder, Ultimate Software, Kronos, Knight Capital, Exeter, PBF Energy, Lendmark, Optiv, Ipreo, NCR, Paysafe, First Eagle and Bank United. He currently serves as director of London Stock Exchange Group, Smartsheet, Bumble, UKG Software, Liftoff Mobile, CVENT, and First Eagle. Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Brand worked as a derivatives trader with Goldman Sachs in New York and Tokyo, and with McKinsey & Company in London. Mr. Brand received a BA/MA in Mathematics and Computation, First Class Honors, from Oxford University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He is a Trustee of the American Academy Berlin and the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach.

Viral Patel has served as the Chief Executive Officer of BXPE since April 2024 and a member of the Board of Directors since January 2026. Mr. Patel is also a member of the Investment Committees for BXPE and Blackstone Growth. Mr. Patel has been with Blackstone since 2005. He played a leading role in the launch of Blackstone Tactical Opportunities, as well as the incubation and development of several other Blackstone businesses. He previously served as the Global Head of Technology Investing for Blackstone Credit. Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Patel was a member of the Credit Suisse Structured Products business. He has served on the boards of various Blackstone portfolio companies. Mr. Patel graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University with a B.S. in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering.

Eric Liaw has served as the Chief Investment Officer of BXPE since October 2023. Mr. Liaw previously served as the Head of Portfolio Management of BXPE from November 2022 to October 2023. He also is a Senior Managing Director and Head of Corporate Development for Blackstone. Mr. Liaw also leads strategic mergers and acquisitions, new business initiatives, and special projects in support of Blackstone. Mr. Liaw is also a member of the firm’s Capital Markets, Enterprise Risk, Liquid Asset Investments, and Valuation Committees. Prior to his current role, Mr. Liaw was a Senior Managing Director in Blackstone’s private equity business, focused on investments in the energy sector. Prior to joining Blackstone in 2014, Mr. Liaw was a principal at TPG Capital where he evaluated and executed investment opportunities in a wide range of industries. Prior to TPG, Mr. Liaw was an associate at Bain Capital, where he focused on private equity investments in a wide range of industries. Mr. Liaw received his B.A., with highest honors, and B.B.A., with highest honors, from the University of Texas at Austin and received his M.B.A., with distinction, from Harvard Business School.

Vikrant Sawhney is Blackstone’s Chief Administrative Officer and Global Head of Institutional Client Solutions and a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Mr. Sawhney has served as Blackstone’s Chief Administrative Officer and Global Head of Institutional Client Services since September 2019. Since joining Blackstone in 2007, Mr. Sawhney started Blackstone Capital Markets and also served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Private Equity group. Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Sawhney worked as a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank, and prior to that at the law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Mr. Sawhney currently sits on the Board of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation. He is also the chair of the board of directors of Dream, an east Harlem-based educational and social services organization, and a Trustee of Quinnipiac University. He graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School.

Christopher James has served as the Chairperson of BXPE since November 2022 and a member of the Board of Directors since May 2022. He is also the Global Head of Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities group (“Tac Opps”). Mr. James is also a member of the Investment Committees for BXPE and the Tac Opps and Blackstone Growth funds. Prior to launching Tac Opps in 2012, Mr. James had been involved in the execution of Blackstone strategic initiatives and investments across a variety of asset classes including the firm’s initial public offering and the firm’s investments in GSO, Pátria Investimentos and Strategic Partners. He has served on the boards of various Blackstone portfolio companies. He currently serves on the board of trustees of Prep for Prep and Riverdale Country School. Mr. James received a B.S. from Duke University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Lionel Assant is the Global Co-Chief Investment Officer of Blackstone. As Co-CIO, he works in conjunction with business unit CIOs and Group Heads to provide additional firm-level investment oversight across Blackstone’s Private Equity (PE) complex, including Corporate PE, Infrastructure, Tactical Opportunities, Growth, and Life Sciences. Mr. Assant also serves as Blackstone’s European Head of Private Equity. He joined Blackstone in 2003 and has run the European PE business since 2012. Mr. Assant currently serves as a Director of Clarion Events, CIRSA, BME (formerly CRH Building Materials Distribution), Bourne Leisure, VFS and Adevinta. He previously served on the boards of Gerresheimer, Klockner Pentaplast, Mivisa, United Biscuits, Alliance Automotive Group, Tangerine, Intertrust, Armacell, Cerdia, Schenck Process and the National Exhibition Centre. Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Assant was an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs in the Mergers & Acquisitions, Asset Management and Private Equity divisions. Mr. Assant graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique with a Master’s in Economics. He is also involved with Impetus, a charitable foundation which provides resources to improve the lives of children and young people living in poverty.

Michael Chae is Blackstone’s Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer and a member of the firm’s Management Committee and investment committees across most of the firm’s businesses. Mr. Chae has served as Blackstone’s Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer since January 2025 and August 2015, respectively. He chairs Blackstone’s firmwide valuation and enterprise risk committees. Since joining Blackstone in 1997, Mr. Chae has served in a broad range of leadership roles including Head of International Private Equity, Head of Private Equity for Asia/Pacific, and as a senior partner in the U.S. private equity business, where he led numerous investments and served on the boards of many private and publicly traded portfolio companies. Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Chae worked at The Carlyle Group and Dillon, Read & Co. Mr. Chae received an A.B. from Harvard College, an MPhil. in International Relations from Cambridge University and a J.D. from Yale Law School. Mr. Chae serves on the boards of the Harvard Management Company, the Robin Hood Foundation, the Asia Society and St. Bernard’s School. He previously served as the President of the board of trustees of the Lawrenceville School where he remains a trustee emeritus. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and founded the Chae Initiative in Private Sector Leadership at Yale Law School.

Joan Solotar has served as a member of the Board of Directors since May 2022. She is also a member of the BXPE Investment Committee. Ms. Solotar is also the Global Head of Blackstone Private Wealth, which brings institutional quality investment products across a broad spectrum of alternative asset classes to high-net-worth clients and their advisors. She serves on Blackstone’s Management Committee and Operating Committee, as well as on the board of directors of First Eagle Investment Management. Additionally, Ms. Solotar serves as a member of the board of directors of Blackstone Infrastructure Strategies L.P. (BXINFRA) and is a member of the BXINFRA investment committee. Before joining Blackstone in 2007, Ms. Solotar was Head of Equity Research at Bank of America Securities and a highly ranked Institutional Investor All Star financial services analyst at Credit Suisse and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Ms. Solotar is a member of the board of trustees of Mount Sinai Health System, Inc, and of the board of trustees of East Harlem Tutorial Program and East Harlem Scholars Academies. She wrote a Harvard Business Review article entitled, “Truths for Our Daughters,” and co-authored, “Truths from My Daughter.” Ms. Solotar received a B.S. in Management Information Systems from the State University of New York at Albany and an M.B.A. in Finance from New York University.

Joseph Baratta is Global Head of Private Equity Strategies at Blackstone and a member of Blackstone’s board of directors. Mr. Baratta joined Blackstone’s board of directors in March 2020 and has served as Blackstone’s Global Head of Private Equity since July 2012. He also sits on the firm’s Management Committee. Mr. Baratta joined Blackstone in 1998, and in 2001 he moved to London to help establish Blackstone’s corporate private equity business in Europe. 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 has served on the boards of a number of Blackstone portfolio companies and currently serves as a member or observer on the boards of directors of First Eagle Investment Management, Refinitiv, SESAC, Ancestry, Candle Media and Merlin Entertainments Group. He is a trustee of the Tate Foundation and serves on the board of Year Up, an organization focused on youth employment. Mr. Baratta graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University.

Jonathan (“Jon”) Gray is President & Chief Operating Officer of Blackstone and is a member of the Board of Directors. He sits on the firm’s Management Committee and nearly all of its investment committees.

Mr. Gray was appointed to his current role in 2018. Since that time, Blackstone’s assets under management have nearly tripled to $1.3 trillion, as the firm has greatly expanded the breadth of clients it serves, including insurance companies and individual investors.

Mr. Gray previously led Blackstone’s Real Estate business, which he helped build into the largest commercial real estate platform in the world. He joined Blackstone in 1992 in the M&A and Private Equity areas.

Mr. Gray has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hilton Worldwide since 2007, and is also on the board of XRG.

He and his wife, Mindy, established the Basser Center for BRCA at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 2012 focused on the prevention and treatment of BRCA-related cancers. They have also established numerous programs for low-income children in New York, including creating NYC Kids RISE, a college savings initiative provided to every NYC public school kindergartner. The Grays have been named to The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s list of the largest donors in the U.S.

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.

Follow him on LinkedIn.