Blackstone makes leadership team changes

James will continue in a full-time role as executive vice chairman, reporting to Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone’s co-founder, chairman and CEO. Gray will also answer directly to Schwarzman, while Ken Caplan and Kathleen McCarthy will assume responsibility for the real estate brief he is relinquishing.

“The appointment of Jon as president and COO lays the foundation for the next generation of senior management and positions the firm well for future leadership,” Schwarzman said in a statement. Gray joined Blackstone straight out of university in 1992 and has spent more than a decade helping turn the firm’s real estate business into the largest of its kind globally.

Several other global firms have taken similar steps to transfer more responsibilities to the next generation of leadership. At KKR, former Asia head Joe Bae was named co-president and co-COO alongside Scott Nuttall. This signaled a handover of day-to-day management duties by co-founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts, although they remain co-chairmen and co-CEOs.

Meanwhile, The Carlyle Group appointed Kewsong Lee and Glenn Youngkin as co-CEOs, with co-founders, William Conway, Daniel D’Aniello and David Rubenstein scaling back their involvement. Apollo Global then elevated Scott Kleinman and James Zelter to serve as co-presidents in an expanded executive leadership team. The role of Leon Black, the firm’s CEO and founder, was unchanged.

Blackstone has more than $430 billion in assets under management across private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, non-investment grade credit, real assets, and secondary funds. The firm has traditionally operated a flagship global private equity fund, but it is currently in the process of raising a dedicated Asia vehicle.

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