Frank Cohen

Global Chairman of Core+ Real Estate

Frank Cohen is a Senior Managing Director in the Real Estate Group and the Global Chairman of Core+ Real Estate, based in New York. He is also the Chairman and CEO of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust.

Since joining Blackstone in 1996, Mr. Cohen has played an integral role in the growth of the real estate business. He previously held multiple leadership positions, overseeing Americas Acquisitions and later the Core+ Real estate business from its early days. He has been involved in over $100 billion of real estate transactions, including many of the firm’s notable investments, including Equity Office, CarrAmerica Realty, Trizec and IndCor Properties.

Mr. Cohen received a BA from Northwestern University, where he graduated from the Honors Program in Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences, with a double major in political science.

He serves as a director for several Blackstone portfolio companies, including Equity Office, as trustee of both the Urban Land Institute and the NAREIT Advisory Board of Governors, and also serves on the Board of Trustees at Northwestern University.

Wesley LePatner

Global Head of Core+ Real Estate

Wesley LePatner is a Senior Managing Director in the Real Estate Group and the Global Head of Core+ Real Estate, based in New York. Ms. LePatner is a member of Blackstone Real Estate’s Investment Committee and serves as a Director and the Chief Operating Officer of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT).

Prior to joining Blackstone in 2014, Ms. LePatner spent over a decade at Goldman Sachs.

Ms. LePatner received a BA in History from Yale University, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and serves on the boards of The Hewitt School, The Mount Sinai Children’s Center Foundation and Yale University Library Council.

James Seppala

Head of Real Estate Europe

James Seppala is a Senior Managing Director in the Real Estate Group and the Head of Real Estate Europe, based in London. Since joining Blackstone in 2011, Mr. Seppala has been involved in a number of Blackstone’s investments across Europe, including Logicor, OfficeFirst, and Mileway.

Prior to joining Blackstone, Mr. Seppala was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs & Co, where he spent 10 years focused on equity and debt investment opportunities in Europe and the United States on behalf of Goldman Sachs’s real estate private equity group.

Mr. Seppala graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 2001. Mr. Seppala serves on the Imperial College Endowment Board and chairs the European Advisory Board of the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center at the Wharton School.

Abhishek Agarwal

Head of Core+ EMEA and APAC

Abhishek Agarwal is a Senior Managing Director in the Real Estate Group and Head of Core+ EMEA and APAC, based in London. Since joining Blackstone in 2008, Mr. Agarwal has been involved in real estate investments across property sectors and geographies including Bourne Leisure, Hispania, HI Partners, Broadgate and Chiswick Park amongst others.

Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Agarwal worked as a software developer with Microsoft, and was involved in the development of Microsoft Windows’ Vista.

He received a Bachelors in Technology from the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Allahabad, where he was placed on the Dean’s Merit List. He completed his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore where he graduated with the Gold medal.

Gadi Jay

Head of Real Estate Europe Capital Markets

Gadi Jay is a Senior Managing Director in the Real Estate Group and responsible for European Real Estate Capital Markets based in London. Since joining the firm in 2014, Mr. Jay has been involved in the financing of all European real estate investments including asset, stock and portfolio-level financings and in obtaining fund-level leverage utilized by Blackstone’s European real estate investment vehicles.

Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Jay spent three years at HSBC Global Banking & Markets where he was a Vice President based in London, focusing on financing and debt advisory mandates across Europe. Prior to that Mr. Jay spent two years at HSBC Private Bank in New York and London.

Mr. Jay received an LLB (Honors) in Law and Property Valuation from City University.

Eric Duchon

Global Head of Real Estate ESG

Eric Duchon is a Managing Director and the Global Head of ESG for Blackstone Real Estate. Mr. Duchon partners with the firm’s central ESG team and Portfolio Operations to initiate, manage, implement and report ESG initiatives across the global Real Estate portfolio.

Prior to joining Blackstone in November 2020, Mr. Duchon was at LaSalle Investment Management where he was a Managing Director and Global Head of Sustainability. Prior to LaSalle, Mr. Duchon spent over 9 years at Cushman & Wakefield as the Director of Sustainability Strategies.

Mr. Duchon received a BBA from Emory University – Goizueta Business School and a Masters in Real Estate Development Degree from New York University Schack Institute of Real Estate.

Christopher Weber

Managing Director

Core+ Real Estate Europe

Christopher Weber is a Managing Director in the Real Estate Group and part of the Core+ Real Estate Europe team based in London. Mr. Weber joined Blackstone in 2019 and is involved in the management of the European Core+ business.

Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Weber was an Executive Director in the Real Estate Investment Banking group at Goldman Sachs, both in New York and London. Mr. Weber was previously an Assistant Vice President at Phoenix Property Investors in Hong Kong and prior to that he worked in the Global Markets group at Bank of America in New York.

Mr. Weber received a BS from Georgetown University, where he graduated magna cum laude, and an MBA with distinction from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Tian Zhong

Principal

Core+ Real Estate Europe

Tian Zhong is a Principal in the Real Estate Group and part of the Core+ Real Estate Europe team based in London. Ms. Zhong joined Blackstone in 2021 and is involved in the management of the European Core+ business.

Prior to joining Blackstone, Ms. Zhong was a Vice President at Sixth Street Partners in London where she worked on credit investments in Europe.

Ms. Zhong received a BA in Economics from University of Cambridge.

Samuel Ting

Principal

Core+ Real Estate Europe

Samuel Ting is a Principal in the Real Estate Group, based in London. Mr Ting joined Blackstone in 2020 and is involved in the management of the European Core+ business.

Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Ting was an Associate in the Real Estate Investment Banking group at UBS in Singapore.

Mr. Ting received a BBA from the National University of Singapore and an MS from Columbia University.

Alice Westlake*

Principal

Real Estate Europe Capital Markets

Alice Westlake is a Principal in the Real Estate Group and part of the Real Estate Capital Markets team based in London. She joined the firm in 2022.

Before joining Blackstone, Ms. Westlake was a Vice President in the Northern Europe Financial Institutions Debt Capital Markets team at Nomura in London and prior to this, an Analyst in Capital Markets at RBS in London.

Ms. Westlake received an MEng from Somerville College, University of Oxford.

Gabriel Sakhai

Analyst

Core+ Real Estate Europe

Gabriel Sakhai is an Analyst in the Real Estate Group and part of the Core+ Real Estate Europe team based in London. He joined Blackstone in 2023 and is involved in the management of the European Core+ business.

Mr. Sakhai received a BSc with first-class honors from the London School of Economics and a MSc with distinction from London Business School.

Martina Insulla

Analyst

Core+ Real Estate Europe

Martina Insulla is an Analyst in the Real Estate Group and part of the Core+ Real Estate Europe team based in London. She joined Blackstone in 2024 and is involved in the management of the European Core+ business.

Ms. Insulla graduated summa cum laude from the University of Chicago with a BA in Economics and a minor in Molecular Engineering.