Team
BPPEH Leadership
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 been involved in over $100 billion of real estate transactions. He has been involved with 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 a Trustee of the Urban Land Institute, on the Board of the Regional Plan Association and on the Board of Visitors 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, Sponda, 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 currently serves as Chairman of Blackstone European Property Income Fund (BEPIF) and Blackstone portfolio company Sponda, is on the board of The Office Group and Kereby. He also 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+ Real Estate Europe
Abhishek Agarwal is a Managing Director in the Real Estate Group based in London. Mr. Agarwal is the Head of the Core+ Real Estate business in Europe, where he oversees Blackstone Property Partners Europe and Blackstone European Property Income Fund. Since joining Blackstone in 2008, Mr. Agarwal has been involved in real estate investments in various property sectors across Europe including 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.
Mr. Agarwal 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 also received an 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.
Caroline Hill
Head of Europe Real Estate ESG
Caroline Hill is a Managing Director and Head of ESG for Blackstone Real Estate in Europe based in London. Ms. Hill joined Blackstone in 2021 and is responsible for ensuring Environment, Social and Governance factors are fully integrated across Blackstone’s European real estate portfolio.
Her prior roles included the Head of Responsible Business for Lloyds Banking Group and the Director of Group Corporate Affairs and Sustainability at Landsec plc., developing one of the United Kingdom’s leading real estate sustainability programs and establishing Landsec’s net zero carbon strategy. She also held roles working on corporate responsibility and sustainability at PwC and Whitbread.
Ms. Hill received a BA in Economics from the University of Cambridge.
BPPEH Management
Catherine Chiurco
Managing Director
Core+ Real Estate Europe
Catherine Chiurco is a Managing Director within in the Real Estate Group and part of the Core+ Real Estate Europe team based in London. Ms. Chiurco joined Blackstone in 2019 and is involved in the management of the European Core+ business.
Prior to joining Blackstone, Ms. Chiurco was a Vice President at J.P. Morgan Asset Management in London where she was responsible for commercial real estate investments in continental Europe. Ms. Chiurco previously worked in turnaround management at Alvarez & Marsal in New York and London, and prior to that she worked in restructuring advisory and real estate private equity at Lazard in New York.
Ms. Chiurco received a BA from Princeton University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
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.
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*
Senior Associate
Real Estate Europe Capital Markets
Alice Westlake is a Senior Associate 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.
Calvin Kuska
Analyst
Core+ Real Estate Europe
Calvin Kuska is an Analyst in the Real Estate Group and part of the Core+ Real Estate Europe team based in London. He joined the firm in 2022.
Prior to joining Blackstone, Mr. Kuska was an Investment Banking Analyst at Morgan Stanley based in Frankfurt.
Mr. Kuska received a BSc from the University of Cologne and a MSc from the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.
*Key Investor Contact