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Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

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Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

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Directors and Executive Officers of Blackstone Inc.

Our directors and executive officers as of the date of this filing are:

NameAgePosition
Stephen A. Schwarzman79Co-Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Director
Jonathan D. Gray56President, Chief Operating Officer and Director
Michael S. Chae57Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer
John G. Finley69Chief Legal Officer
Vikrant Sawhney55Chief Administrative Officer and Global Head of Institutional Client Solutions
Joseph P. Baratta55Director
James W. Breyer64Director
Reginald J. Brown58Director
Rochelle B. Lazarus78Director
William G. Parrett80Director
Ruth Porat68Director

Stephen A. Schwarzman

is the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and

Co-Founder

of Blackstone and the Chairman of our board of directors. Mr. Schwarzman was elected Chairman of the board of directors effective March 20, 2007. He also sits on the firm’s Management Committee. Mr. Schwarzman has been involved in all phases of the firm’s development since its founding in 1985. 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, Mr. 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.” In 2019, he was named one of Barron’s “World’s Best CEOS.” The Republic of France has awarded Mr. Schwarzman both the Légion d’Honneur and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 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. Also, at the University of Oxford, Mr. Schwarzman was elected a Wykeham Fellow at New College in 2021 and a Waynflete Fellow at Magdalen College in 2023. In 2024, Mr. Schwarzman was appointed as an Honorary Knight of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) in recognition of his services to philanthropy. He is a recipient of the Arthur Ross Award for Patronage from the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art. Mr. Schwarzman holds a BA from Yale University and an MBA 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.

Jonathan D. Gray

is President and Chief Operating Officer of Blackstone and has been a member of our board of directors since February 2012. 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. Mr. Gray previously served as Global Head of Real Estate, helping build that business into the largest commercial real estate platform in the world. He joined Blackstone in 1992 in the mergers and acquisitions and private equity areas. Mr. Gray has served as chairman of the board of directors of Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. since 2007 and is also on the board of directors of XRG. He previously served on the board of directors of Corebridge Financial. Mr. Gray 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.

Michael S. 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 our 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. Mr. Chae received an AB from Harvard College, an MPhil. in International Relations from Cambridge University and a JD from Yale Law School. Mr. Chae serves on the boards of the Harvard Management Company, the Robin Hood Foundation and the Asia Society. He is a trustee emeritus and the former President of the board of trustees of the Lawrenceville School. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and founded the Chae Initiative in Private Sector Leadership at Yale Law School.

John G. Finley

is Chief Legal Officer of Blackstone and a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Before joining Blackstone in September 2010, Mr. Finley had been a partner with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett where he was a member of that law firm’s Executive Committee and

Co-Head

of Global Mergers & Acquisitions. Mr. Finley is a member of the American Law Institute; Dean’s Advisory Board and Chairman of the Visiting Committee, of Harvard Law School; Gettysburg Foundation; Board of Advisors of the Penn Institute for Law and Economics; and NYU Institute for Corporate Governance and Finance. He has also been a Lecturer in Law at Harvard Law School. Mr. Finley previously served as a director at Tradeweb. He has served on the U.S. Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the Committee of Securities Regulation of the New York State Bar Association and the Board of Advisors of the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism at Columbia University. Mr. Finley received a BS in Economics, summa cum laude, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a BA in History, summa cum laude, from the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Pennsylvania, and a JD, cum laude, from Harvard Law 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 Solutions 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 JD, cum laude, from Harvard Law School.

Joseph P. Baratta

is Global Head of Private Equity Strategies at Blackstone and a member of the board of directors. Mr. Baratta joined the board of directors in March 2020 and has served as Blackstone’s Global Head of Private Equity Strategies 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 SESAC, Ancestry, Candle Media and Merlin Entertainments Group. He also previously served on the boards of directors of First Eagle Investment Management and Refinitiv. 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.

James W. Breyer

is a member of our board of directors. Mr. Breyer joined the board of directors in July 2016. Since 2006, Mr. Breyer has been the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Breyer Capital, a premier venture capital firm based in Austin, Texas and Menlo Park, California. Mr. Breyer has been an early investor in over 40 technology companies that have completed successful public offerings or mergers. He served as Partner at Accel Partners from 1990 to 2016 and Managing Partner from 1995 to 2011. Over the past several years, Mr. Breyer has developed a deep personal and investment interest in long-term oriented entrepreneurs and teams working in artificial/augmented intelligence and human-assisted intelligence and has made numerous investments in this space. Mr. Breyer previously served on the board of directors of Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. from 2011 to 2019, Facebook, Inc. from 2005 to 2013, Etsy, Inc. from 2008 to 2016, Dell, Inc. from 2009 to 2013 and

Wal-Mart

Stores, Inc. from 2001 to 2013, as well as a number of other technology companies. Mr. Breyer is a member of Harvard Business School’s Board of Dean’s Advisors, a member of Harvard University’s Global Advisory Council, a founding member of the Dean’s Advisory Board of Stanford University’s School of Engineering, Chairman of the Stanford Engineering Venture Fund and founding member of the Stanford Institute for Human-Assisted Artificial Intelligence Advisory Board. In addition, Mr. Breyer is a long-time active volunteer as a Trustee of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Film Institute and Stanford’s Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society.

Reginald J. Brown

is a member of the board of directors of Blackstone. Mr. Brown joined the board of directors in September 2020. Since December 2020, Mr. Brown has been a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Prior to joining Kirkland, Mr. Brown was a partner at WilmerHale from 2005 to 2020, where he served as Chairman of the firm’s Financial Institutions Group and led the firm’s congressional investigations practice as Vice Chair of the Crisis Management and Strategic Response Group. From 2003 to 2005, Mr. Brown served as Associate White House Counsel and Special Assistant to the President, and prior to serving in government, he worked as Assistant to the CEO and Vice President for Corporate Strategy at Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. Mr. Brown holds a BA from Yale University and a JD from Harvard Law School.

Rochelle B. Lazarus

is a member of our board of directors. Ms. Lazarus joined the board of directors in July 2013. Ms. Lazarus is Chairman Emeritus of Ogilvy & Mather and served as Chairman of that company from 1997 to June 2012. Prior to becoming Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, she also served as President of O&M Direct North America, Ogilvy & Mather New York, and Ogilvy & Mather North America. Ms. Lazarus currently serves on the boards of Rockefeller Capital Management, Organon, World Wildlife Fund, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Partnership for New York City. She also previously served on the boards of directors of General Electric Company and Merck & Co. Ms. Lazarus is a Trustee of the New York Presbyterian Hospital and is a member of the Board of Overseers of Columbia Business School.

William G. Parrett

is a member of our board of directors. Mr. Parrett joined the board of directors in November 2007. Until May 2007, Mr. Parrett served as the Chief Executive Officer of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and Senior Partner of Deloitte (USA). Mr. Parrett

co-founded

the Global Financial Services Industry practice of Deloitte and served as its first Chairman. Mr. Parrett is a Senior Advisor to the New York Foundation for Senior Citizens. Mr. Parrett was also previously a member of the boards of directors of Oracle Corporation, Eastman Kodak Company, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., UBS AG, UBS Americas, Conduent Inc. and ThoughtWorks, Inc. Mr. Parrett is a past Senior Trustee of the United States Council for International Business and a past Chairman of the Board of Trustees of United Way Worldwide. Mr. Parrett is a Certified Public Accountant with an active license.

Ruth Porat

is a member of the board of directors of Blackstone. Ms. Porat joined the board of directors in June 2020. Ms. Porat is President and Chief Investment Officer of Alphabet and Google. She joined Google as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in May 2015 and has held the same title at Alphabet since it was created in October 2015. She has served as President and Chief Investment Officer of Alphabet and Google since September 2023 with responsibility for corporate investments and investment vehicles, including GV and CapG, the Other Bets investment portfolio, Real Estate and Workplace Services, and other infrastructure. The role includes engaging with policymakers and regulators globally about Alphabet and Google’s business and impact across markets related to economic growth, job creation and opportunity. Ms. Porat also oversees Alphabet and Google’s philanthropic efforts and work to expand access to digital infrastructure and skilling initiatives globally. Prior to joining Google, Ms. Porat was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Morgan Stanley and held roles there that included Vice Chairman of Investment Banking,

Co-Head

of Technology Investment Banking and Global Head of the Financial Institutions Group. Ms. Porat is a member of the boards of directors of the Council on Foreign Relations and Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the Board of Trustees of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She previously spent ten years on Stanford University’s Board of Trustees and on the Board of the Stanford Management Company. Ms. Porat holds a BA from Stanford University, an MSc from The London School of Economics and an MBA from the Wharton School.

Governance and Board Composition

Our capital stock consists of common stock, Series I preferred stock and Series II preferred stock. Under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and Delaware law, holders of our common stock are entitled to vote, together with holders of our Series I preferred stock, voting as a single class, on a number of significant matters, including certain sales, exchanges or other dispositions of all or substantially all of our assets, a merger, consolidation or other business combination, the removal of the Series II Preferred Stockholder and forced transfer by the Series II Preferred Stockholder (as defined below) of its shares of Series II preferred stock and the designation of a successor Series II Preferred Stockholder. The single share of outstanding Series II preferred stock is currently held by Blackstone Group Management L.L.C. (the “Series II Preferred Stockholder”), an entity owned by our senior managing directors and controlled by our

Co-Founder,

Mr. Schwarzman.

The Series II Preferred Stockholder elects our board of directors in accordance with the Series II Preferred Stockholder’s limited liability company agreement, where our senior managing directors have agreed that Mr. Schwarzman, in his capacity as founding member, will have the power to vote upon, act upon, consent to, approve or otherwise determine any matters to be voted upon, acted upon, consented to, approved or otherwise determined by the members of the Series II Preferred Stockholder. The limited liability company agreement of our Series II Preferred Stockholder provides that at such time as Mr. Schwarzman should cease to be the founding member of the Series II Preferred Stockholder, Jonathan D. Gray will thereupon succeed Mr. Schwarzman as the founding member of our Series II Preferred Stockholder. From and after such time, the members of the Series II Preferred Stockholder constituting a “Majority in Interest of the Members” (and with no member having greater than a 24.9% voting interest) will have the power to remove the founding member and designate a successor.

In identifying candidates for membership on the board of directors, Mr. Schwarzman, acting on behalf of the Series II Preferred Stockholder, takes into account (a) minimum individual qualifications, such as strength of character, mature judgment, industry knowledge or experience and an ability to work collegially with the other members of the board of directors, and (b) all other factors he considers appropriate.

After conducting an initial evaluation of a candidate, Mr. Schwarzman will interview that candidate if he believes the candidate might be suitable to be a director and may also ask the candidate to meet with other directors and senior management. If, following such interview and any consultations with directors and senior management, Mr. Schwarzman believes a candidate would be a valuable addition to the board of directors, he will appoint that individual to the board of directors.

When considering whether the members of the board of directors have the experience, qualifications, attributes and skills, taken as a whole, to enable the board to satisfy its oversight responsibilities effectively in light of Blackstone’s business and structure, Mr. Schwarzman focused on the information described in each of the board members’ biographical information set forth above. In particular, with regard to Mr. Breyer, Mr. Schwarzman considered his extensive financial background and significant investment experience at Breyer Capital and Accel Partners. With regard to Mr. Brown, Mr. Schwarzman considered his distinguished career in public service and experience advising large institutions and prominent figures in the private and public sector. With regard to Ms. Lazarus, Mr. Schwarzman considered her extensive business background and her management experience in a variety of senior leadership roles at Ogilvy & Mather. With regard to Mr. Parrett, Mr. Schwarzman considered his significant experience, expertise and background with regard to auditing and accounting matters, his leadership role at Deloitte and his extensive experience serving as a director on boards of directors. With regard to Ms. Porat, Mr. Schwarzman considered her extensive experience in the financial industry and her leadership roles with Alphabet, Google and Morgan Stanley. With regard to Messrs. Gray and Baratta, Mr. Schwarzman considered their leadership and extensive knowledge of our business and operations gained through their years of service at our firm and, with regard to himself, Mr. Schwarzman considered his role as

Co-Founder

and long-time Chief Executive Officer of our firm.

Controlled Company Exception and Director Independence

Because the Series II Preferred Stockholder holds more than 50% of the voting power for the election of directors, we are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the corporate governance standards of the NYSE. Under these standards, a “controlled company” may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance standards, including the requirements (a) that a majority of its board of directors consist of independent directors, (b) that its board of directors have a compensation committee that is comprised entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities and (c) that its board of directors have a nominating and corporate governance committee that is comprised entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities. See “Part I. Item 1A Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Organizational Structure — We are a controlled company and as a result qualify for some exceptions from certain corporate governance and other requirements of the New York Stock Exchange.” We currently utilize the second and third of these exemptions. In the event that we cease to be a “controlled company” and our shares of common stock continue to be listed on the NYSE, we will be required to comply with these provisions within the applicable transition periods. While we are exempt from the NYSE rules requiring a majority of independent directors, we currently have and intend to continue to maintain a majority independent board of directors.

Our board of directors has a total of eight members, including five members, Messrs. Breyer, Brown and Parrett, and Mses. Lazarus and Porat, who are independent under NYSE rules relating to corporate governance matters and the independence standards described in our Governance Policy.

Board Committees

Our board of directors has three standing committees: the audit committee, the compensation committee and the executive committee.

Audit Committee

. The audit committee consists of Messrs. Parrett (Chairman) and Breyer and Mses. Lazarus and Porat. The purpose of the audit committee is, among other things, to assist the board of directors in fulfilling its responsibility with respect to its oversight of (a) the quality and integrity of our financial statements, (b) our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, (c) our independent auditor’s qualification, independence and performance, and (d) the performance of our internal audit function. The audit committee’s responsibilities also include reviewing with management, the independent auditors and internal audit, the areas of material risk to our operations and financial results, including, without limitation, major financial and cybersecurity risks and exposures and our guidelines and policies with respect to risk assessment and risk management. The members of the audit committee meet the independence standards and financial literacy requirements for service on an audit committee of a board of directors pursuant to the NYSE listing standards and SEC rules applicable to audit committees. The board of directors has determined that each of Mr. Parrett and Mses. Lazarus and Porat is an “audit committee financial expert” within the meaning of Item 407(d)(5) of

Regulation S-K.

The audit committee has a charter, which is available on our website at http://ir.blackstone.com under “Corporate Governance.”

Compensation Committee

. The compensation committee consists of Mr. Schwarzman. The purpose of the compensation committee is, among other things, to fix, and establish policies for, the compensation of officers and employees of the Company and its subsidiaries.

Executive Committee

. The executive committee consists of Messrs. Schwarzman, Gray and Baratta. The board of directors has delegated all of the power and authority of the full board of directors to the executive committee to act when the board of directors is not in session.

Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

We have a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and a Code of Ethics for Financial Professionals, which apply to our principal executive officer, principal financial officer and principal accounting officer. Each of these codes is available on our website at http://ir.blackstone.com under “Corporate Governance.” We intend to disclose any amendment to or waiver of the Code of Ethics for Financial Professionals and any waiver of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics on behalf of an executive officer or director either on our website or by filing a Current Report on

Form 8-K.

Securities Trading Policies and Procedures

We have adopted policies and procedures governing the purchase, sale and/or other dispositions of our securities by directors, officers and employees and by Blackstone that are reasonably designed to promote compliance with insider trading laws, rules and regulations, and the listing standards of the NYSE. A copy of our Securities Trading Policy and Procedures Governing Transactions in Blackstone Securities is filed as Exhibit 19.1 to this Annual Report on

Form 10-K.

Corporate Governance Guidelines

The board of directors has a Governance Policy, which addresses matters such as the board of directors’ responsibilities and duties and the board of directors’ composition and compensation. The Governance Policy is available on our website at http://ir.blackstone.com under “Corporate Governance.”

Communications to the Board of Directors

The

non-management

members of our board of directors meet at least quarterly. The presiding director at these

non-management

board member meetings is Mr. Parrett. All interested parties, including any employee or stockholder, may send communications to the

non-management

members of our board of directors by writing to: Blackstone Inc., Attn: Audit Committee, 345 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10154.

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