Blackstone Hires Global Head of ESG for Private Equity

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) today announced that Amisha Parekh has joined the firm as Global Head of ESG for Private Equity. Ms. Parekh will be a Managing Director sitting within the firm’s Portfolio Operations group to lead ESG diligence, policy development and strategy, and reporting for all businesses in our Private Equity reporting segment. Ms. Parekh’s hire represents Blackstone’s continued commitment to value creation through deepening ESG integration across the investment lifecycle and placing ESG at the core of its operational intervention and asset management strategy.

Joseph Baratta, Global Head of Private Equity, said: “Executing against our ESG efforts and creating positive impact across our portfolio is imperative to delivering value to our clients. Amisha will be a critical partner in these efforts and I’m thrilled to welcome her to the firm as we continue to build and operationalize an industry-leading ESG platform at scale.”

Jennifer Morgan, Global Head of Portfolio Operations, said: “I’m thrilled to welcome such strong talent to help us scale our efforts while bringing all of Blackstone’s resources to bear. I look forward to working with Amisha to help make our companies stronger and more sustainable for the long term.”

Amisha Parekh, Global Head of ESG for Private Equity, said: “I look forward to deploying Blackstone’s scale and expertise to help drive value for our investors by creating impact across our Private Equity portfolios. I’m impressed by Blackstone’s commitment to ESG integration across the firm and look forward to contributing to the growth of their ESG efforts.”

Ms. Parekh joins from Bloomberg, where she most recently led ESG data acquisition and curation efforts and was instrumental in launching Bloomberg’s sustainable finance product offering as Head of Sustainable Finance Product Incubation. Prior to Bloomberg, Ms. Parekh was a Senior Manager at Deloitte where she worked on corporate strategy projects and helped manufacturing, consumer goods, and retail clients develop sustainability strategies and improve operational performance. She is the co-author of High Performance Hospitality: Sustainable Hotel Case Studies and is an Adjunct Professor of Business Strategy for Sustainability at Glasgow Caledonian New York College.

She earned her MBA from the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, an MS in Environmental Policy and Behavior (also from the University of Michigan), and a BS in Computer Science from SUNY Binghamton.

Blackstone has made significant additions to its ESG team this year, adding five newly created senior positions in April across the U.S., Europe and Asia. The firm will continue to add new resources and capabilities within its business units and build out its corporate ESG structure.

Last year, the firm announced a goal to reduce carbon emissions by 15 percent across all new investments globally where we control energy usage within the first three years of ownership; as well as two diversity initiatives starting in the U.S. and Europe – a target of at least one-third diverse representation on portfolio company boards for new control investments plus a program to support creating diverse hiring and career mobility.

About Blackstone

Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $684 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.

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