Blackstone Bolsters $250B Wealth Unit with Key Leadership Appointments
Blackstone has made three appointments to key firm-wide roles and created two new functions aimed at improving client engagement and capital-raising efforts.
Farhad Karim has been named global COO of Private Wealth Solutions (PWS), Blackstone’s platform offering financial advisors access to institutional-grade alternative investments, including real estate, credit, private equity and infrastructure. Karim will oversee PWS’s daily operations and spearhead its product and regional expansion. PWS manages more than $250 billion across the private wealth channel globally.
Karim currently is chairman and COO of Blackstone Europe, as well as general counsel of Blackstone Real Estate. Prior to joining Blackstone, he spent more than a decade at law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, where he was a partner.
“Farhad is a long-serving, proven Blackstone leader who played a pivotal role in building and scaling our real estate business, creating perpetual products and growing our business internationally,” Joan Solotar, Blackstone’s global head of PWS, said. “He will be a tremendous asset as we continue to expand how we serve individual investors around the world.”
Chris Sullivan will step into the role of head of sponsor coverage, another new job function, focusing on delivering multi-asset class solutions to private equity sponsors across Blackstone’s debt and equity strategies. Sullivan joined Blackstone in 2021 and previously led private credit sponsor relationships. He has over 20 years of experience at Barclays.
“Over the last 10-plus years, I’ve seen first-hand the remarkable growth of PWS,” said Karim. “I couldn’t be more excited to partner with Joan and the team as we continue to scale the business and help advisors unlock access to private markets for their clients.”
Adam Lane will join Blackstone as head of consultant relations, managing enterprise-level consultant relationships and supporting the firm’s private capital group. Lane brings nearly two decades of experience from Goldman Sachs Asset Management, where he was a partner and global head of wealth management alternatives.