Chair of the Board of Directors, Global Head of BREDS and Senior Managing Director

Chief Executive Officer of Blackstone Mortgage Trust

Former Vice Chairman, Centerline Capital Group

Former Managing Director, Real Estate and Alternative Investments, General Motors Asset Management

Founder & CEO, Xylem Projects

Former Global Chairman of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies

Partner, Dechert LLP

Group Chief Strategy Officer, Accor

Earle W. Kazis and Benjamin Schore Professor of Real Estate and Director, Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate and the MBA Real Estate Program, Columbia Business School

Katie Keenan is Chief Executive Officer of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, a publicly-traded commercial mortgage REIT managed by Blackstone, and a Senior Managing Director in the Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies group. Ms. Keenan is a member of the Real Estate Investment Committee for both Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies and Blackstone Real Estate Advisors, and is based in New York.

Before joining Blackstone in 2012, Ms. Keenan held positions at G2 Investment Group, Lubert-Adler Real Estate Funds and in the Real Estate Investment Banking Group at Lehman Brothers.

Ms. Keenan graduated cum laude with an A.B. in History from Harvard College. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Getting Out and Staying Out, sits on the Advisory Board of NYPEN Real Estate and is a member of WX New York Women Executives in Real Estate.

Anthony F. Marone, Jr. serves as our Chief Financial Officer and has previously served as our Principal Accounting Officer since 2013 and as our Controller since 2008. Mr. Marone is also a Managing Director and the Chief Financial Officer of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies, which encompasses all of Blackstone’s commercial real estate debt investment vehicles, including the Company. Before joining Blackstone in 2012, Mr. Marone was a Vice President and Controller of Capital Trust, Inc. whose wholly owned manager was acquired by Blackstone in December 2012. Previously, Mr. Marone worked in the Real Estate Assurance practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, where he provided audit and other assurance services to various real estate companies. Mr. Marone received a B.S. and an M.B.A. from Rutgers University and is a Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Global Management Accountant.

Austin Peña is a Managing Director in the Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies Group. Mr. Peña is involved in sourcing, underwriting and structuring commercial real estate debt investments across all asset types.

Prior to joining Blackstone in 2013, Mr. Peña worked at Barclays in the Real Estate Investment Banking Group, where he was involved in advising REITs and other real estate companies on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and capital markets transactions. Prior to joining Barclays, Mr. Peña worked in a similar capacity at Lehman Brothers.

Mr. Peña graduated magna cum laude with a BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Mathias is a managing director and Co-Chief Compliance Officer of Blackstone Real Estate and Chief Compliance Officer of BXMT Advisors L.L.C. Prior to joining Blackstone in 2016, Mr. Mathias was an associate in the Private Funds group at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where he advised and represented some of the largest and most well-known sponsors of private equity and hedge funds. Mr. Mathias received a BBA in Marketing and Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a J.D. from New York University Law School, where he graduated cum laude.

Robert Sitman serves as our Head of Loan Asset Management. He is also a Managing Director and Global Head of Asset Management of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies, which encompasses all of Blackstone’s commercial real estate debt investment vehicles, including the Company. Since joining Blackstone in 2014, Mr. Sitman has been involved in originating, structuring, executing and asset managing real estate debt investments across all asset types and geographies. Prior to joining Blackstone, Mr. Sitman was an associate in the Real Estate group of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, where he represented owners, developers, investors and lenders in commercial real estate transactions. Mr. Sitman received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School, where he graduated cum laude.

Timothy Hayes is a Principal in the Real Estate Debt Strategies Group and Vice President of Shareholder Relations for BXMT. Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Hayes worked as a sell-side equity analyst at BTIG and B. Riley FBR, covering the real estate and mortgage finance sectors. He previously was an analyst at Edmunds White Partners, a small-cap investment advisor. Mr. Hayes received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (B.S.B.A.) from the Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond.

Courtney Cheng has served as BXMT’s Vice President of Finance since January 2022. Since joining Blackstone in 2015, Ms. Cheng’s primary responsibility is overseeing the financial/portfolio reporting and accounting functions for BXMT. Prior to joining Blackstone in 2015, Ms. Cheng was a Senior Associate at KPMG in its real estate tax practice. Ms. Cheng received a B.S. in Finance and Accountancy, in addition to a M.S. in Accountancy from New York University and is a Certified Public Accountant.