David S. Blitzer is a Senior Managing Director & Co-Chair of Blackstone’s Private Equity Group. Mr. Blitzer is currently based in New York, having established Blackstone’s corporate private equity investment efforts in Europe.
Since joining Blackstone in 1991, Mr. Blitzer has been involved in the execution of Blackstone’s investments in Spirit Group, SULO, Allied Waste, Aspen Insurance Holdings, Houghton Mifflin, Universal Orlando, Centerplate, Cadillac Fairview, Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation, Southern Cross, NHP, Orangina, and United Biscuits.
Mr. Blitzer serves as a Director of United Biscuits. Mr. Blitzer graduated magna cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Joseph P. Landy is a Co-President and a member of Executive Management Group at Warburg Pincus LLC. He has been engaged in all aspects of private equity investing at the firm since joining Warburg Pincus in 1985. Mr. Landy joined the firm in 1985 and works from the New York office. He is jointly responsible for the management of the firm, including the formulation of strategy, oversight of investment policy and decisions, leadership of the firm's executive management group, and the coordination of limited partner communications. Mr. Landy has focused on investments in information technology, communications applications, infrastructure, and structured investments. From September 2000 to January 2002, he served as an Executive Managing Director of the firm. Mr. Landy served as the President of the Venture Investors Association of New York and serves as a Director of several private and publicly held companies.
Mr. Landy is a Trustee of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute and of the Williamstown Art Conservation Center. He serves on the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America and is a frequent speaker at industry events concerning the many aspects of private equity and venture capital investing. Mr. Landy received an M.B.A. from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University and a B.S. degree in Economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Rauner joined GTCR in 1981. Bruce’s leadership role has been instrumental in many successful GTCR investments including Gensar, Polypore, CoreStaff, Answerthink, American Medical Labs and AppNet.
Mr. Rauner serves on the board of the Renaissance Schools Fund, Ravinia Music Festival and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority. He is a member of the President’s Councils for both Dartmouth College and Harvard Business School. Mr. Rauner is Chairman of the Education Committee of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago and past Chairman of the Chicago Public Education Fund. He was the principal donor for Chicago projects including the new Red Cross regional headquarters, a YMCA in the Little Village neighborhood, four new charter high schools on the near west side, and the Stanley C. Golder Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurial Finance at the University of Illinois. Mr. Rauner also works with the Nature Conservancy and Montana Land Reliance to preserve ranch land and wildlife habitat in Montana and received the Murie-Broome Award from The Wilderness Society for outstanding work in wilderness preservation.
He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Dartmouth College summa cum laude with highest distinction in Economics.
Gary Garrabrant is Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Equity International (EI). He provides strategic direction and oversees all of the Company’s activities and its investment portfolio. Mr. Garrabrant founded Equity International with Sam Zell in 1999.
Mr. Garrabrant has been the principal architect of Equity International, recognized as a leading investor and builder of world-class companies outside of the United States. Equity International is distinguished by a broad array of outstanding operating partners and industry-leading portfolio companies including Homex (NYSE:HXM), Gafisa (NYSE:GFA) and BR Malls (Bovespa:BRML3). Mr. Garrabrant is and has been a Director of numerous EI portfolio companies. He is the former Chairman of Gafisa and Vice Chairman of Homex.
From 1996 to 1999, Mr. Garrabrant was Executive Vice President of Equity Group Investments, LLC, the investment company founded and led by Mr. Zell, responsible for private investment and capital markets activities. During this time, Mr. Garrabrant was involved in the creation of Capital Trust (NYSE:CT), where he served as Vice Chairman and Director, and in the formation of Equity Office Properties Trust (NYSE:EOP). Previously, he co-founded Genesis Realty Capital Management and was a Managing Director in the real estate investment banking division of Chemical Bank and in a similar role with The Bankers Trust Company.
Mr. Garrabrant is a member of the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business Advisory Council and the Real Estate Advisory Board at Cambridge University. He conceived and established the Garrabrant International Internship Program at the Mendoza College of Business.
Mr. Garrabrant graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BBA in Finance and completed the Dartmouth Institute at Dartmouth College.