BREIT 2018 Proxy Statement

PROPOSAL 1 — ELECTION OF DIRECTORS There are currently seven members of the Board of Directors. On March 14, 2018, the Board of Directors, upon recommendation of its Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, unanimously nominated the seven directors listed below for re-election to the Board of Directors at the Annual Meeting. All of the nominees are willing to serve as directors but, if any of them should decline or be unable to act as a director, the individuals designated in the proxy cards as proxies will exercise the discretionary authority provided to vote for the election of such substitute nominee selected by our Board of Directors, unless the Board of Directors acts to reduce the size of the Board of Directors in accordance with our Bylaws. The Board of Directors has no reason to believe that any such nominees will be unable or unwilling to serve. Nominees for Election as Directors The names, ages as of March 20, 2018 and existing positions with us of the nominees are as follows: Name Age Position Frank Cohen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer A.J. Agarwal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 President and Director Wesley LePatner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Chief Operating Officer and Director Raymond J. Beier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Independent Director Richard I. Gilchrist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Independent Director Field Griffith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Independent Director Edward Lewis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Independent Director The name, principal occupation for the last five years, selected biographical information and the period of service as our director of each of the nominees are set forth below. Frank Cohen has been Chairman of the Board and the Chief Executive Officer of the Company since July 2016. He is a Senior Managing Director with Blackstone based in New York. He is the Global Head of Core+ Real Estate and a member of the Blackstone Real Estate Investment Committee. Since joining Blackstone in 1996, Mr. Cohen has been involved in over $100 billion of real estate transactions. He has been involved with many of Blackstone’s notable investments, including Equity Office Properties, CarrAmerica Realty, Trizec Properties and IndCor Properties. Mr. Cohen received a BA from Northwestern University, where he graduated from the Honors Program in Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences, with a double major in political science. He serves as a director for several private Blackstone portfolio companies, including Equity Office Properties, and served as a director for Hudson Pacific Properties (NYSE: HPP) from 2015 until 2017. He is also a Trustee of the Urban Land Institute and on the WCAS Board of Visitors at Northwestern University. Mr. Cohen is a valuable member of our board of directors because of his vast real estate experience, his history with Blackstone and his leadership of Blackstone Real Estate’s global Core+ business. A.J. Agarwal has been a director and the President of the Company since December 2015. He is a Senior Managing Director in Blackstone Real Estate and leads Blackstone’s U.S. Core+ real estate business. Prior to launching and leading Blackstone’s Core+ real estate business in 2014, Mr. Agarwal was co-head of U.S. Acquisitions for Blackstone’s opportunistic real estate business and oversaw more than $15 billion of equity commitments and $50 billion of transactions across all real estate asset classes. In addition to leading the Brixmor and Extended Stay Hotels IPOs, he was directly involved with and led investments across all sectors, including Blackstone’s investment in malls through General Growth Properties, limited service hotels through Apple REIT 6 and Extended Stay Hotels, luxury hotels through Hotel del Coronado, shopping centers through Brixmor and multiple other grocery-anchored portfolios, and office buildings such as One Market Plaza in San Francisco. Based in New York, Mr. Agarwal joined Blackstone in 1992 and is a member of Blackstone’s Real Estate Investment Committee. Mr. Agarwal has served as a board member, President and Senior Managing Director at BRE Select Hotels Corp since May 2013. Mr. Agarwal graduated from Princeton University, where 6