BREIT 2018 Proxy Statement

he graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and received his MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Mr. Agarwal is a valuable member of our board of directors because of his vast real estate and investment experience, his history with Blackstone and his oversight of Blackstone Real Estate’s U.S. Core+ business. Wesley LePatner has been a director and the Chief Operating Officer of the Company since July 2016. She is a Senior Managing Director with Blackstone Real Estate and serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the global Core+ business. Before joining Blackstone in 2014, Mrs. LePatner spent 11 years at Goldman Sachs, most recently as a Managing Director and the Chief Operating Officer of the Real Estate Investment Group within the Asset Management Division. Prior to that, Mrs. LePatner worked in Goldman Sachs’ Real Estate Principal Investment Area and the Real Estate Investment Banking Group. Mrs. LePatner received a BA from Yale University, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Mrs. LePatner is a valuable member of our board of directors because of her extensive real estate operations experience and her history with Blackstone. Raymond J. Beier has been a director of the Company since July 2016. He was a partner in the financial services practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, having been with the firm from 1993 to 2016. Mr. Beier has extensive experience in financial reporting matters relating to mergers, acquisitions and corporate finance transactions. Mr. Beier served in a variety of roles at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, including as a member of the National Office leadership team responsible for its strategic policy and analysis group and as a senior partner in the transaction services group. Mr. Beier also served on various PricewaterhouseCoopers committees, including the Global Private Equity Committee and the Extended Leadership Committee. He received a BS in Accounting, summa cum laude, from the University of Minnesota—Duluth and an MBA from the University of Minnesota— Carlson School of Management. Mr. Beier is a valuable member of our board of directors because of his extensive experience with accounting and financial reporting matters. Richard I. Gilchrist has been a director of the Company since July 2016. He currently is Senior Advisor responsible for acquisitions and investments at The Irvine Company, a privately-held real estate investment company, a position he has held since July 2011 after having served as President of its Investment Properties Group from 2006 to 2011. He served as President and Co-Chief Executive Officer and on the board of directors of Maguire Properties, Inc., a publicly-held REIT, from 2002 to 2006. From 1997 to 2001, Mr. Gilchrist served as Chief Executive Officer, President and member of the board of directors of Commonwealth Atlantic Properties, a privately-held REIT. From 1995 to 1997, he served as the Co-Chairman and Managing Partner of CommonWealth Partners, a real estate company he co-founded. He currently serves on the board of directors of three publicly-traded REITs, Spirit Realty Capital, Inc. (NYSE: SRC), Ventas, Inc. (NYSE: VTR) and TIER REIT, Inc. (NYSE: TIER). He serves as lead independent director and on the compensation committee of Spirit Realty Capital, Inc., on the compensation and nominating committees of Ventas, Inc. and on the compensation and nominating committees and as Chairman of the board of TIER REIT, Inc. He has previously served as a director of BioMed Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: BMR) from 2007 to 2014 and Nationwide Health Properties, Inc. from 2008 to 2011. Mr. Gilchrist is a member of the Whittier College Board of Trustees and served as its Chairman from 2003 to 2011 where he received his BA in 1968. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the University of California, Los Angeles Law School, where he earned a JD in 1971. Mr. Gilchrist’s extensive experience in the real estate industry, including having served as an executive officer of several REITs, his knowledge and experience in internal and external risk oversight, and his experience as a member of the board of directors of three public REITs gives him unique insight into our investment activities. Field Griffith has been a director of the Company since July 2016. He also currently serves as a non-executive director on the board of The Forest Company Limited and as a director for the Prime Property Fund LLC and the board of Tedford Housing, Inc., a non-profit entity focused on homelessness-related services. Mr. Griffith was most recently employed full time as the Director of Real Assets Investments for the Virginia Retirement System from 2004 to 2016 where he was responsible for managing all aspects of the System’s global real estate, infrastructure and natural resource portfolios. The global real estate portfolio consisted of publicly- and privately-traded equity and debt investments in the form of separate accounts, joint ventures, closed-end 7