60: Joan Solotar, Global Head of Blackstone’s $192 Billion Private Wealth Solutions Business

Sign up to our newsletter for more in-depth insights | Follow us on LinkedIn In this episode, we’re in discussion with the Global Head of the Blackstone’s $192 billion Private Wealth Solutions business, Joan Solotar. Joan has thrice been recognised in Barron’s as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance, and after a background in equity research covering financial services, she joined Blackstone in 2007.   She starts by describing Blackstone’s growth to oversee approximately $880 billion in alternative assets, before explaining their private wealth solutions business. She discusses their drive to “democratise alternatives”, their client base, geographical reach and why they believe we are very early in the adoption of these assets in portfolios. She then breaks down the components of alternatives, with a dive into their real estate expertise, the credit portfolios which have disintermediated portions of bank lending, as well as discussing hedge funds and P.E. She discusses the liquidity trade-offs, why they have developed Blackstone University for clients, before offering some terrific general advice (especially to fathers with daughters!).