MiB: Kathleen McCarthy, Global Co-Head of Blackstone Real Estate

This week we are talking with Kathleen McCarthythe global co-director of Blackstone Real Estate. The world’s largest owner of commercial real estate, Blackstone Real Estate has a $565 billion portfolio and $319 billion in investment capital under management. McCarthy previously served as Chief Operating Officer of Blackstone; before joining Blackstone in 2010, she worked at Goldman Sachs.

We discuss his experiences at Goldman Sachs during the financial crisis and real estate implosion. There was a missed opportunity that colored his perspective on future real estate investments. The big takeaway: Properties must be strong enough with the proper capital structure to withstand market downturns and even the occasional extraordinary disaster.

His attraction to Blackstone after the GFC was due to these factors: the company had a lot of “dry powder, it was well placed to act opportunistically, and it benefited from its own internal data creation and analysis.

To note: We recorded this in November — before the new on BREIT broken; if you are curious about it, check out my answer.

A list of his favorite books is here; A transcript of our conversation is available here Tuesday.

You can stream and download our full conversation, including podcast extras at itunes, Spotify, embroiderer, Google, Youtube, Bloomberg. All of our previous podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here.

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business next week with Robert Koengisbergerfounder and CIO of Gramercy Fund Management, which manages $5.2 billion in distressed emerging debt. Gramercy’s President is (previous Guest Eb) Mohamed A. El-Erian; the company is a sponsor of the Greenwich Economic Forum.