Jonathan Gray

Jonathan D. Gray is an American billionaire and the president and chief operating officer of Blackstone Group, a New York-based asset management firm. He also serves as chairman of Hilton Worldwide.

• Jonathan Gray started at asset manager Blackstone Group fresh out of college in 1992 and later rose to head the firm’s vaunted real estate group.
• Under Gray, Blackstone’s real estate investments became one of its most valuable portfolios, with $140 billion in assets.
• He orchestrated the $26 billion buyout of Hilton hotels in 2007 then took it public again in 2013; the IPO was then the biggest ever for a hotel firm.
• In February 2018, Gray was named the firm’s COO and president; he’s considered a potential successor to cofounder and CEO Steve Schwarzman.
• Gray, whose sister-in-law died of ovarian cancer at age 44, has given over $100 million to BRCA- related cancer research.
• He got his start working as a bus boy at his mother’s catering company at age 14.