James Socas is a Managing Director of The Blackstone Group, a publicly-traded alternative asset management firm with over $640 billion in capital under management, based in New York.  

Diversity and inclusion are critically important to Blackstone’s culture, based on the firm’s core belief that a diversity of viewpoints and experiences make us better investors. Blackstone is recruiting diverse talent by widening the funnel of applicants and the number of schools we recruit from, supporting student entrepreneurs through Blackstone’s LaunchPad program, and providing tailored development opportunities for our employees through mentorship programs and engagement in our affinity networks. 

Currently, one-third of Blackstone’s leadership team is diverse. 44% of Blackstone’s 2020 U.S. analyst entry-level class is racially diverse, and 45% of Blackstone’s 2020 global analyst class is female. The scale of our investments also allows us to drive value creation and have a massive impact within our portfolio companies; 50% of our primary businesses have a diverse professional as one of their top two leaders. 
 
James is the grandson of Latino immigrants and was born in the Bronx. He graduated from the University of Virginia and the Harvard Business School and is a member of the New America Alliance (NAA).  

To contact the firm, please visit www.blackstone.com