Former Blackstone, Deutsche Bank Exec Jonathan Pollack Is Starwood Capital's New President
Jonathan Pollack, a real estate veteran who has held executive roles at some of the biggest names in the business, is joining Starwood Capital as president.
Pollack will take the reins from President and Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Dishner in early 2025, Starwood said in a news release. Dishner will then move on to serve as vice chairman and head of strategy and business development.
Pollack joined Blackstone in 2015 as the global head of Blackstone Real Estate Credit, originating loans and leading investment ventures. Pollack served on the Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategy team, which manages about $84B in assets and launched a $17B venture to acquire Signature Bank's loans from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in December. In the year ending March 15, 2023, BREDS earned $6B from originations and debt securities, Commercial Observer reported.
In September, Blackstone merged its assets-based finance group, which Pollack led, with corporate credit and insurance. The newly dubbed Blackstone Credit and Insurance is meant to streamline and accelerate growth.
During his tenure, Pollack served on Blackstone's Operating, Real Estate Executive and Investment committees. Pollack will join Starwood's Executive, Investment, Disposition and Operating committees, Starwood CEO Barry Sternlicht said.
Before Blackstone, Pollack spent 16 years at Deutsche Bank and served as global head of commercial real estate.
“We are delighted for Jonathan Pollack and wish him much success in his new role at Starwood Capital. We are not replacing Jonathan's role," a Blackstone spokesperson said.
Starwood Capital manages about $115B in assets and in January launched Starwood Digital Ventures, an $8B fund dedicated to data center investment. Starwood secured an $850M stake in an Irish data center developer earlier this month.
Starwood Capital's real estate arm, Starwood Property Trust, reported a net income of $339.2M for 2023, beating expectations with revenues of more than $2B. Despite that, the firm was well off its earnings in 2022, during which it netted $872M in income.
UPDATE, FEB. 29, 3:19 P.M. ET: This story has been updated with a comment from a Blackstone spokesperson.
