Melissa Pianko — Managing Director of Real Estate Group at The Blackstone Group

Ms. Melissa Pianko has been Managing Director of the Real Estate Group at The Blackstone Group L.P. since July 29, 2016. Ms. Pianko is involved in the asset management of Blackstone's US residential investments. Before joining Blackstone in 2016, she served as an Executive Vice President of Development for Gotham Organization, Inc. Since joining Gotham Organization, Inc in 2005, she has been responsible for identifying future developments, securing financing, programmatic modeling and project execution through to completion. Well versed in both the public and private finance sectors, Ms. Pianko is the development manager for a 1 million square foot mixed-use project on Manhattan's far west side that involves a host of municipal agencies. In the midst of the country's worst credit crisis, she was key to sourcing and closing both senior and mezzanine loans for a 250,000 square foot mixed-use development on 72nd Street and Broadway. Prior to Gotham, Ms. Pianko started her career at Goldman Sachs, first in Municipal Finance and then in Real Estate Investment Banking. While at Goldman, she consulted to the Mayor's office regarding the economic feasibility of rebuilding Ground Zero. She has been a Director of D. Carnegie & Co AB (publ) since May 12, 2017. She is on the Boards of Directors of the JCC in Manhattan and the 42nd Street Development Corp. She serves on the Board of Advisors to NYU's Furman Center Real Estate and Urban Policy and was named a Real Estate Weekly Rising Star in February 2007 and a 2009 Top Woman in New York City Real Estate by NY Residential Magazine. She is a member of the Urban Land Institute and The Real Estate Board of New York. Ms. Pianko received a BA from Columbia University and an MBA from Stanford University.