Blackstone Announces Appointment of Jeffrey B. Kindler, Former Chairman and CEO of Pfizer, as Senior Advisor

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blackstone (NYSE:BX) today announced the appointment of Jeffrey B. Kindler, former Chairman and CEO of Pfizer and current CEO of Centrexion Therapeutics, as a Senior Advisor. Mr. Kindler will bring his deep management experience and wide-ranging expertise in the healthcare sector to advise across the firm’s businesses and portfolio companies, with a focus on Blackstone Tactical Opportunities (Tac Opps) and Blackstone Growth (BXG).

David Blitzer, Global Head of Blackstone Tactical Opportunities, said: “We’re excited to welcome such an experienced and respected leader of Jeff’s caliber as an advisor to Blackstone. We look forward to benefitting from his deep insights in evaluating new investment opportunities and helping our portfolio companies reach their full growth potential.”

Jon Korngold, Global Head of Blackstone Growth, said: “We’re thrilled to have Jeff join Blackstone as a Senior Advisor. Healthcare is a core area of focus for Blackstone Growth and Jeff’s perspective will be invaluable to our investment professionals and to our portfolio management teams in the years to come.”

Mr. Kindler was formerly the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer, the world's largest research-based biopharmaceutical company, which he joined in January 2002. He joined Pfizer as Executive Vice President and General Counsel and, prior to his appointment as CEO in July 2006, he served as a Vice Chairman of the Company. Prior to that, he also served in senior roles at the McDonald's Corporation and General Electric.

Mr. Kindler became CEO of Centrexion Corp., a biotechnology company based in Boston, Massachusetts, in 2013. He is an Operating Partner at Artis Ventures, and Global Chair of the GLG Institute. Mr. Kindler also serves on the boards of a number of public and privately held companies, including Perrigo, Precigen, PPD, and vTv Therapeutics. Mr. Kindler also serves as a board member for several civic, charitable, and educational institutions. He was formerly a member of President Obama's Management Advisory Board.

Mr. Kindler added: “I’m pleased to be joining the Blackstone team in this advisory role. I look forward to working with such innovative and talented individuals as the firm continues to invest in cutting-edge companies in the healthcare sector and beyond.”

Ram Jagannath, Global Head of Healthcare for Blackstone Growth and Tactical Opportunities, said: “Innovation and technology adoption in the healthcare sector continues to increase at a rapid pace, particularly across the outsourced services provided to biopharmaceutical companies. We’re fortunate to add Jeff, who I’ve been close with for a decade, to our team as we identify new opportunities in this and other healthcare subsectors, and to provide exceptional guidance as we scale our portfolio companies into global leaders.”

Tac Opps is Blackstone's opportunistic investment platform, investing globally across asset classes, industries and geographies, seeking to identify and execute on attractive, differentiated investment opportunities. BXG is the firm’s dedicated Growth Equity investing platform, which is focused on providing capital to companies seeking to manage the execution risks associated with high-growth environments.

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Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $564 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.