Jonathan Pollack, the global head of Blackstone‘s structured finance group, this week left the firm to take on a new role as president of Miami-based investment management company Starwood Capital Group.
Pollack, who will officially come on board at Starwood in 2025, will be joining the firm at a time when alternative lenders are expected to be able to significantly increase their market share as banks seek to scale back their commercial real estate lending and regulatory pressures – including the implementation of Basel III – come into play over the next few years.
“Jonathan’s background is global, and he will join all of Starwood’s committees, including its executive, investment, disposition and operating committees, which he is expected to lead,” said Barry Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital, in a statement.
Sternlicht added that Pollack is expected to lead the company with his strong base of relationships and track record in the industry.
At Blackstone, Pollack headed the New York-based firm’s real estate credit group since 2016. In that role, he oversaw the organization’s loan originations and investment in commercial and residential real estate securities on behalf of funds, real estate investment trusts and insurance capital.
As a leading lender and investor in commercial real estate loans, mortgages and a range of securities, Blackstone Real Estate Credit has $84 billion in assets under management. In December 2023, a Blackstone-led venture acquired a $16.8 billion portfolio of Signature Bank’s commercial mortgages, which were auctioned by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation after the bank shut down during the banking sector crisis induced by the fall of Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023.
Prior to joining Blackstone in 2015, Pollack was the global head of commercial real estate at Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank. He worked at the investment bank for 16 years in New York and London, helping establish the firm as one of the top commercial mortgage-backed securities issuers following the global financial crisis in 2008. Pollack also built Deutsche Bank’s European commercial real estate business as the head of capital markets.
Jeffrey Dishner, president and chief operating officer of Starwood Capital, will remain in the role until Pollack joins the firm. Dishner will take the position of vice-chairman and head of strategy and business development by then.
Photograph: Keith Barraclough
If you do not receive this within five minutes, please try to sign in again. If the problem persists, please email: 
