A.J. Agarwal has been a director and the President of the Company since December 2015. He is a Senior Managing Director in Blackstone Real Estate and leads Blackstone’s U.S. Core+ real estate business. Prior to launching and leading Blackstone’s Core+ real estate business in 2014, Mr. Agarwal was co-head of U.S. Acquisitions and oversaw more than $15 billion of equity commitments and $50 billion of transactions across all real estate asset classes. In addition to leading the Brixmor and Extended Stay Hotels IPOs, he was directly involved with and led investments across all sectors, including Blackstone’s investment in malls through General Growth Properties, limited service hotels through Apple REIT 6 and Extended Stay Hotels, luxury hotels through Hotel del Coronado, shopping centers through Brixmor and multiple other grocery-anchored portfolios, and office buildings such as One Market Plaza in San Francisco. Based in New York, Mr. Agarwal joined Blackstone in 1992 and is a member of the Blackstone Real Estate Investment Committee. Mr. Agarwal graduated from Princeton University, where he graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and received his MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.