Blackstone taps former Lazard leader Jennifer Abate to head RIA wealth unit

Blackstone is taking another step into the retail space as it appoints an industry veteran to head up a new RIA-focused division within its private wealth business.

On Monday, the alternative investment giant announced it has tapped Jennifer Abate to lead its registered investment advisor strategy, continuing the firm’s expansion into the high-net-worth wealth management market.

Abate joins as senior managing director and head of the RIA channel, a new leadership role within Blackstone Private Wealth, which currently oversees $270 billion in assets under management.

Based in New York, she will direct the unit’s growth strategy and manage sales and home office relationships across several key cities, including Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco.

Abate previously spent more than 30 years at Lazard Asset Management, most recently serving as managing director and head of its Financial Institutions Group, a unit focused on institutional intermediary relationships.

Abate's appointment comes several months after Blackstone brought other veterans to strengthen the leadership at its Private Wealth Solutions business. In December, it appointed Farhad Karim as chief operating officer for the division, which at the time included over 300 professionals globally. It also recruited Chris Sullivan, who now leads sponsor coverage, and Adam Lane, who oversees consultant relations. Both executives bring extensive experience from major banks and wealth firms.

Her hiring also follows Blackstone's recent string of efforts to help widen private markets access for individual investors and financial advisors. Just last week, it launched the Blackstone Private Multi-Asset Credit and Income Fund, or BMACX, a private interval fund designed to serve the RIA market.

BMACX offers exposure across a range of credit strategies, including private corporate credit, real estate and structured credit, and liquid credit, with daily subscriptions, quarterly liquidity, and immediate capital deployment. The fund seeks to provide monthly income distributions while managing risk.

“We believe this multi-strategy approach positions investors to take advantage of attractive relative value, particularly in dynamic market environments,” Blackstone said in its announcement last Thursday.

Before that, there was the April announcement of a three-way partnership between Blackstone, Vanguard, and Wellington Management to develop multi-asset solutions tailored for retail investment portfolios. While product details are still pending, the partnership intends to streamline diversified portfolio construction using private market components.

The firm also reported it has raised more than $10 billion in its private equity strategies fund designed for individual investors, with hopes to develop new alternative investing tools for the intermediary channel.