Friday, September 19, 2008

Blackstone taps Harvard’s Light for board seat

The Blackstone Group LP reports that Harvard Business School dean Jay Light has joined the firm’s board of directors. New York-based Blackstone (NYSE: BX) is one of the largest private equity firms in the world.

Light joined the HBS faculty in 1970 and has taught thousands of students in Harvard’s MBA and doctoral programs, and in various executive programs for CFOs and investment managers. Light also co-authored “The Financial System” with W.L. White, firm officials said. As senior associate dean and director of planning and development at HBS, Light led the school’s strategic planning efforts and helped shape new educational and research program initiatives.

Blackstone co-founder CEO Stephen Schwarzman said he met Light in 1970 when Light taught decision theory at HBS and Schwarzman was one of Light’s first-year students. Light joins three other independent directors on the Blackstone board: Richard Jenrette, former prime minister of Canada Brian Mulroney and William Parrett.

The Blackstone Group, founded in 1985, employs more than 1,000 workers. Last year, the firm opened an office in Boston to serve technology companies. It recruited former Morgan Stanley & Co. investment banker Christopher Pasko to manage — from Boston — the technology portion of Blackstone’s corporate advisory group, advising tech companies on mergers and acquisitions.

At the time, industry insiders said the move by Blackstone underscored the heightened interest by large private equity firms in a more mature technology sector. Observers also said it illustrated the need for such firms to diversify investments.