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In 1985, he and his partner founded Blackstone with $400,000 in capital and a single secretary. Since then, it has grown into the world's largest alternative asset manager with $190 billion under management.
Blackstone has five separate components: a private equity business with 72 portfolio companies and annual revenues of $117 billion; the world's largest and most successful real estate fund; the world's largest fund of funds business creating customized solutions for institutional investors; a credit-oriented alternative asset manager; and a sophisticated advisory practice.
Schwarzman also is a well-known philanthropist. In 2008, he donated $100 million to the New York Public Library. The library's iconic, lion-guarded central building now bears his name. In 2007, he created an endowment to enable 200 disadvantaged children to attend Catholic school.
The Blackstone Foundation, started in 2007 after the company went public, is a leader in creating programs that foster job growth and nurture start-up companies. The foundation's LaunchPad program is working with students from six universities to encourage entrepreneurship.
Schwarzman holds a bachelor's degree from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He began his career at Lehman Brothers, where he was elected managing director in 1978. He has served as an adjunct professor at the Yale School of Management and on the Harvard Business School Board of Dean's Advisors.
Schwarzman is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Business Council. He is on the board of the New York Public Library; a trustee of the Frick Collection in New York City, and board chairman emeritus of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 2007, he was awarded the Legion d'honneur of France and was promoted to the rank of Officier in 2010.
Schwarzman and his wife, Christine, live in New York City.
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Brinker is regarded as the leader of the global breast cancer movement. Today, the organization is the world's largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists, and it has invested more than $2 billion in breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment.
Brinker's journey began with a simple promise to her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would do everything possible to end the shame, pain, fear and hopelessness caused by this disease. She founded the organization in 1982 in memory of her sister, who died from breast cancer at the age of 36. At that time, Brinker faced an uphill battle: newspapers balked at printing the words "breast cancer"; no one talked openly about the disease; few support groups existed; and treatment options and funding for research were limited. Since then, Susan G. Komen for the Cure's advocacy for breast cancer survivors has led to legislation and greater government research funding.
The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, which she founded in 1983, is now the largest and most successful education and fundraising event of its kind.
In 2010, Brinker released her New York Times best-selling memoir, "Promise Me," the inspirational story of her transformation from bereaved sister to a leader in the international movement to end breast cancer.
In addition, she has held several international positions. A graduate of the University of Illinois, Brinker served as U.S. ambassador to Hungary from 2001-03, and she served as U.S. chief of protocol from 2007-09. She was named Goodwill Ambassador for Cancer Control for the United Nations' World Health Organization in 2009. That same year, President Barack Obama honored her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
Brinker has received numerous accolades for her work. She was named one of TIME Magazine's "100 Most Influential People" in 2008; she received the Centers for Disease Control's Champions of Excellence Award; and this year, she became a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.