Tony James is an internationally recognized investor and leader in global finance, having served for many years as president and chief operating officer of The Blackstone Group, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, which has approximately $1 trillion in assets under management. In that role, he oversaw businesses and operations in all major countries throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. He will discuss the challenges, opportunities and direction of global finance and business in 2026 and beyond in a conversation with DMA member John Craft.
Tony is currently chairman of Jefferson River Capital, a private investment group. He also serves as chairman of the board of Costco Wholesale Corporation, the world’s third largest retailer, co-chair of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, chairman of the finance committee of Mount Sinai Hospital System, and chairman and co-founder of Ed Advancement, which provides critical infrastructure support to historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) and serves two-thirds of all HBCU students. Tony was appointed by President Joe Biden to be a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, has served as commissioner of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and continues to serve on numerous other charitable, corporate, and public sector boards. He co-authored Rescuing Retirement, a book proposing a solution to America’s looming retirement crisis, and has published numerous articles in The Wall Street Journal and other major publications. He graduated from Harvard College magna cum laude as a John Harvard Scholar and from Harvard Business School with an M.B.A. as a Baker Scholar.
John Craft graduated from Princeton University and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he received an M.B.A. degree. e spent 20 years in the institutional fixed income business with Bankers Trust and Merrill Lynch and subsequently co-founded a technology start-up that developed internet-based applications for the bond market. John arranged the presentation.