John Z. Kukral

John Z. Kukral, President and Chief Executive Officer of Northwood Investors LLC, has been an active real estate investor for over 41 years. Mr. Kukral serves as the Chairman of the Investment Committee and approves all commitments by the firm. During his career, Mr. Kukral has been involved in over $43 billion of real estate transactions worldwide ranging from office buildings to shopping centers and hotels to residential assets.

Mr. Kukral started his career at JMB Realty Corporation in 1982 and, prior to founding Northwood in 2006, he was most recently (1994 to 2005) with Blackstone Real Estate Advisors where he served as President and CEO from 2002 until his departure in 2005. During his tenure, Blackstone Real Estate Advisors grew to become one of the largest and most successful real estate managers globally. He served as a Senior Managing Director of The Blackstone Group from 1997 through 2005 and was a member of the firm’s Executive Committee from 2000 through 2005.

As a Co-Head, and then as President and CEO of the group, Mr. Kukral was responsible for overseeing all investment activities of Blackstone’s real estate funds including: (i) the completion of over $33 billion of real estate acquisitions and the related financings, restructurings, operations and sales; (ii) the creation of five real estate investment partnerships with approximately $5.8 billion in discretionary investment capital; and (iii) the day-to-day management of Blackstone’s 70-person professional, financial reporting, and support staff. In this capacity, Mr. Kukral worked closely with Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman and CEO of The Blackstone Group and John G. Schreiber, Partner and Founder of Blackstone Real Estate Advisors.

During Mr. Kukral’s tenure at Blackstone, the BREP Funds invested approximately $5.8 billion of equity capital in over 160 separate transactions, achieving a Gross Levered IRR of 37% and a 2.2x multiple on invested capital, in each case with respect to realized and partially realized investments of the BREP Funds as of the time of Mr. Kukral’s departure from Blackstone on December 31, 2005. Of the approximately $3.5 billion invested in realized transactions during Mr. Kukral’s tenure, he incurred only $40 million of losses, representing 1% of invested capital. Blackstone’s historical investment performance of the BREP Funds during Mr. Kukral’s tenure is summarized at the end of the document.

Mr. Kukral received his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University, where he currently serves as a trustee on the school’s board, and he received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.