Joseph Baratta is an American businessman who is Global Head of Private Equity at the asset management firm Blackstone.

Early life

Born in

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

, Baratta graduated from Jesuit High School in the Sacramento area in 1989, then

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

, from which he graduated magna cum laude in 1993.

Career

Baratta joined Blackstone in 1998. He moved to London in 2001 to establish Blackstone’s private equity business in Europe. In 2004 he became a Senior Managing Director of the firm and Head of European Private Equity in 2010. In July 2012 he was named the Global Head of Private Equity. He has led some of Blackstone’s most successful investments like

SeaWorld SeaWorld is an American theme park chain with headquarters in Orlando, Florida. It is a proprietor of marine mammal parks, oceanariums, animal theme parks, and rehabilitation centers owned by United Parks & Resorts. The parks host shows st ...

Parks and Entertainment,

Merlin Entertainments Merlin Entertainments Limited is a global entertainment company based in London, England, which operates a number of theme park resorts and other visitor attractions. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until November 2019, when it was ...

(the owner of the

Legoland Legoland (, trademarked in uppercase as LEGOLAND) is a chain of family amusement parks focusing on the Lego building toy brand. They are owned and operated by the British theme park company Merlin Entertainments, which shares a common owner ...

theme parks, the

London Eye The London Eye, originally the Millennium Wheel, is a cantilevered observation wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. It is the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel, and the most popular paid Tourist attractions in the ...

Madame Tussauds Madame Tussauds (, ) is a wax museum founded in London in 1835 by the French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud. One of the early main attractions was the Chamber of Horrors, which appeared in advertising in 1843. In 1883, the restricted space of ...

and many other well known visitor attractions),

Center Parcs Center Parcs may refer to: * Center Parcs UK and Ireland, a short-break holiday company based in the United Kingdom and Ireland * Center Parcs Europe Center Parcs Europe N.V. (formerly Center Parcs) is a European network of holiday villages t ...

and

Southern Cross CRUX is a lightweight x86-64 Linux distribution targeted at experienced Linux users and delivered by a tar.gz-based package system with BSD-style initscripts. It is not based on any other Linux distribution. It also utilizes a ports system to ...

. Before joining Blackstone, Baratta worked for investment firms Tinicum Incorporated and McCown De Leeuw & Company. He also worked in the mergers and acquisitions department at

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

. In 2012, Baratta was listed in

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

“Top 50 Dealmakers” list. Baratta is a Director of Ancestry, Merlin Entertainments and SESAC. He has previously served as a member or observer on the boards of ICS Group, Tragus Group, Center Parcs, Universal Orlando, Nycomed Holding ApS, Spirit Group, Southern Cross, and Refinitiv. He is on the Advisory Board of the

McDonough School of Business The Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business, commonly shorted to the McDonough School of Business and abbreviated as the MSB, is the business school of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1957, it grants both undergraduate and ...

. He also sits on the Board of Directors at Georgetown University, his alma mater.

Philanthropy

Baratta is on the board of Year Up, an organization committed to closing the opportunity divide by ensuring that young adults gain the skills, experiences, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through careers and higher education.

References

1971 births Living people Businesspeople from Sacramento, California Georgetown University alumni Businesspeople from New York (state) Jesuit High School (Carmichael) alumni {{Authority control