A foundation established in memory of Wesley LePatner, the Blackstone real estate executive killed in a shooting in Manhattan last year, has set a goal of developing 1,000 leaders over the coming decades who will apply private-sector skills to nonprofit boards, community initiatives and philanthropic work.
Her husband, Evan LePatner, launched the Wesley Mittman LePatner Foundation on the first anniversary of her death, framing its mission around the combination of professional excellence, civic engagement and philanthropic impact that defined her own career.
LePatner spent more than a decade at Goldman Sachs before joining Blackstone in 2014, rising to global head of Core+ real estate and chief executive of the Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust. Alongside her corporate role, she chaired Blackstone’s Women’s Initiative and served on the boards of institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and UJA-Federation of New York, while raising two children.
The foundation's inaugural program, Wesley Leaders, is a 24-month leadership accelerator built around three pillars reflecting her own life: professional excellence, community engagement and philanthropic impact. It is designed to help participants deploy philanthropic capital more effectively, mentor emerging leaders, and strengthen civic institutions in cities across the country.
The foundation's 1,000-leader goal reflects an ambition to extend LePatner's approach to combining a demanding private-sector career with sustained civic and philanthropic commitment, rather than treating the two as separate pursuits, to a new generation of professionals.
