Blackstone’s Verdun Perry: ‘GPs are choosing to hold on to their best quality assets longer’

Blackstone’s Verdun Perry recommends increasing your aperture to find the very best talent?

“This isn’t about giving opportunities to a select group of people. It’s about trying to find the best talent and the best talent comes in all forms.”?

The secondaries market has grown over 100-fold in the 23 years since Blackstone’s Verdun Perry began working in it. PE Hub reporter Rafael Canton spoke with Perry about a wide range of topics, including why secondaries are so compelling in today’s market. He also provided insights on making the PE industry more inclusive, such as recruiting from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), including Perry’s alma mater, Morehouse College.?

Some observers say that the secondaries market has been successful in attracting talent from groups that are underrepresented. Do you agree?

The answer is yes, absolutely. If you look at when I started working in secondaries 23 years ago, even 15 years ago, the secondary market is attracting a lot more diverse talent, whether it be gender, racial or ethnic diversity.

But it doesn’t stop there. If you look at buyouts, venture, credit, growth, real estate, infrastructure, all those asset classes are attracting more diverse talent. I think the reason is many of the groups that run large-scale and small-scale private equity firms or private market firms have increased their aperture in terms of where they recruit from.

Let’s take Blackstone for instance. In 2015, we recruited from only nine universities. Today, it’s over 80 including multiple HBCUs, one of which I’m a proud graduate of, Morehouse College . What we’ve seen is a pivot or evolution in thinking. When you consider what I and other investors do, we search the entire globe to find the best opportunities for investments. Now, many of us are doing the same thing to find our talent.

Firms are looking at Morehouse College, Howard University, Spelman College, Villanova and Middlebury. This isn’t just about Harvard, Yale, Penn, Columbia and Stanford. Firms are going to schools they have not visited before and are finding new ways to recruit talent. If you are outstanding, and willing to put in the effort, why wouldn’t they bring you on to help build out their talent base?

While there is still work to do, there are fewer barriers to entry for diverse talent looking to enter the private equity industry than there were 10 years ago, and it’s positive for the overall market. This isn’t about giving opportunities to a select group of people. It’s about trying to find the best talent and the best talent comes in all forms.

What?advice do you have for PE firms that want to create a more inclusive and diverse workforce?

The first thing is to state your goal and communicate to the entire organization what you are hoping to achieve.

Second, ask the important questions. Where do we recruit from? Why aren’t we diverse today? Maybe it’s where we’re recruiting, or because we’re going back to the same places, or maybe we’re trying to replicate ourselves in a way that creates some blind spots.

Finally, firms might want to go out and get proximate to where diverse talent is. Increase your funnel and speak to those organizations focused on developing diverse talent or visit HBCUs. There’s an abundance of talent at HBCUs, but that talent may be unfamiliar with your firm or the opportunities within your firm.

You have to increase your aperture and look in places maybe you haven’t looked before to bring on talent you might have otherwise missed.

It doesn’t have to be rocket science. This isn’t about lowering standards. This is not about compromise. This is about going to all places to find the very best talent.

For more of the interview – including Perry’s insights on today’s secondaries market - click here.

And visit PE Hub throughout the month of February when we’ll showcase interviews with and profiles of private equity professionals who are Black in honor of Black History Month.