Robert Sitman
About Robert Sitman
Robert Sitman is Managing Director, Head of Asset Management at Blackstone Mortgage Trust (BXMT) and also serves as Managing Director and Global Head of Asset Management in Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies (BREDS). He has held the BXMT Head of Asset Management role since December 2020 and joined Blackstone in January 2014 after practicing real estate law at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School (cum laude). As of April 30, 2025, his age is disclosed as 43 .
Company performance context during his tenure:
| Metric | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net Income ($mm) | 419.2 | 248.6 | 246.6 | (204.1) |
| Distributable Earnings ($mm) | 396.7 | 489.8 | 526.3 | (5.5) |
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blackstone Mortgage Trust (BXMT) | Managing Director, Head of Asset Management | Dec 2020–present | Leads asset management of BXMT’s real estate debt portfolio . |
| BREDS (Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies) | Managing Director; Global Head of Asset Management | Jan 2014–present | Originating, structuring, executing, and asset managing real estate debt investments across asset types and geographies . |
| Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP | Associate, Real Estate Group | Pre-2014 | Represented owners, developers, investors and lenders in commercial real estate transactions . |
| BXMT (Legal/Financing context) | Named in “Guarantor’s Knowledge” definition in repo/guaranty documentation | Q2 2025 | Designated knowledge holder for guaranty obligations, indicating core oversight responsibility . |
External Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | None disclosed in BXMT proxy statements | — | — |
Fixed Compensation
- BXMT is externally managed; executive officers (including Sitman) are employees of Blackstone affiliates. BXMT did not pay cash salary or bonus to Named Executive Officers (NEOs) in 2024, and affiliates of the Manager determine salaries/bonuses and benefits for executives .
- BXMT discloses no company-paid base salary, target bonus, or cash bonus for executives; it also states no employment agreements, pension/retirement benefits, perquisites, or arrangements for termination/change-in-control payments for NEOs at the company level .
| Item | BXMT Company-Paid? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | No | Executives are paid by affiliates of the Manager; company paid no cash comp to NEOs in 2024 . |
| Target/Actual bonus | No | Determined and paid by Blackstone affiliates, not BXMT . |
| Pension/SERP/Perquisites | No | Company states it does not provide these to NEOs . |
| Employment agreements (company-level) | None | No employment agreements with NEOs . |
| 2024 aggregate NEO pay from Blackstone affiliates | $2.4m | Equals 3.0% of management and incentive fees paid by BXMT in 2024 . |
Performance Compensation
- Blackstone compensation philosophy (applies to senior employees including BXMT executives): mix of annual cash bonus tied to firm and business unit performance; performance interests (carried/incentive fee interests) tied to investment performance (including BXMT); and deferred equity awards in Blackstone common stock and/or BXMT class A shares. For 2024, aggregate NEO compensation from Blackstone was 26.7% fixed and 73.3% performance-based .
- BXMT’s executive compensation program has not historically included stock options; equity compensation at the BXMT level for NEOs has been in the form of restricted stock grants (examples below) .
| Compensation Element (2024 aggregate for NEOs) | Fixed (%) | Performance-based (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Blackstone-paid comp mix | 26.7 | 73.3 |
Context: recent BXMT restricted stock grants to NEOs (Sitman not disclosed as a grant recipient)
| Grant Date | Recipient | Shares (#) | Grant-Date Fair Value ($) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12/15/2024 | Katharine A. Keenan (CEO) | 51,850 | 990,854 |
| 12/15/2024 | Anthony F. Marone, Jr. (CFO) | 12,000 | 229,320 |
| 12/15/2023 | Katharine A. Keenan (CEO) | 52,000 | 1,167,400 |
| 12/15/2023 | Anthony F. Marone, Jr. (CFO) | 12,000 | 269,400 |
Note: BXMT does not disclose individual performance metric weightings/targets/payouts for Sitman; his performance-based compensation is determined within Blackstone’s framework, not BXMT’s .
Equity Ownership & Alignment
| Item | Disclosure |
|---|---|
| Beneficial ownership (Sitman) | BXMT’s ownership table covers “each director and Named Executive Officer”; Sitman is not listed there, and his individual ownership is not provided. Shares outstanding were 171,579,492 as of April 14, 2025 . |
| Hedging/derivatives/margin | Securities Trading Policies prohibit short sales, buying on margin, and the use of derivatives (for hedging or gain) in BXMT securities . |
| Options usage | BXMT has not historically included stock options in executive compensation . |
| Director stock ownership guideline | Non-employee directors must own ≥5x annual cash retainer within five years; all are in compliance (policy applies to directors; executive officer guideline not disclosed in proxy) . |
Employment Terms
| Item | Terms |
|---|---|
| Employment contracts | BXMT states it does not have employment agreements with its Named Executive Officers . |
| Severance / Change-of-control | BXMT states it does not have arrangements to make payments to its NEOs upon termination or in the event of a change in control of the Company . |
| External management | BXMT is externally managed pursuant to the Management Agreement with Blackstone; the then-current term expired Dec 19, 2024 and automatically renews annually unless earlier terminated (per 2024 proxy) . |
| Related-party oversight | Related-person transactions (including with the Manager and affiliates) require audit committee review/approval under written policy . |
Investment Implications
- Execution leverage: Sitman’s remit as Head of Asset Management since Dec 2020 and his designation as a “Guarantor’s Knowledge” holder in financing documentation indicate he is central to portfolio oversight, loan workout strategy, and covenant risk—areas that directly drive distributable earnings and credit outcomes .
- Alignment and transparency: As an externally managed platform, individual cash/equity pay for executives (including Sitman) is set by Blackstone and is predominantly performance-based (73.3% in aggregate for 2024 NEOs), but BXMT provides limited individual-level details, reducing direct pay-for-performance transparency for investors at the company level .
- Selling pressure and equity signaling: BXMT prohibits short sales, margin transactions, and derivative hedging in its securities, reducing the likelihood of hedging-related selling pressure signals; BXMT historically does not use stock options, limiting option-driven expiration dynamics; Sitman-specific BXMT equity holdings and vesting schedules are not disclosed, limiting visibility into his potential selling cadence .
- Retention risk: BXMT indicates no company-level employment agreements or severance/change-of-control benefits for NEOs; retention is likely anchored to Blackstone’s firm-level incentive structures and BREDS economics rather than BXMT-specific guarantees, making retention risk more sensitive to BREDS performance and Blackstone’s internal incentives than to BXMT corporate actions .
- Context on performance backdrop: Company results over Sitman’s tenure show volatility—Net Income moved from $419.2mm (2021) to $(204.1)mm (2024), and Distributable Earnings from $396.7mm (2021) to $(5.5)mm (2024)—highlighting the importance of asset management execution and credit cycle navigation for value creation .
Sources: 2025, 2024, 2023 BXMT DEF 14A proxy statements and BXMT 2025 10-Q filings as cited above.