On January 8, 2016, Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. announced that Jonathan Lee Pollack will serve as a Blackstone-designated director on the Board of Directors of the company effective immediately. Mr. Pollack, 39, is a Senior Managing Director and the Global Head of the Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies group at The Blackstone Group L.P. Before joining Blackstone in 2015, Mr. Pollack was a Managing Director and Global Head of Commercial Real Estate, as well as Head of Risk for Structured Finance, at Deutsche Bank. On January 8, 2016, the Board appointed Anthony F. Marone, Jr., currently the Company's Principal Accounting Officer, to serve as the Company's Chief Financial Officer effective March 1, 2016.

Mr. Marone, 33, has served as the Company's Principal Accounting Officer since September 2013 and has also served as the Company's Controller from 2008 until 2015. Mr. Marone's appointment coincides with the resignation, also effective March 1, 2016, of Paul D. Quinlan as the Chief Financial Officer of the Company. On January 8, 2016, the Board appointed Leon Volchyok to serve as the Company's Secretary and Head of Legal and Compliance, effective immediately.

Mr. Volchyok, 32, is a Principal in BREDS. Mr. Volchyok handles general legal and compliance matters for the BREDS business and also serves as the Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary of BREDS' registered closed-end fund complex. Prior to joining Blackstone in October 2013, Mr. Volchyok was a Senior Associate in the Real Estate Capital Markets group at Proskauer Rose LLP.