Leon Black

Leon Black co-founded the Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA) under the auspices of the Milken Institute, with his wife Debra, in 2007 after she was diagnosed with melanoma. MRA is now the largest private funder of melanoma research worldwide, committing more than $79 million in funding as of the end of 2016 to advance understanding of the disease.

He previously served as chairman of the board, chief executive officer and a director of Apollo Global Management, LLC and a managing partner of Apollo Management, L.P., which he founded in 1990 to manage investment capital on behalf of a group of institutional investors. The firm’s focus is corporate restructuring, leveraged buyouts, and taking minority positions in growth-oriented companies. From 1977 to 1990, Mr. Black worked at Drexel Burnham Lambert Incorporated, where he served as managing director, head of the Mergers & Acquisitions Group and co-head of the Corporate Finance Department. He serves on the board of directors of Apollo Global Management, LLC and the Partnership for New York City.

Mr. Black is co-chairman of the Museum of Modern Art, and a trustee of Mount Sinai Hospital and the Asia Society. He is also a member of The Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the board of FasterCures; and previously served on the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Port Authority Task Force.

He graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College with a major in philosophy and history and received an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Avid art collectors, Mr. Black and his wife are philanthropists to various scholastic, medical and cultural institutions. They reside in New York and have four children.