Thomas S. Middleton

Before joining Blackstone in July 2003, Mr. Middleton was head of the Global Communications Group and Vice Chairman of Investment Banking at Merrill Lynch, where he worked on some of the largest transactions in the communications sector.
These included the merger of Bell Atlantic with NYNEX and, subsequently, GTE, as well as the merger of US WEST and Qwest.
Other notable transactions at Merrill included the sale of the IBM Global Network to AT&T and the formation of the Verizon Wireless partnership with Vodafone.
Prior to Merrill Lynch, Mr. Middleton was Co-Head of the Telecommunications Group at Salomon Brothers, where he worked on a wide variety of transactions, including strategic privatizations in which he represented successful acquirers in New Zealand, Mexico and Australia, as well as governments in Hungary and Thailand.
Before Salomon, he was an M&A specialist at Kidder Peabody.
Between leaving Merrill Lynch in 2002 and joining Blackstone, Mr. Middleton, through his own consulting firm, advised Qwest on the sale of its Dex directories subsidiary.
Mr. Middleton graduated cum laude from Ithaca College and received an MBA from Columbia University School of Business as a member of Beta Gamma Sigma.
He serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Nature Conservancy of New York State and is a trustee of the United Way of Pelham.