John D. Dionne
Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
John D. Dionne is a Senior Advisor to Blackstone and a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration in the Finance Unit at the Harvard Business School. He currently teaches "Private Equity Projects and Ecosystems," a top-rated elective course that partners students with leading private equity firms on value-added projects, as well as an eleven-session lecture series on the Private Equity ecosystems. Mr. Dionne has also taught in the "Venture Capital and Private Equity" course and the Executive Education program. He co-founded "Starting Your Own Private Investment Firm" as a SIP.
Mr. Dionne is a current or recent director of Caesars Entertainment, Clear Channel Holdings, Momentive Performance Holdings, Cengage Learning, and other privately held companies.
Until he retired from his position as a Senior Managing Director of Blackstone in 2013, John was most recently its Global Head of the Private Equity Business Development and Investor Relations Groups and served as a member of its Global Private Equity Investment and Valuation Committees. During his tenure in this position, Mr. Dionne led global fundraising efforts of over $30 billion immediately following the financial crisis. He was a co-founder of Blackstone's Tactical Opportunities, Energy, and Distressed Securities funds and was instrumental in the launch of BayPine Capital and Westcap Capital.
Mr. Dionne originally joined Blackstone in 2004 as the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of the Blackstone Distressed Securities Fund, the firm's initial entry into the single-manager hedge fund business, with peak assets under management of over $2 billion. He also served on the Investment Committees of Blackstone's GSO and Kalix investment businesses.
Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Dionne was a Partner and Portfolio Manager for Bennett Restructuring Funds for several years. He co-founded and invested in two multi-billion-dollar hedge funds specializing in financially troubled companies. He also served on several official and ad-hoc creditor committees during that time.
Previously, Mr. Dionne was a Partner at Saugatuck Capital, where he invested in middle-market buyouts and restructured troubled portfolio companies. From 1991 through 1996, he was Director of Corporate Development for a predecessor of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. John began his career at Price Waterhouse as a public accountant.
Mr. Dionne has served on fourteen boards and has led investments totaling $4 billion of equity. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and Certified Public Accountant (inactive).
John received academic honors while earning an MBA from the Harvard Business School and was a magna cum laude graduate from the University of Scranton, a past Chair of its Board of Trustees.
- Cases and Teaching Materials
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- Viceira, Luis M., John D. Dionne, Soracha Prathanrasnikorn, and Ari Sunshine. "Francisco Partners Private Credit Opportunity Fund." Harvard Business School Case 221-002, October 2020. (Revised June 2021.) View Details
- Lerner, Josh, John D. Dionne, and Amram Migdal. "Centerbridge Partners and Great Wolf Resorts: Buying from a Highly Regarded Competitor." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 818-069, December 2017. View Details
- Lerner, Josh, John D. Dionne, and Amram Migdal. "Centerbridge Partners and Great Wolf Resorts (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 818-024, July 2017. View Details
- Ivashina, Victoria, John D. Dionne, and Jeffrey Boyar. "Blackstone's GSO Capital: Crosstex Investment." Harvard Business School Case 218-008, September 2017. (Revised February 2019.) View Details
- Lerner, Josh, John D. Dionne, and Amram Migdal. "Centerbridge Partners and Great Wolf Resorts: Buying from a Highly Regarded Competitor." Harvard Business School Case 818-023, July 2017. View Details
- Gompers, Paul A., John D. Dionne, and Amram Migdal. "Blackstone's Julia Kahr at the Summit." Harvard Business School Case 218-002, September 2017. View Details
- Coates, John C., John D. Dionne, and David S. Scharfstein. "GE Capital After the Crisis." Harvard Business School Case 217-071, April 2017. (Revised May 2017.) View Details
- Rhodes-Kropf, Matthew, Luis M. Viceira, John D. Dionne, and Nathaniel Burbank. "Texas Teachers and the New Texas Way." Harvard Business School Case 214-091, April 2014. (Revised October 2015.) View Details
- Gilson, Stuart C., John D. Dionne, and Sarah L. Abbott. "Eastman Kodak Company: Restructuring a Melting Ice Cube." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 216-707, April 2016. (Revised February 2017.) View Details
- Lerner, Josh, John D. Dionne, and Amram Migdal. "Blackstone at Age 30." Harvard Business School Case 816-013, January 2016. (Revised November 2019.) View Details
- Gilson, Stuart C., John D. Dionne, and Sarah L. Abbott. "Eastman Kodak Company: Restructuring a Melting Ice Cube." Harvard Business School Case 216-006, August 2015. (Revised February 2017.) View Details
- Areas of Interest