Gary E. Block
Partner | Chief Investment Officer
The Meridian Group

Gary is the Chief Investment Officer and a Partner of Meridian. Gary is responsible for acquisitions, capital activities and investor relations. He is also a member of the Investment Committee. Gary led the fundraising and investing efforts of Meridian Realty Partners I and II, Meridian’s discretionary private equity funds raised in 2012 and 2016. Between these two funds, Gary has completed in excess of $2.5 billion in investments with over $1 billion of equity in 15 transactions.

With almost 30 years of industry experience, Gary represented Meridian in its first three years of investments as a partner at Vinson & Elkins LLP in Washington, DC. He then headed up the Real Estate Fund’s Acquisitions Group as a partner at The Carlyle Group, where he led and completed over $12 billion of investments with $3.4 billion of equity in nearly 200 transactions. These included the acquisition, development, structured financing, and recapitalization of office, hotel, retail, residential, industrial, land, senior living, and mixed-use properties. He also led the firm’s efforts in the formation of Carlyle Realty Partners I, II, III, IV and V – an aggregate of over $5 billion in investor commitments – before joining The Meridian Group in November 2007.

Gary received his B.A. from Vanderbilt University and his J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law.