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Marc Rowan

Marc Rowan is co-founder, CEO and chair of Apollo Global Management, the alternative asset manager he helped establish in 1990. Apollo invests across credit, private equity and real assets, including real estate; Rowan leads the overall firm rather than a dedicated property operating company.

Updated

Known For

  • Co-founding Apollo and leading its growth into a global alternative investment manager.
  • Serving as CEO since 2021 and chair of the board, with firmwide responsibility across investment businesses.
  • Expanding Apollo’s real assets and credit platforms alongside its traditional private equity business.

Career and Focus

Rowan graduated from Wharton with undergraduate and MBA degrees in finance and co-founded Apollo with Leon Black and Josh Harris in 1990. The firm built its early reputation in distressed credit and private equity, then added dedicated real estate investing in the 1990s. Apollo’s real estate business invests in equity, credit and related real assets, and its strategies have expanded through acquisitions and new platforms. In 2025 Apollo acquired Bridge Investment Group, strengthening its real estate investment-management capabilities. Those businesses operate within Apollo’s wider alternative asset platform; Rowan’s role is firmwide chief executive rather than the direct manager of each property fund.

Rowan became Apollo CEO in 2021 and serves as chair of the board. Apollo describes its current strategy as investing across private equity, private credit, infrastructure and real estate, with a growing focus on financing hard assets. His leadership affects real estate through capital allocation, platform acquisitions and strategy, but public sources do not assign him responsibility for individual property transactions. Rowan also has long-standing philanthropic and educational roles, including support for Wharton and education networks in Israel. His career is a useful reference for the evolution of private equity firms into diversified real asset and credit managers.

Related Pages

  • Investor People Hub
  • National Investor Benchmarks Hub
  • Apollo Global Management
  • Leon Black
  • Scott Weiner
  • Source: Top 200 Global CRE People and Families

Sources