Education B.S. ’01, M.S. ’02 Thompson Whitney Blake (B.S. ’01, M.S. ’02) is the founder and chief executive officer of Blake Investment Partners (BIP), a St. Petersburg-based private equity and real estate investment firm he launched in 2003. As the original architect of BIP’s investment thesis and philosophy, Blake has guided the firm’s growth from a startup into a diversified regional enterprise. He continues to oversee BIP’s investment strategy and management, serves as chairman of its investment committee and plays a central role in creating new investment opportunities and developing the partnerships that support the firm’s growing investor base. BIP’s portfolio spans real estate development, homebuilding, land development and private equity. It includes Blake Communities, a land development company Blake founded nearly two decades ago that has developed 200 neighborhoods and 20,000 lots across markets such as Nashville, Charlotte, Raleigh, Charleston, Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando, Atlanta and Birmingham; Blake Income Assets, a boutique commercial real estate platform with long-term retail holdings and multifamily co-development projects in the Tampa Bay region; and Heatherland Homes, a veteran-run homebuilding company. Blake has been selected by the City of St. Petersburg to redevelop the 86-acre Historic Gas Plant District, home to the Tampa Bay Rays, into an $8.1B world-class mixed-use project. Blake is a proud two-time graduate of Florida State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, cum laude with honors in the major, and a Master of Arts. He went on to earn his Juris Doctor from Stetson University College of Law. A native of St. Petersburg, Blake spent several years living in La Jolla, California, before returning to Florida. He is active in a number of civic and philanthropic organizations, including the FSU Foundation Board of Trustees, the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and Ronald McDonald House Charities. Blake splits his time between St. Petersburg and Bigfork, Montana, where he lives with his partner Jacqueline, their son Arlo and their dog Zelda.