H amilton "Tony" James is an American billionaire financier who had a long and highly successful career as a top executive at the private equity giant, The Blackstone Group. With an MBA from Harvard, he began his career in investment banking at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ), where he rose to become chairman of the banking group and a key architect of its successful private equity business. After DLJ was acquired, he was recruited by Blackstone's founders in 2002.

He joined Blackstone as its president and chief operating officer and was the firm's longtime number two executive, serving as the heir apparent to co-founder and CEO Stephen Schwarzman. During his tenure, James was instrumental in building Blackstone into the world's largest alternative asset manager, overseeing its massive global expansion and its successful IPO. He stepped down from his executive roles in 2022 but remains on the board. He is also a co-author of a book on retirement savings policy and a major philanthropist.