BlackRock, Inc.
Leadership History
4 leaders · 1988 to present
Larry Fink is the CEO of BlackRock, in the role since 1988.
| Name | Role | From | To | Years in role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adebayo Ogunlesi | Chairman and CEO, Global Infrastructure Partners | 2024 | Present | 2 |
| Robert S. Kapito | President | 2007 | Present | 19 |
| Larry Fink | Chairman and Chief Executive Officer | 1988 | Present | 38 |
| Susan Wagner | Co-Founder, Chief Operating Officer and Vice Chairman | 1988 | 2012 | 24 |
BlackRock is a New York-based investment manager listed on the NYSE as BLK and included in the S&P 500. It managed $15.3 trillion at June 30, 2026, more than any other firm, for pension funds, insurers, sovereign wealth funds, financial advisors and individuals in more than 100 countries. Larry Fink has been Chairman and CEO since founding it in 1988, and co-founder Rob Kapito is President. About 60% of its roughly 24,900 employees work outside the United States. Because its index funds hold sizable stakes in most large public companies, BlackRock's proxy votes and public statements are closely watched. The company is headquartered in New York City, New York.
Chairman and CEO, Global Infrastructure Partners
2024 – Present
2 years (current)
Founder of GIP who joined BlackRock's leadership when the deal closed in October 2024; leads its infrastructure business, including the Aligned Data Centers and AES transactions.
President
2007 – Present
19 years (current)
Oversaw the investment platform through the MLIM and BGI integrations and co-leads quarterly reporting with Fink and the CFO.
Co-founder who long ran BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group across fixed income, equity, liquidity and alternatives before becoming President in 2007, overseeing day-to-day operations.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
1988 – Present
38 years (current)
Built the firm around risk measurement and Aladdin; agreed to the 1994 sale to PNC and the 1999 IPO; bought BGI during the 2009 crisis; pushed into private markets with GIP and HPS; set the 2030 goal for private markets and technology to exceed 30% of revenue.
Fink co-founded BlackRock in 1988 and has run it for its entire history, taking it from a bond boutique to the world's largest asset manager. He drove the transforming deals for MLIM (2006), BGI and iShares (2009), GIP (2024) and HPS (2025), and his annual letters to CEOs and shareholders shape debate on corporate governance and retirement.
Co-Founder, Chief Operating Officer and Vice Chairman
1988 – 2012
24 years
Negotiated the 2006 MLIM merger and the 2009 BGI purchase.
Co-founder who led strategy, corporate development and operations, including BlackRock's side of the MLIM merger and the BGI acquisition, before retiring from management in 2012 and joining the board.
These officers report to the chief executive and are not part of the CEO timeline above.
BlackRock's revenue still drops when markets drop, and its low-fee index products face steady price competition from Vanguard, State Street and Schwab. Its size draws legal and political pressure: a Texas-led group of state attorneys general is pursuing an antitrust suit over its coal holdings (Vanguard settled in February 2026), and in September 2026 lawmakers including Senator Elizabeth Warren asked federal energy regulators to block the $33.4 billion AES takeover led by GIP. Private credit adds credit risk, shown by the roughly $430 million HPS lent to telecom companies later accused of faking receivables.
Larry Fink is the Co-Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock. Raised in Van Nuys, California, Fink earned his BA and MBA from UCLA. In the late 1970s and 1980s, he pioneered the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) market as Managing Director at First Boston before co-founding BlackRock in 1988.
In 1986, after generating hundreds of millions in profits for First Boston, Larry Fink's trading desk suffered a sudden $100 million loss due to an unhedged shift in interest rates. The traumatic experience convinced Fink that Wall Street lacked proper risk-modeling tools, inspiring him to build Aladdin and BlackRock.
BlackRock was founded in 1988 by eight partners: Larry Fink, Robert S. Kapito (President), Susan Wagner (Vice Chairman), Barbara Novick (Vice Chairman), Ben Golub (Chief Risk Officer), Hugh Frater, Ralph Schlosstein, and Keith Anderson.
Robert S. Kapito is the Co-Founder and President of BlackRock. Kapito oversees the day-to-day operations of the firm, directing global investment strategies, trading execution, client relationship management, and technology implementation across all business units.
Susan Wagner is a BlackRock co-founder and former Vice Chairman and COO who led the firm's side of the MLIM merger (2006) and the BGI acquisition (2009). She retired from management in 2012, joined BlackRock's board and was elected to Apple's board in 2014.
Barbara Novick is a Co-Founder and former Vice Chairman of BlackRock who built the firm's global client business from scratch and established BlackRock's world-leading Public Policy Group, representing investor interests before regulators worldwide.
Rob Kapito is President, Rob Goldstein is Chief Operating Officer and Martin Small is Chief Financial Officer. In 2025 BlackRock expanded its Global Executive Committee and created a management committee that includes Goldstein and Small; GIP chief Adebayo Ogunlesi also sits in senior leadership.
Larry Fink transformed global asset management by democratizing index investing through low-cost iShares ETFs, establishing enterprise risk analytics as a cornerstone of finance with Aladdin, and advocating for long-term stakeholder capitalism.
Larry Fink is the founder and CEO. He is considered one of the most powerful men in global finance and has frequently drawn massive political fire for his push toward ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investing.
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