Founder Profile
Susan Wagner
Last reviewed: October 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya
Who is Susan Wagner?
Susan Wagner is a founder of BlackRock, Inc., which was founded in 1988 with Larry Fink, Robert S. Kapito, Barbara Novick, Ben Golub, Hugh Frater, Ralph Schlosstein and Keith Anderson.
- Company founded
- BlackRock, Inc.
- Founded
- 1988
- Co-founders
- Larry Fink, Robert S. Kapito, Barbara Novick, Ben Golub, Hugh Frater, Ralph Schlosstein and Keith Anderson
Background
Susan Wagner co-founded BlackRock in 1988 after working in mortgage finance at Lehman Brothers. She served as Chief Operating Officer and later Vice Chairman, led strategy and corporate development, and retired from her executive role in 2012.
Founding Story
Wagner ran many of the functions that let a small bond shop grow into a global firm, including strategy, corporate development and operations. She led BlackRock's side of the 2006 merger with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and the 2009 acquisition of Barclays Global Investors, the two deals that made BlackRock the world's largest asset manager. After stepping down as Vice Chairman in 2012 she joined BlackRock's board of directors, and in 2014 she was elected to the board of Apple.
Susan Wagner was born in 1961 in Chicago. Education: University of Chicago; Wellesley College; Booth School of Business.