Laurence D. Fink

Laurence D. Fink
Born Laurence Douglas Fink
November 2, 1952 (1952-11-02) (age 65)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Education University of California, Los Angeles (BA, MBA)
Occupation Chairman & CEO of BlackRock
Net worth US$1 billion (April 2018)
Political party Democratic

Laurence Douglas "Larry" Fink (born November 2, 1952)[1][2] is an American financial executive. He is the chairman and CEO of BlackRock, an American multinational investment management corporation.[3] BlackRock is the largest money-management firm in the world with more than $6 trillion in assets under management.[4]

Early life and education

Fink grew up in a Jewish family[5] in Van Nuys, California, where his mother was an English professor and his father owned a shoe store.[4] He earned a BA in Political Science from UCLA in 1974.[2] Fink is also a member of Kappa Beta Phi.[6] He then received an MBA in Real Estate at the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management in 1976.[2][7]

Career

1970s

Fink started his career in 1976 at First Boston, a large New York-based investment bank. Eventually taking charge of First Boston's bond department, Fink was instrumental in the creation and development of the mortgage-backed security market in the United States.[8] At First Boston, Fink was a member of the Management Committee, a Managing Director, and co-head of the Taxable Fixed Income Division; he also started the Financial Futures and Options Department, and headed the Mortgage and Real Estate Products Group.[9]

Fink added as much as $1 billion to First Boston's bottom line. He was successful at the bank until 1986, when his department lost $100 million due to his incorrect prediction about where interest rates were headed.[4] The experience influenced his decision to start a company that would invest clients' money while also incorporating comprehensive risk management.[4]

In 1988, under the corporate umbrella of The Blackstone Group, Fink co-founded BlackRock and became its Director and CEO. When BlackRock split from Blackstone in 1994, Fink retained his positions, which he continued to hold after BlackRock became more independent in 1998. His other positions at the company have included Chairman of the Board, Chairman of the Executive and Leadership Committees, Chair of Corporate Council, and Co-Chair of the Global Client committee.[4][9] BlackRock went public in 1999.[10]

2000s

Fink, third from right, receiving a Woodrow Wilson Award in April 2010

In 2003, Fink helped to negotiate the resignation of the CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard Grasso, who was widely criticized for his $190 million pay package.[4] In 2006 Fink led the merger with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, which doubled BlackRock's asset management portfolio.[2] That same year, BlackRock's $5.4 billion purchase of Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village, a Manhattan housing complex, became the largest residential-real-estate deal in U.S. history. When the project ended in default, BlackRock clients lost their money, including the California Pension and Retirement System, which lost about $500 million.[4] The U.S. government contracted with BlackRock to help clean up after the financial meltdown of 2008. Although BlackRock is widely believed to have been the best choice for the cleanup job,[11] Fink's longstanding relationships with senior government officials have led to questions about potential conflict of interest regarding government contracts awarded without competitive bidding.[4]

In December 2009, BlackRock purchased Barclays Global Investors, at which point the company became the largest money-management firm in the world.[4] Despite his great influence, Fink is not widely known publicly, apart from his regular appearances on CNBC.[4] BlackRock paid Fink $23.6 million in 2010.[12] By 2016, BlackRock had $5 trillion under management, with 12,000 employees in 27 countries.[13][14]

In 2016, Fink received the ABANA Achievement Award in New York City. The ABANA Achievement Award recognizes an individual who exemplifies outstanding leadership in banking and finance and has a commitment to positive professional cooperation between the US and the Middle East and North Africa.[15]

Community involvement

Fink serves on the board of trustees of New York University, where he holds various chairmanships including chair of the Financial Affairs Committee. He also co-chairs the NYU Langone Medical Center board of trustees and is a trustee of the Boys and Girl's Club of New York. Fink is also on the board of the Robin Hood Foundation.[16] Fink founded the Lori and Laurence Fink Center for Finance & Investments at UCLA Anderson[17] in 2009, and currently serves as chairman of the board.

In December 2016, Fink joined a business forum assembled by then president-elect Donald Trump to provide strategic and policy advice on economic issues.[18]

In his 2018 annual open letter to CEOs he called for corporations to play an active role in improving the environment, working to better their communities, and increasing the diversity of their workforces.[19] This has been taken as evidence of a move by Blackrock, one of the largest public investors, to proactively enforce these targets.[20]

Personal life

Fink has been married to his wife, Lori, since the mid-1970s. The couple owns homes in Manhattan, North Salem,[21] and Vail, Colorado. The couple has three children. Joshua, their eldest son, is CEO of Enso Capital, a hedge fund in which Fink owns a stake.[22] Fink is a lifelong supporter of the Democratic party.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Laurence Fink: Executive Profile & Biography", Businessweek.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Davidson, Andrew; Goldsmith, Marshall (2009). 1000 CEOs. Penguin.
  3. ↑ "Profile: Laurence D. Fink". Forbes.com. Forbes.com LLC. 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Suzanna Andrews: Larry Fink's $12 Trillion Shadow, Vanity Fair, April 2010
  5. ↑ Kaminer, Michael (3 September 2010). "Jews Dominate Vanity Fair 100 Most Influential Moguls List". The Jewish Daily Forward. Israel. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
  6. ↑ Roose, Kevin (2014). Young Money: Inside the Hidden World of Wall Street's Post-Crash Recruits. London, UK: John Murray (Publishers), An Hachette UK Company. p. 208. ISBN 978-1-47361-161-0.
  7. ↑ "CEO Compensation: #55 Laurence D Fink". Forbes.com. Forbes.com LLC. April 22, 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  8. ↑ "Profile: Laurence D. Fink (MBA '76)". Fink Center for Finance & Investments. Los Angeles: UCLA. 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  9. 1 2 "Laurence Fink - News, Articles, Biography, Photos - WSJ.com", Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
  10. ↑ "Corporate History". Archived from the original on May 17, 2012. Retrieved 2014-03-22.
  11. ↑ Andrews, Suzanna. Larry Fink’s $12 Trillion Shadow, Vanity Fair, April 2010: "There is little doubt among the financial establishment in Washington and on Wall Street that BlackRock was the best choice to handle the government’s problems."
  12. ↑ "The Wall Street Journal/Hay Group Survey of CEO Compensation". The Wall Street Journal. May 8, 2011. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
  13. ↑ BlackRock shapes shifts NYTimes, September 16, 2016
  14. ↑ "About Us | BlackRock". BlackRock. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  15. ↑ "2016 ABANA Achievement Award Dinner". ABANA. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  16. ↑ "Governance". Robin Hood Foundation. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  17. ↑ The Laurence and Lori Fink Center for Finance & Investments, Los Angeles, California: UCLA Anderson School of Management, retrieved July 22, 2017
  18. ↑ Bryan, Bob (2 Dec 2016). "Trump is forming an economic advisory team with the CEOs of Disney, General Motors, JPMorgan, and more". Business Insider. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  19. ↑ https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/investor-relations/larry-fink-ceo-letter
  20. ↑ Weinbar, Sharon. "How big money can drive diversity in venture capital – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  21. ↑ Miles Costello: Business big shot: Larry Fink,The Times, June 8, 2009
  22. ↑ "A Second-Generation Fink Rises in Finance". The New York Times Company. 8 September 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
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