BlackRock’s Martin Small to become CFO in management shuffle

BLACKROCK tapped Martin Small, head of the firm’s US wealth advisory business, to become chief financial officer, succeeding Gary Shedlin in a wave of management changes at the world’s largest asset manager.

Small, who joined BlackRock in 2006, has also served as head of the firm’s exchange-traded funds group in the US and Canada and in leadership roles in its financial markets advisory unit, the New York-based firm said in a statement on Monday (Oct 3). The move is expected to take place on or about Mar 1.

Shedlin, who had been an outside financial adviser to the firm and later became its CFO, will transition to become a vice chairman of the firm, working with strategic clients.

“We regularly evolve our management team to grow leaders in new roles across the firm,” BlackRock chief executive officer Larry Fink and president Rob Kapito wrote in a separate memo to employees. “It keeps us more tightly connected and stimulates fresh thinking.”

Also shifting responsibilities is Mark Wiedman, who will oversee US, Canadian and global clients, marketing and the firm’s regional businesses in Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin America, according to the memo. The group will form the company’s global client business group. Wiedman will report to Kapito.

“This group will aim to leverage BlackRock’s global strengths through the primarily regional orientation of our client businesses,” Fink and Kapito wrote. “This priority is especially urgent given the investment, geopolitical, and macroeconomic regime changes our clients face today.”

Wiedman, 51, will take over the client businesses currently overseen by chief client officer Mark McCombe, who will become a vice chairman next year and focus on relationships in states across the US, where the firm has faced backlash over its views on sustainable investing. Small will also oversee the firm’s corporate strategy, a role currently held by Wiedman.

Small has been “working across a diverse mix of teams that give him a broad and deep knowledge of the firm and our people,” Fink said in the statement. “BlackRock and our shareholders will benefit from his broad understanding of the firm, sharp intellect and years of experience working with our clients in charting the path forward.”

Among other changes:

• Caroline Heller will succeed Manish Mehta as global head of human resources
• Jaime Magyera and Joe DeVico will become co-heads of US wealth advisory
• Jessica Tan will become global head of a new group at the firm called Sustainable and Transition Solutions overseeing sustainable investing. BLOOMBERG