Susan Wagner Biography

Susan L. Wagner is an American financial executive. Wagner is one of the co-founders, former Vice Chairman, and Chief Operating Officer of BlackRock, an American multinational investment management corporation. BlackRock is the largest asset management firm in the world with over $4.9 trillion in assets under management. Wagner is the architect and one of the key strategists behind BlackRock that helped propel it to become the largest asset manager in the world. She has been named to several lists of the most powerful women in the world, including those compiled by Forbes, Crain Communications, the Financial Times, and Fortune.

Early life and education

Wagner grew up in the Chicago area, graduated in 1982 with honors from Wellesley College with a BA in English and Economics, and earned an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago in 1984.

Personal

Wagner is married, a mother of three school aged children, and lives in the suburbs of New York. She describes herself as a "down to earth New York commuter."

Career

After earning her MBA, Wagner joined Lehman Brothers' investment banking unit in New York City. During her years at Lehman she worked on mergers and acquisitions, fixed income products, and developed her expertise in strategic acquisitions. In 1988 Wagner and her friend Ralph Scholstein left Lehman to join Blackstone Financial Group. Later, Blackstone Financial Group changed their name to BlackRock.

As one of the founders of BlackRock, Wagner has served as Vice Chairman, Chief Operating Officer and orchestrated BlackRock's mergers and acquisitions, which included Quellos, Merrill Lynch Investment Management, and Barclays Global Investors. Prior to retiring from BlackRock, Wagner expanded the company into Asia, the Middle East and Brazil. Since retiring from BlackRock, she serves on the BlackRock Board of Directors as well as serving as an officer and member of the board of trustees of the Hackley School.

In May 2014 Wagner was asked by Wellesley's Class of 2014 to deliver the commencement address.

In July 2014, Wagner was named to the board of Apple Inc., replacing long-time board member William Campbell. Wagner is just the second woman on the Apple eight-member board and the only director with a strong financial background.