Why Susan Wagner, ’84, Is “One of the Most Powerful People on Wall Street”

These tough economic times have proved a boon for BlackRock, “the go-to fund manager for banks stricken by the current credit crisis and a willing broker for sourced securities these banks want to unload,” said a May 30 article in the International Herald-Tribune.

In 1988, Wagner cofounded BlackRock, an offshoot of the Blackstone private equity group, headed by Pete Peterson, ’51. In 2006, BlackRock took over Merrill Lynch’s fund business, “a move that doubled its assets and staff,” the paper said. “Then the credit crisis struck and BlackRock emerged as the largest publicly traded fund management firm with $1.4 trillion in assets and a market capitalization of $26 billion.”

Ironically, Wagner started her career at Lehman Brothers in 1984 “inventing mortgage securities – the forerunners of the stuff that triggered the credit crisis,” the story said.

With 70 percent of the firm’s clients located in North America, BlackRock is looking to develop a presence in emerging markets, Wagner said, noting that it will be hard to find a deal like the Merrill Lynch buy. “We don’t want to take over things that are broke. Life’s too short,”she said.