This content is from:Home

2017 Tech 40:Robert Goldstein

    <The 2017 Tech 40 3. Robert GoldsteinChief Operating OfficerBlackRockLast year: 7

    The March 28 announcement of what BlackRock chairman and CEO Laurence Fink described as a "repositioning of our active equity platform" amounted to a strong tilt toward information technology and data science, and hence a heavier reliance on what has long been one of the money management giant's strong suits: the Aladdin portfolio and risk management systems. Used by BlackRock and other firms that have bought it, Aladdin is "BlackRock's central nervous system," says Robert Goldstein. The firm's chief operating officer since 2014, Goldstein has since 2009 also been global head of BlackRock Solutions, the unit responsible for Aladdin, for which he began working at its inception in 1998. The 43-year-old says demand for the technology has never been greater — Aladdin revenue increased 13 percent last year, and Fink has said that in five years, BlackRock could be getting as much as 30 percent of its revenue from technology, versus 7 percent in 2016 (when total revenue was $11.2 billion). As the firm explained in March, its investment in data science innovation "leverages the unique capabilities of Aladdin and strengthens the connections that quantitative and fundamental investors both need to distill unstructured information into investable insights."

    BlackRock, which has an industry-leading $5.4 trillion in assets under management, took a bold step into robo-advising with the 2015 acquisition of San Francisco–based FutureAdvisor, subsequently forming partnerships with the likes of LPL Financial and U.S. Bank Wealth Management to make the capability available to individual investors through advisers. In June, BlackRock bought a minority stake in Scalable Capital, a European digital advisory platform. "We've been very focused on democratizing these technology capabilities," Goldstein explains.

    Other initiatives include Aladdin Risk for Wealth Management, which provides intermediaries with risk management as well as portfolio construction and other capabilities; iRetire, an Aladdin-powered retirement planning platform for advisers; and iCapital Network, a venture BlackRock helped to fund, offering high-net-worth investors and their advisers access to alternative investments. All of these services will ultimately be integrated with Aladdin, says Goldstein, who earned a BS in economics from Binghamton University in 1994 and joined BlackRock that year as an analyst, at age 20.


    The 2017 Tech 40Click below to view profiles
    1. Adena FriedmanNASDAQ2. Catherine BessantBank of
    America Corp.3. Robert GoldsteinBlackRock4. Jeffrey SprecherIntercontinental Exchange5. Lance UgglaIHS Markit
    6. Shawn Edwards & Vlad KliatchkoBloomberg7. David Craig.Thomson Reuters8. Michael SpencerNEX Group9. Don CallahanCitigroup10. Elisha WieselGoldman Sachs Group
    11. Michael BodsonDepository Trust & Clearing Corp.12. Terrence DuffyCME Group13. Charles Li香港交流和清算14. Sean BelkaFidelity Investments15. Chris ConcannonCBOE Holdings
    16. Guy ChiarelloFirst Data Corp.17. Steven LieblichCitadel18. David RutterR3Cev.19. Blythe MastersDigital Asset Holdings20. Alfred SpectorTwo Sigma Investments
    21. Neil KatzD.E. Shaw Group22. Lee Olesky.Tradeweb Markets23. Richard McVeyMarketAxess Holdings.24. David GledhillDBS Bank25. Seth MerrinLiquidnet Holdings.
    26. Antoine ShagouryState Street Corp.27. Peter Brown &
    Robert Mercer
    Renaissance Technologies28. Lou EcclestonTMX集团29. Peter CherecwichNorthern Trust Corp.30. Mike ChinnS&P Global Market Intelligence
    31. Chris CorradoLondon Stock Exchange Group32. Neal PawarAQR资本管理33. Gary NorcrossFidelity National Information Services34. Steven O'Hanlonnumerix.35. Sebastián CeriaAxioma
    36. Brian Conlon一阶导数和Kx系统s37. Tyler KimMaplesFS38. Michael CooperBT Radianz39. Robert SchifelliteBroadridge Financial Solutions40. Jim MinnickeVestment