Background: In 1962 the UN passed a resolution that opened the way for disinvestment in South Africa in response to the countries apartheid policies. By 1977 that started to become actionable when Leon Sullivan, an African-American board member of General Motors, created basic principles that people respected and followed. A parallel dynamic became known as global warming and climate change. The founders of BlackRock, Larry Fink, Robert S. Kapito, Susan Wagner, Barbara Novick, Ben Golub, Hugh Frater, Ralph Schlosstein, and Keith Anderson, were just getting started in the investments business. They witnessed the drama and the substantial results of disinvestments and were all concerned about climate change. Their business would reflect those concerns.

BlackRock: Founded in 1988, BlackRock, headquarters now located at 50 Hudson Yards in NYC, has become “…the world’s largest asset manager (US$9.42 trillion in assets under management, June 30, 2023).” And, they are believed to be the world’s largest investors in ESG-DEI businesses.

• The Working Founders Group:
  • Laurence Douglas Fink, Chairman and CEO
  • Robert S. Kapito, President
  • Susan Wagner, Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer
  • Barbara Novick, former Vice Chairman and now Senior Advisor
• Other key officers:
  • Peter Gailliot, Managing Director, Global CIO, Financial Institutions Group
  • Wei Li, Global Chief Investment Strategist
  • Peter Raftery, Global Head of Technical and Commercial Asset Management
• Founders who went on to other things:
  • Bennett W. Golub, former Chief Risk Officer. Not this Ben Golub or this one!
    BlackRock’s Guide to Fix Income Risk Management
  • Hugh Frater, former managing director; Former CEO, Fannie Mae
  • Ralph Schlosstein, former president and Chair, Management Committee; Evercore
  • Keith Anderson, former Vice Chairman & Chief Investment Officer; former Soros cio 

BlackRock at Twitter, Wikipedia

First emails: 13 & 20 November 2023 at 5 AM*. (Slightly updated, 20 Nov.)

Your firm, one assumes, leads the world with investments in ESG (and possibly DEI).  A weakness that I have identified is a lack of a ground connection to the first principles of mathematics and science. I discuss it on our homepage today. The long-term URL is: https://81018.com/esg-dei/

I thought you would welcome this opportunity to correct any erroneous statements. Thank you.

Warm regards,

Bruce

* PS. Eventually this note (or one a little like it) will go out to each of the people named at the top of this page. Your suggestions for improvements would be very warmly received. -BEC

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