BlackRock’s COO on how the world’s largest asset manager is harnessing AI (2024)

We kicked off the conference with an interesting discussion between Robert Goldstein, BlackRock’s COO and senior managing director, and Fortune executive editor Lee Clifford. Put simply, AI is changing how BlackRock adds talent—and how that talent gets things done.

In fact, Goldstein told the audience, from senior Wall Street executives to leaders of the next generation of finance, AI will be “the most significant technology, innovation, evolution, revolution of my 30-year career.”

Goldstein has been the COO for more than 10 years, and his career trajectory could include the chief executive seat at the world’s largest asset manager. As my Fortune colleague Paolo Confino, writes: “Goldstein has spent the entirety of his career at BlackRock, joining the firm when he was 20 years old in 1994. At the time BlackRock had around 55 employees. It has since grown to be the largest asset manager in the world with record assets under management of more than $10 trillion.”

He continued: “As BlackRock’s stature grew, so has Goldstein’s within the firm’s walls. He was named to the firm’s executive committee in 2012, and he’s now reportedly in the running to replace Larry Fink, the company’s cofounder and the only CEO it has had throughout its 36-year history.”

If Goldstein succeeds in becoming CEO, it’ll likely be because BlackRock succeeds in implementing AI. And, as he noted on Thursday morning, with AI models like ChatGPT and Google’s Bard so user-friendly and language based—instead of math or coding based—”you’re able to extend your problems and solutions to be more about words and language,” allowing for greater participation and greater growth.

To read the rest of Goldstein’s take on AI, please see the rest of Paolo’s story here. As a co-chair of the conference, I had the opportunity to interview several CFOs about best practices in AI and also the evolving role of the finance chiefs. Stay tuned to find out what I learned.

Have a good weekend.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

Leaderboard

Some notable moves:

Peter Crawford, CFO at The Charles Schwab Corporation since 2017, has decided to retire. Crawford will be succeeded by Mike Verdeschi, who will join the firm on May 20 as a managing director and deputy CFO. The firm expects to appoint Verdeschi as CFO following the transition period with Crawford. Verdeschi was most recently treasurer of Citigroup, where he spent over 30 years. During his tenure at Citigroup, he also held positions as chief investment officer and head of rates portfolio management.

Venk Nathamuni was named CFO at Jacobs (NYSE:J), effective June 3. Before joining Jacobs, Nathamuni served as the CFO at Cirrus Logic a global semiconductor company. He has also held a variety of leadership positions at J.P. Morgan, Synopsys, Synplicity, and QuickLogic.

David Silberman was named CFO at Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN), a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company, effective Aug. 15, taking over from Alberto Sessa who will depart Compugen on the same day. Silberman will join Compugen from Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc., where he served as CFO. Before that, he served as a corporate financial planning and analysis director and as global internal audit senior manager at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

Paul Gohr was named CFO at Mobile Infrastructure Corporation (NYSE American: BEEP) a mobility-focused parking asset owner, effective May 16. Gohr takes on the CFO responsibility from Stephanie Hogue, who will remain in her role as president and a member of the board of directors. Before joining Mobile Infrastructure, Gohr served as chief accounting officer and VP of corporate finance of CECO Environmental Corp. He also served in various roles of increasing responsibility within Grant Thornton LLP.

Dave Keffer, corporate vice president and CFO at Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has announced his intent to retire, effective Feb. 21, 2025, to spend more time with family. Kenneth B. Crews, VP of business management and CFO for the Space Systems sector, will succeed Keffer, effective Oct. 1. Crews will first become vice president of corporate finance on July 1, and work directly with Keffer for a transition period. Before his current role in the Space Systems sector, Crews was CFO for Mission Systems. He has worked in multiple sectors at Northrop Grumman since joining the company in 2004.

R. David Rosato, CFO at Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE: BHLB) and Berkshire Bank announced that he has decided to step down to pursue other interests, effective June 14. The company and the bank have appointed chief accounting officer Brett Brbovic as EVP and CFO. Brbovic joined the company from KPMG LLP in 2012 and has served as chief accounting officer since 2015. He previously served as interim CFO from Oct. 7, 2022, to Feb. 6, 2023.

Doreen Pryor was named CFO at LanzaJet, Inc., a sustainable fuels technology company and sustainable fuel producer. Pryor has more than 20 years of commercial and financial experience at global companies. Pryor joins LanzaJet following her role as CFO for North America at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Inc. She previously had led financial planning and analysis of Siemens Gamesa's offshore wind business unit.

Sumit Kapur was named CFO at Zapata Computing Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: ZPTA), an industrial generative AI company, effective May 20, and as Zapata AI’s VP of finance during a short transition period, effective May 13. He will succeed Mimi Flanagan, who is leaving the company for personal reasons. Sumit spent nearly 12 years serving as CFO at 3Degrees, a financial services and technology company in the energy sector. He has also worked in investment banking at firms including Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan.

Big Deal

The Mastercard Economics Institute's new report, Travel Trends 2024: Breaking Boundaries, explores the global trends driving record spending in the travel industry. For example, globally, nine out of the last 10 all-time record spending days on both cruise and airlines have happened in 2024.

The research also finds that in the travel and leisure industry, consumer prices, especially in the hotel industry, remain elevated relative to pre-pandemic levels. A growing number of consumers seek out “wallet-friendly” travel options. “Cost-push” and “demand-pull” are sometimes used to describe why inflation is happening, according to Mastercard. This year, both concepts are occurring. “Cost-push inflation is the type of inflation that is caused when the cost to provide a service like flying or lodging goes up,” according to the report.

Going deeper

Here are a few Fortune weekend reads:

“Millennials and Gen Z are skeptical of traditional financial advice. Here’s how to reach them” by Alicia Adamczyk

“The Great Financial Crisis kick started the private credit boom, but SVB was its true ‘watershed’ moment, Sixth Street co-president” says by Will Daniel

“Social media spurred the last banking crisis. Can it prevent the next one?” byLeo Schwartz

“What to know about real estate wellness—the fastest-growing market in the $5.6 trillion global wellness industry” by Beth Greenfield

Overheard

“How special is a Silicon Valley Bank? Are there other banks like that? And the short answer is, yes, there are quite a few banks in the United States right now that have very similar risk characteristics, not as extreme as Silicon Valley Bank, but they are actually at the risk of a run.”

—Columbia finance professor Tomasz Piskorski said atthe Fortune Future of Finance conference in New York City on Thursday. Piskorski is one of the coauthors of a 2023 study estimating a $2 trillion decline in banks’ asset values after the monetary tightening of the previous year.