Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute Honors BlackRock CEO Larry Fink with the Yale Legend in Leadership Award

Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock, received the Yale Legend in Leadership Award at the Yale CEO Summit, which took place in New York on December 18. He was nominated by past award winners and confirmed by Yale faculty members. The award was presented by Greg Fleming, President and CEO of Rockefeller Capital Management, Bob Diamond, former CEO of Barclays and founding partner and CEO of Atlas Merchant Capital, and Jane Fraser, CEO of Citi. 

Summit organizer Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean for leadership studies at the Yale School of Management, said, “Larry Fink is an icon in the financial services industry and a true American treasure. His visionary leadership and constant innovation have transformed the global financial landscape for the betterment of all investors. Today, BlackRock helps tens of millions of American teachers, firefighters, and police officers, among many others, achieve financial freedom.

“Since co-founding BlackRock in 1988, Fink has built the firm into the world’s largest asset manager, overseeing more than $11 trillion in assets under management and approximately 20,000 employees. For more than 35 years BlackRock has grown organically and through strategic acquisitions, including Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and Barclays Global Investors. Under his leadership, BlackRock now serves clients across the globe, from institutions to individual investors, delivering exceptional risk, investment management, and technology services.

“Moreover, this year’s announced acquisitions of Global Infrastructure Partners, Preqin, and HPS Investment Partners, underscore Fink’s relentless pursuit of growth and innovation, always with a focus on delivering unmatched client service.

“Fink’s commitment to long-term strategy and performance has continued to be the vanguard of corporate leadership. BlackRock’s contributions have extended beyond business into government, as an unbiased source of market insights and advice in times of financial crises. The firm played a pivotal role during both the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID pandemic, assisting the Federal Reserve with the execution of its bond-buying programs to restore market calm amid unprecedented volatility.

“Larry Fink’s leadership has set a gold standard for innovation, growth, and fiduciary responsibility in the financial sector. Fink’s ability to anticipate changing markets and expectations of corporations, as well as his unwavering commitment to delivering for clients, exemplifies his esteemed leadership principles.”

Biography

Laurence D. Fink is the Chairman and CEO of BlackRock. He and seven partners founded the firm in 1988. Under his leadership, the firm has grown into a global leader in investment and technology solutions. BlackRock’s mission is to help clients build better financial futures; the firm is trusted to manage more money than any other investment company in the world.

Prior to founding BlackRock, Fink was a member of the management committee and a managing director of the First Boston Corporation.

He serves as a member of the board of trustees of the World Economic Forum and is co-chair of the NYU Langone Medical Center board of trustees. In addition, he serves on the boards of the Museum of Modern Art and the International Rescue Committee. He also serves on the advisory board of the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management in Beijing and on the executive committee of the Partnership for New York City.

Fink earned an MBA from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1976 and a BA from UCLA in 1974.

Yale Legend in Leadership Award

The Yale Legend in Leadership Award was created 35 years ago to honor current and former CEOs who serve as living legends to inspire chief executives across industries, sectors, and nations. Past recipients include: James Quincey, chair and CEO of Coca-Cola; Marc Benioff, chair and CEO of Salesforce; Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile; Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank; Arvind Krishna, chair and CEO of IBM; Steven Spielberg, filmmaker and chair of Amblin Partners; Darius Adamczyk, CEO of Honeywell; Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine; Doug Parker, chairman of American Airlines; Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer; Alex Gorsky, CEO of Johnson & Johnson; Lynn Good, CEO of Duke Energy; Lisa Su, CEO of AMD; Anthony Fauci, director of the NIAID; Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart; Arne Sorenson, CEO of Marriott International; Andrew J. Young, mayor of Atlanta (1982-1990) and ambassador to the United Nations (1977-1979); Brian C. Cornell, chair and CEO of Target Corporation; Ivan G. Seidenberg, chair and CEO of Verizon Communications; Ken Frazier, chair and CEO of Merck & Co.; Randall L. Stephenson, chairman and CEO of AT&T; Colin Powell, four-star U.S. Army general, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989–1993), and secretary of state (2001-2005); Virginia M. “Ginni” Rometty, chairman, president, and CEO of IBM; Janet Yellen, United States secretary of the treasury; Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever PLC; Mary T. Barra, chairman and CEO of General Motors Company; Brian Moynihan, chairman and CEO of Bank of America; David M. Rubenstein, co-founder and co-executive chairman of the Carlyle Group; Leonard S. Schleifer, president and CEO of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals; George D. Yancopoulos, president and chief scientific officer of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals; Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast; Marillyn Hewson, CEO of Lockheed Martin; Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase; and Ken Chenault, chair and CEO of American Express.

The 2024 Yale CEO Summit theme is “The Return of the Roaring 20s: Welcoming 2025 Opportunities with Lessons from 1925.”

Our leadership partners include AlixPartners, Atlas Merchant Capital, Deloitte, Evercore, Gladstone Place Partners, IBM, Paul Weiss, SentinelOne, Stagwell, and Yale School of Management Executive Education, in addition to our knowledge partner, McKinsey & Company.