Anne Ackerley

Anne Ackerley

Managing Director, Head of BlackRock's Retirement Group

Anne F. Ackerley, Managing Director, is head of BlackRock's Retirement Group (RG), bringing the defined contribution and retirement insurance businesses together with an innovative retirement solutions group to tackle the industry's toughest challenges. Since joining BlackRock in 2000, she has held various leadership positions across the organization and is a member of BlackRock's Global Operating Committee, the U.S. and Canada Executive Committee, the Philanthropy Board and the Retirement Committee for the BlackRock Retirement Plan. She is also a co-founder of BlackRock's Women's Network (WIN).

 

Having led the defined contribution (DC) business for the past five years, Ackerley oversees the development and distribution of strategies and services for institutional and retail clients and consultants - reaching over 65,000 plans, including over 50% of the Fortune 100, and ultimately reaching more than 35 million people. Prior to assuming her current role, Ackerley was BlackRock's Chief Marketing Officer, where she was responsible for driving the firm's marketing strategy and building the BlackRock brand. She also served as the Chief Operating Officer of BlackRock's Global Client Group, developing and driving strategy across BlackRock's client businesses including the then newly acquired iShares business. From 2000 to 2009, Ackerley held various leadership roles in BlackRock's U.S. Retail Group. She served as the head of the Private Client Group, where she integrated both the State Street Research and Merrill Lynch Investment Management retail businesses. She also served as the business liaison to the mutual fund Boards, and the President of BlackRock's open and closed-end mutual funds. Prior to joining BlackRock in 2000, Ackerley spent 15 years at Merrill Lynch in investment banking.

 

Ackerley has written and spoken extensively on retirement readiness and women's leadership – and has won awards for her own leadership in the industry and her work advancing gender equity. Most recently, she was named to Barron’s “100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance” list, and she made Yahoo Finance’s “100 Women Executives” list last year. In 2018, she was honored for her outstanding leadership in financial services with the Women's Bond Club Merit Award. Ackerley currently serves on the Defined Contribution Institutional Industry Association Executive Committee. Outside the industry, she is a trustee of the Mosaic Mental Health Association.

 

Ackerley earned a BA degree, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, in economics from Harvard College in 1984, and an MBA degree from Harvard Business School in 1988.