Rick Rieder, Managing Director, is BlackRock's Chief Investment Officer of Global Fixed Income, Head of the Global Fixed Income business, and Head of the Global Allocation Investment Team. Mr. Rieder is responsible for roughly $2.4 trillion in assets. He is a member of BlackRock's Executive Sub-Committee on Investments, a member of BlackRock's Global Operating Committee, and Chairman of the firm-wide BlackRock Investment Council.

Before joining BlackRock in 2009, Mr. Rieder was President and Chief Executive Officer of R3 Capital Partners. He served as Vice Chairman and member of the Borrowing Committee for the U.S. Treasury and member of the Federal Reserve’s Investment Advisory Committee on Financial Markets.

Mr. Rieder currently serves on the Alphabet/Google Investment Advisory Committee and the UBS Research Advisory Board. He was nominated for Outstanding Portfolio Manager by Morningstar in 2021, was awarded the Global Unconstrained Fixed Income Manager of the Year for 2015 by Institutional Investor, was nominated for Fixed Income Manager of the Year by Institutional Investor for 2014, and was inducted into the Fixed Income Analysts Society Fixed Income Hall of Fame in 2013. Four of the funds Mr. Rieder manages (Strategic Income Opportunities, Fixed Income Global Opportunities, Total Return, and Strategic Global Bond) have been awarded Gold Medals by Morningstar.

From 1987 to 2008, Mr. Rieder was with Lehman Brothers, most recently as head of the firm's Global Principal Strategies team, a global proprietary investment platform. He was also global head of the firm's credit businesses, Chairman of the Corporate Bond and Loan Capital Commitment Committee, and a member of the Board of Trustees for the corporate pension fund. Before joining Lehman Brothers, Mr. Rieder was a credit analyst at SunTrust Banks in Atlanta.

Mr. Rieder earned a BBA degree in Finance from Emory University in 1983 and an MBA degree from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1987. He is a member of the board of Emory University, Emory's Business School, and the University's Finance Committee, and is the Vice Chairman of the Investment Committee. Mr. Rieder is founder and chairman of the business school's BBA investment fund and community financial literacy program.

Mr. Rieder serves as Chairman and President of the Board of Education for North Star Academy's fourteen Charter Schools in Newark, New Jersey, and is the Founder and Chairman of the Board of Graduation Generation Public School Collaboration in Atlanta. He is on the Board of the BlackRock Foundation, the Board of Advisors for the Hospital for Special Surgery, and the Board of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Newark and Essex County. Mr. Rieder formerly served on the Board and National Leadership Council of the Communities in Schools Educational Foundation, and Trustee for the US Olympic Foundation. Mr. Rieder was honored at the Choose Success Awards ceremony in Atlanta in 2015 for his dedication to public education in Atlanta through CIS and Graduation Generation.

Randy Berkowitz, CFA, Managing Director, is a member of the Global Allocation Team . He is a Senior Investor and Head of quantitative strategies and research which serves to drive the Team’s asset allocation process, security sizing and risk management, in addition to covering sub industries within the Healthcare sector.

Mr. Berkowitz joined the BlackRock Global Allocation team in 2008 to oversee the build-out of the Team’s quantitative analytic capabilities and subsequently conduct fundamental research.  In 2016, he led the development of the quantitative strategies and research for Global Allocation. He joined BlackRock in 2004 as an Analyst in the Portfolio Analytics Group where he helped design and deliver analytic solutions to BlackRock’s Portfolio Management teams. In this role, he led strategic initiatives to improve BlackRock's Green Package analytic suite. Mr. Berkowitz helped manage the Merrill Lynch Investment Managers / BlackRock Equity integration for the Portfolio Analytics Group in 2007.

Mr. Berkowitz earned a BA degree in Astrophysics from Columbia University in 2004. He is a CFA® Charterholder.

Russ Koesterich, CFA, JD, Managing Director and portfolio manager, is a member of the Global Allocation team and the lead portfolio manager of the GA Selects Model Portfolios.

Mr. Koesterich's service with BlackRock dates back to 2005, including his years with Barclays Global Investors (BGI), which merged with BlackRock in 2009. He joined the BlackRock Global Allocation team in 2016 as Head of Asset Allocation and was named a portfolio manager of the Fund in 2017. Previously, he was BlackRock's Global Chief Investment Strategist and Chairman of the Investment Committee for the Model Portfolio Solutions business, and formerly served as the Global Head of Investment Strategy for scientific active equities and as senior portfolio manager in the US Market Neutral Group. Prior to joining BGI, Mr. Koesterich was the Chief North American Strategist at State Street Bank and Trust. He began his investment career at Instinet Research Partners where he occupied several positions in research, including Director of Investment Strategy for both U.S. and European research, and Equity Analyst. He is a frequent contributor to financials news media and the author of three books, including his most recent “Portfolio Construction for Today’s Markets.“

Mr. Koesterich earned a BA in history from Brandeis University, a JD from Boston College and an MBA from Columbia University. He is a CFA® Charterholder.

Sarah Thompson, CFA, Managing Director, is a member of the Global Allocation Team, She is a senior investor, primarily responsible for coverage of the chemicals, metals & mining, midstream and utilities sectors. global fundamental credit, private placements, distressed investments.

Ms. Thompson joined the BlackRock Global Allocation team in 2018. Her service with BlackRock dates back to 2013, when she joined as Head of Americas and Global Director of Credit Research. Prior to joining Blackrock in 2013, Mrs. Thompson was a Managing Director at Barclays heading the U.S. Distressed Desk Analyst Group. Prior to joining Barclays in September 2008, Ms. Thompson headed the Industrials pod for High Grade and High Yield Research at Lehman Brothers. Ms. Thompson joined Lehman Brothers in 1999 covering high yield manufacturing, services and automotive sectors. Prior to joining Lehman Brothers, she covered similar industries for CIBC World Markets, which she joined in 1996 after working in the mortgage consulting group at KPMG Peat Marwick.

Ms. Thompson earned a BSBA degree in Accounting from Georgetown University. She is a CFA® Charterholder and completed the Certified Public Accountant exam.